A Note From College
by Isaac Farha (Feb. ’02)
Truly, I have never felt busier in my life than I do now in college. Hurray for the break! Previous articles have discussed the business of the college student's life. How do we balance out everything? We expect of ourselves to study, attend services, exercise, work, and have some sort of a social life. However, even after all these things have been completed, why is it that we still are empty and not able to feel complete? If you've ever taken Communion on Sunday at church, you know for a short while what it is to be complete. Grace is given to us all the time.
Why do we despair of this grace and allow ourselves to be distracted? Sometimes we can avoid distractions, but other times we can't because of the life we have to live. What are the unavoidable and avoidable distractions? This is the ongoing war that we will fight until the day of our death.
Father John Mack was recently talking about a man who said he prays and prays but never hears God's voice. The man prayed all the time but never listened, never waited for an answer, for God's voice to come. He grew very sad because he thought he was doing everything he should.
He asked a spiritual elder what the problem was and the elder replied, "You talk to God all the time but never listen to what He has to say." So the man began to set aside time every day for God. Instead of praying all the time he would listen by quieting his thoughts and exterior noise. After six days his soul began to hear God's voice and he was filled with joy and delight as he knew beyond explanation that he was complete.
Every day we too should set aside time for God, to hear His voice. Bishop Kallistos once spoke of a man who said, "If you are too busy to give God one hour a day, then you should set aside two hours a day." Computers work faster when they aren't so full of junk. When we quiet ourselves, we empty ourselves of this earthly junk. We are able to work more efficiently with a clear mind while praying, doing homework, working, etc.
St. Isaac the Syrian says, "Above all things, love silence." The greatest thing that America hates is silence. The American life would have us completely full of junk. Do we combat this or continually let it happen? Alex Younes, the speaker at the last college conference, spoke of a man who predicted that in our time the Devil would sit on top of every housetop. Alex referred to this Devil as our TV antennas. I still watch TV. I like to laugh and see interesting things, but it's good to have a balance. TV is only one of the many distractions.
Our thoughts may be the biggest distraction. The Devil is like the large shadow on the wall coming from a tiny moth. When we turn on the light it is gone.
Talk to your priest about what you can handle doing every day. Ask him for a few starting points for personal worship, including silence and prayer times that you are able to complete in proportion to the strength God has given you. It's a matter of doing. To our God be all glory, honor, and worship. Amen.
