cassianus:

Beloved, the message of the Gospel is very simple, and its words can be understood without any sermonizing. Some of the abbas once came and told me, “There are some people waiting for you outside; please go give them a short sermon.” O people, the Gospel doesn’t need sermons! It is never my intention to sermonize, and right now I am not giving you a sermon; I am just bequeathing to you the Gospel’s message. Can’t you all receive the scriptures as simply as I am delivering them to you now? Have I spoken difficult words? Have I taught philosophically? Never! Christ’s words are extremely simple and straightforward. He said, “An evil generation seeks after a sign.” But how could they ask for a sign when Christ Himself was present with them! He is the sign! He gave life to the dead! For whom was the story of Lazarus recorded? For Lazarus himself? For a past generation? It was recorded for us. Lazarus was raised for me. When I first became a monk, I prayed, “See, Lord, I am Your Lazarus. I am lying here in the tomb. Will You raise me up? I am a dead man, and I only ask You to bring me out of this tomb.” I kept praying this for a while, twenty-eight days to be exact. Lazarus remained inside for three days, but I remained twenty-eight days in tears, crying out to God, “I am the new Lazarus! Raise me!” At the end of the twenty-eight days, I felt filled with an extraordinary strength, which raised me up in the same way it would raise a dead man from the grave. “Loose him and let him go.” I felt finally “loosed” from the world and from all people, from everything, and went forth like Lazarus risen from the dead. It was an experience I could never forget. Those twenty-eight days were the beginning of a new life with God.

Matthew the Poor