Письмо 17
The Comfort of God's Mercy
The author encourages the reader to trust in God's vast mercy and humble heart rather than fearing constant wrath.
Take comfort! For the Lord is not one who brings wrath every day. God's heart is vast—so vast. . . Ours is a sparrow's heart.1 What can we do? . . "The one who endures to the end will be saved," the Lord said—but He does not say when that end will come, or what kind of end it will be, or what lies ahead: a little squall, or a hurricane? And as for how to stand firm—you can't just invent a method; and as for how others manage to stand—you can't guess.2 Into Your hands, O Lord, we commit our spirit! Still, as we grow in understanding, let us understand the ways of God.3 Repentance cleanses everything and softens the wrath of God. God will not despise a broken and humble heart.
Prayer and Persistent Hope
A call to maintain prayerful, humble hope and persistent intercession, even when facing spiritual barriers.
May our Most Pure Lady comfort you! Take heart! It does no harm to grieve a little: for we are human; but you shouldn't grieve to the point of exhaustion. That kind of grief won't help, but quiet, prayerful hope draws God's mercy. After all, you can't tear anything out of God's hands by force. . . But with tears, everything is possible.4 Give it, Lord—give it, Lord! You have to keep pressing Him!5 . . But we have no right. . . It's all mercy! There are barriers God has set up that no one can break. You have to strike against them with intense prayer. The Lord, taking pity, will receive them.6 . . and then—the joy of salvation! . . But let your hope be gentle, contrite, and humble.✦ We have no claim on God's mercies.7 May the Lord comfort you!
The Virtue of Seeing Others as Holy
The author advises the reader to cultivate charity by choosing to see the holiness in others rather than judging them.
I generally find that people only seem less than wholly good by chance, when in reality they are good.8 So it's better and more reliable to consider everyone holy. You can prefer that even to a judgment that is correct.9 There is a real struggle in this, and not a useless one: it is how you keep the good rule of always seeing your neighbor's face as pure.10 We have a proverb: "What's yours is white even unwashed"—and that proverb is sinful.11 It ought to be the other way around: what's yours is black even washed, and what's another's is white even unwashed.
Read the original Russian
Утешьтесь! Ведь Господь не есть гнев наводяй на всяк день. Сердце Божие широко-широко. . . У нас оно воробьиное. Что делать? .
. Претерпевый до конца спасен будет, сказал Господь, а не сказывает, когда и какой конец, и что будет впереди, – бурька или ураган? А как стоять, не придумаешь, и как другие стоят, не догадаешься. В руце Твои, Господи, предаем дух наш! Обаче разумевая, да разумеваем пути Божии. Покаяние все очищает и гнев Божий утоляет. Сердце сокрушенно и смиренно Бог не уничижит.
Да утешит вас Пречистая Владычица наша! Крепитесь! Поскорбеть не мешает: человеки бо есмы; а скорбеть до изнеможения не следует. Не поможет сия скорбь; а тихое молитвенное упование – милость Божию привлекает. Ведь не вырвешь ничего из рук Божиих силою. . . а слезами все можно.
Подай Господи, подай Господи! Докучать надобно! . . а права нет. . . все милость!
Есть загородки, Богом поставленные, которых ни кто не сломит. Усильною молитвою надо ударять в них. Господь, сжалясь, примет их. . . и тогда радость спасения! . .
Но упование мягкое, сокрушенное и смиренное да будет. Прав нет на милости Божии. Господь да утешит вас!
Мне вообще приходит на мысль, что люди являются не совсем хорошими так – невзначай, а на деле они хороши. Потому лучше и вернее, всех считать святыми. Последнее можно предпочесть суду даже верному. Тут есть подвиг, и не по пусту; чтоб исполнить доброе правило: выну зреть чистым лице ближняго. У нас есть пословица: свое не мыто бело; она грешна. Надобно наоборот: свое и мыто черно, а чужое не мыто бело.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.51.17 — Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Notes
- 1 ↩воробьиное (sparrow-like) continues the image of God's heart as vast; our heart is tiny by comparison—petty, narrow, easily startled.
- 2 ↩стоять here is endurance/standing firm under trial, not physical posture.
- 3 ↩Church Slavonic обаче разумевая, да разумеваем uses a doubled 'understand' construction: not mere information, but careful discernment of God's ways.
- 4 ↩Continues adversatively from s5 (force cannot wrest anything from God's hands); intervening s6–s7 are missing in the source payload. 'Слезами' is penitential/prayerful tears, not mere emotional weeping.
- 5 ↩Докучать = keep pestering/importuning; rendered as persistent pressing in prayer, not mere annoyance.
- 6 ↩Russian 'их' most naturally points to the prayers struck against the barriers (not the barriers themselves); rendered as 'them' for the petitions.
- 7 ↩«Прав нет на…» is legal/claim language: no entitlement or right to God's mercies, not merely that mercy is rare.
- 8 ↩Russian «являются не совсем хорошими так – невзначай» is slightly compressed; rendered as appearance-only/incidental not-goodness versus real goodness, matching the counsel that follows.
- 9 ↩«Последнее» points back to counting all as holy/saints; «суду даже верному» = even a true/accurate judgment, preferred under charity.
- 10 ↩«Подвиг» kept as spiritual struggle/effort rather than 'feat' or 'exploit'. Church Slavonic «выну» = always.
- 11 ↩Proverb «свое не мыто бело» means one excuses one's own faults (one's own looks clean even dirty). «Она» refers to the proverb, not the thing owned.
Letters on the Christian Life companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit