Main news for 20 November 2010

Like every aphorism, this short phrase is very deep. What is a "haughty soul," and where does haughtiness lead in a person? Haughtiness is a very rigid form of pride, there are subtler forms, when a person inwardly separates himself from everything else in the world, considering himself "above all this." How can such a soul find rest? Only if it becomes convinced that everything is in fact so, that everything is truly beneath it and does not "get to" it. But in reality this does not happen. First, we all live in a world that "gets to" us every second; there is no practical possibility of shutting ourselves off from the world in an "ivory tower." And second, there is God, who, whether we want it or not, is above us; all human claims to supremacy, all attempts to satisfy one's haughtiness, are hopeless. Therefore every encounter with the real world and with God deprives a haughty person of peace.

Now about the righteous person. The righteous person is one who does everything rightly in life, according to God's law, let us suppose such people exist. But even such a person is struck by the waves of life's evil, and he feels the injustice of it very sharply, see the book of Job. Every misfortune in his life is an undeserved punishment that wounds the heart and robs life of meaning. And only faith can bring true meaning and light into such a life: faith in God's goodness, faith that troubles have nothing to do with punishment, and that suffering is the place of a special meeting with Him who accepted suffering and death for our sins.