A desert monk was summoned to Alexandria one day by his bishop. As he entered the city, he saw a prostitute, and he started to weep. "Why are you weeping, Abba?" his disciples asked him. "Because," he replied, "I am afraid for the soul of this young woman. And I am also weeping because she takes more time and effort to be attractive to men than I do to acquire the grace of God."
This is a story that Father Alexis told in his homily this morning, and although I cannot remember the name of the dessert monk in this story, I content really struck me. "...more time and effort to be attractive...than to acquire the grace of God."
And that is what I want to write about today. I think having a "plain" heart, means that this be NOT the case. And then I thought of "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." "All these things" here is clothes, and the things we need for this life.
So it is important not to spend too much time dwelling on (obsessing over) one's clothes, one's head covering (or whether or not, blah blah blah), whether one is "plain enough" or whatever. Conversely it's important not to spent so much time in front of the mirror either in vanity and pride, or in vanity and self condemnation which is also a form of pride. Who are we to loath our selves? Who are we to belittle our own appearance? I did not create myself. I am not the one who decided to give me curly brown hair and huge eyebrows and a sharp chin, or whatever. Give glory to God! He knows exactly what our we need for the salvation of our souls and he gives us everything!
And the effort, dear friends, ought to be put towards acquiring the grace of God. The rest shall be added unto us as well.
This is a story that Father Alexis told in his homily this morning, and although I cannot remember the name of the dessert monk in this story, I content really struck me. "...more time and effort to be attractive...than to acquire the grace of God."
And that is what I want to write about today. I think having a "plain" heart, means that this be NOT the case. And then I thought of "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." "All these things" here is clothes, and the things we need for this life.
So it is important not to spend too much time dwelling on (obsessing over) one's clothes, one's head covering (or whether or not, blah blah blah), whether one is "plain enough" or whatever. Conversely it's important not to spent so much time in front of the mirror either in vanity and pride, or in vanity and self condemnation which is also a form of pride. Who are we to loath our selves? Who are we to belittle our own appearance? I did not create myself. I am not the one who decided to give me curly brown hair and huge eyebrows and a sharp chin, or whatever. Give glory to God! He knows exactly what our we need for the salvation of our souls and he gives us everything!
And the effort, dear friends, ought to be put towards acquiring the grace of God. The rest shall be added unto us as well.
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