Philip Lavery’s Reviews > Father Arseny > Status Update

Reading these memoirs, one can't help but remember the many people
who suffered and died for the faith and for all of us.

When I was a child, my mother had taught me how to pray "for mama and for papa" and had wanted me to learn the "Our Father" and the prayer to the Mother of God. Later, I forgot everything and it became a long-forgotten memory, a little funny, a little sad.

The eyes of the Mother of God were so full of light-giving warmth that, looking at them, each person could find calm and consolation. The Mother of God looked at us with sad eyes, full of pity and warmth. It filled you with hope and you felt consoled. My faith was always weak and insig-nificant.

The eyes of the Mother of God looked at me from the icon. Her face was bent toward her child who pressed his cheek tightly against hers. In this embrace you could see the unbelievable love and desire of the Mother to protect her child, to warm him with her love, the love only a mother can give.

"You know, I've read many atheistic books, but I have the distinct impression that they are unable to prove anything. They either try to discredit religion, or they argue with God, trying to prove to him that he does not exist ... My grandmother Katia believes unconditionally.

And as if she was answering herself she said, "Yes, much is written, but nobody has yet been able to prove that God does not exist." Addressing me, she continued.

In my own life, I was given the opportunity in several situations to choose the way I was going to go. Twice, if I remember correctly, I turned away from the path of Truth that was put before me, but God was merciful to me, and he helped me again and again to turn to faith. Thanks to his mercy, I became a believer, a Christian, and later a priest.

We have free choice either to approach or to move away. In surrounding man with chains of events, it seems that God is trying to help the undecided person to come to him. It is entirely our own fault if we push away our own salvation.

IN AN ANCIENT patristics book, I read that the Fathers once said that God gives each person a chance to look back on his life, to see its mean-ing, and decide what his relationship is with God—he can then take a step towards God or push himself away from him. In the course of our life, many events give us a chance to meet God and to draw nearer to him.