It's Between You and God
Tell No One Of Your New Pursuit
One of the best chapters in Tito Colliander’s The Way of the Ascetics is Chapter Four, “On The Invisible and Silent Warfare.” The primary advice of the three page chapter: tell no one about your renewed purpose in Christ.
“Thus say nothing to anyone of your newly conceived purpose. Say nothing of the new life you have begun or of the experiment you are making and experiences you expect to have. All this is a matter between God and you, and only between you two. The only exception might be your father-confessor.”
Most people, upon starting a new pursuit, are more concerned with telling others about their new pursuit rather than the pursuit itself. This could be about making more money, starting a workout routine, or taking up a Mixed Martial Art. There is nobody who knows about BJJ than a white-belt.
What they are looking for is validation: the affirmation that what they are doing is okay. But if you are really concerned with your new pursuit, you care more about the pursuit itself rather than how other people see you.
Attempting to follow God has much more at stake. And if you know nothing of the Lord, you likely shouldn’t be talking about Him (and indeed, I even feel weird writing this article) because most of what you say may be misguided vanity or pride.
“… also understand why our warfare ought to be called the invisible warfare. It takes place deep within the heart, and in silence, deep within us; and this is another serious matter, on which the Holy Fathers lay much stress: keep your lips tight shut on your secret! If on opens the door of the steam bath the heat escapes, and the treatment loses its benefit.”
Imagine a brand new soldier fresh out of training goes up to a seasoned vet and starts telling him about strategy. It’d be no different if a neophyte went up to a monk and started telling him about God. Keep quite and press on. Become a master of the basics.
“The silence is necessary because all chatter about one’s own concerns nourishes self-preoccupation and self-trust. And these must be stifled first of all! Through stillness one’s trust grows in Him who sees what is hidden; through silence one talks with Him who hears without words. To come to Him is your endeavor, and in Him shall be all your confidence: you are anchored in eternity, and in eternity there are no words.”
Yesterday I was in a meeting at the office. Many different topics came up but the content is irrelevant. If it wasn’t actually about work, it was mostly gossip about others (‘He’s awful!’), various cuss words, someone said the Lord’s name in vain. I felt a weird pain inside me each time something like this happened.
Was I judging them or was I having an emotion based on the conversation in relation to my newfound Purpose? I am a lowly, wretched sinner who has no place to judge anyone, and that was surely not a place to proselytize.
All I could do was chose not to swear, chose not to engage in the gossip, and of course, chose not to say the Lord’s name in vain. Everything that happens, literally everything, is an opportunity for spiritual growth.
“Hereafter you will consider that everything that happens to you, both great and small, is sent by God to help you in your warfare. He alone knows what is necessary for you and what you need at the moment: adversity and prosperity, temptation and fall. Nothing happens accidentally or in such a way that you can not learn from it; you must understand this at once, for this is how your trust grows in the Lord whom you have chosen to follow.”
I’ll keep quiet for now.