PACIENTES, MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS

Dositheus was a disciple of the glorious Abba Dorotheus who lived in the cenobitic monastic community of the Venerables Serdius, John and Barsanuphius the Great. Dositheus was a kinsman of a general and came to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Shrines. Once while he was gazing upon the icon of the Dreadful Judgment in a church, a woman clothed in purple attire approached him and began explaining the icon to him. Finally, before parting, she said that if you desire to be saved, you should fast, abstain from meat, and pray to God often. That was the All-Holy Virgin Birthgiver of God [The Theotokos]. The heart of the young Dositheus became inflamed, and he desired the life of a monk. Dorotheus received him as his novice [Iskusenik] and ordered him to completely abandon his will and to obey his spiritual father. For a few days, he gave him as much as he wanted to eat. After a period of time, Dorotheus cut down his rations by one-fourth and after a period of time again, by one-fourth, until Dositheus became accustomed to get by with the least amount of food, always saying to Dositheus: "eating is a habit, and as much as a person is accustomed to eat, that much he will eat." He was saved and glorified by total obedience. He remained forever an example of monastic obedience and dedication to his spiritual

father. This young saint lived in the sixth century.

HYMN OF PRAISE OBEDIENCE

Obedience without murmuring, salvation complete, Among the spiritual, the first pearl; stone most precious.

This pearl, from Eve's necklace, unraveled, And after it, all the goods, by God, bestowed.

The devil speaks both then and now: To God, do not listen, Rather, according to the thoughts of your mind, live only!

Thus speaks the devil from time immemorial who detested the light, Thus speaking, the disobedient with his noose he fitted.

Christ came, to the people cried out: the obedient He summoned, To every call, the disobedient did not respond.

The scene of Paradise from Christ until now, repeats itself, The obedient to Paradise is raised; the disobedient falls.

To his spiritual father, the true monk is obedient,

The father to the Church, the Church to Christ, her Lord.

Obedience, the reliable path toward salvation is, Of the spiritual necklace; the first light, the first pearl.

REFLECTION

St. Anthony teaches: "Just as a man comes froth naked from his mother's womb, so the soul comes forth naked from the body. One soul is pure and bright, the second is soiled by sin, and the third is blackened by many sins… If a body comes forth from a mother's womb unhealthy, it cannot live; and so the soul, if it does not attain the knowledge of God through good behavior, it cannot be saved neither can it be in communion with God. The organ of bodily sight is the eye; the organ of spiritual sight is the mind. Just as the body is blind without eyes, so the soul is blind without a correct mind and correct life."

CONTEMPLATION

To contemplate the Lord Jesus in the midst of the common people:

1. How with love, He teaches the people as a parent teaches his children;

2. How the common people receive His words, astonished by His works and glorify God;

3. How even today, the common people, free from corruption, receive His words with joy and thanksgiving.

HOMILY About testing

"The person who istrustworthy in very smallmatters is also trustworthyin great ones; and theperson who is dishonestin very small matters isalso dishonest in great ones. If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, whowill give you what is yours? " (St. Luke 16: 10-12).

This is how the Householder of both the material and spiritual world speaks. Material wealth He calls

"small" and the spiritual wealth He calls "great." To whomever material wealth is given and proves himself to be selfish, hardhearted, arrogant, unmerciful and godless, to him spiritual wealth cannot be given, for if he is unfaithful in small things, he will be unfaithful in great things; when he is unfaithful in the physical, he will be unfaithful in the spiritual.

Man undergoes a test in a foreign world, and if he passes the test, he will gain his own world; if, however, he fails the test, who will give him his world? Man's true world, his homeland, is the heavenly sublime, divine world. The earthly world, however, is the world of coarseness and deterioration; a foreign world for man. But man is sent into this foreign world to complete a test for that, his true world;

for his heavenly homeland.

Both expressions of the Savior, however, are similar in meaning. O how profound and true is their meaning! Just as light disperses darkness, so do these words of the Savior disperse our confusion in relation to that: why are we sent into this life? And what should we do? Whoever is able to read with a pure understanding, to him, everything is said in these two sentences.

Therefore, let us know that God will not bestow the spiritual gifts; the gift of understanding, nor the gift of faith, nor the gift of love, nor the gift of purity, nor the gift of prophecy, nor the gift of miracle-working, nor the gift of authority over demons, nor the gift of discernment, nor the gift of the vision of the heavenly world to him who has gambled and used these gifts for evil - as did the prodigal son - with the gifts of bodily health, or earthly riches or glory and position among men or knowledge of the material world or some other skill or ability.

O Lord Most Gentle, sustain our fidelity toward You in that which You have entrusted to us.

To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.