He does exist

Saint Padre Pio who is one of my favorite Saints and whom I am lucky enough to get to read His writings and experiences each day, had many encounters with Satan directly. Satan used to come frequently to Him in his room late at night and physically beat Him, appear to tempt Him as young naked women, the Pope etc. Satan even came to Him and gave confession one day and Padre Pio was astonished and realized when the Sins confessed where of such a great nature that He asked the person to say I love The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and The blessed Virgin Mother, as with any Demon he could not utter the name of God and He then revealed Himself and threw Father Pio out the confessional booth.

On many occasion Satan reveled to Padre Pio why He attacked Him so frequently and on one occasion Satan said that it was because Padre Pio was making people aware that Satan actually existed. For Satan's greatest assets is the fact that most people think He is just part of our imagination and this allows Him to lead us astray, away from The Lord with greater ease. For if we acknowledge that He exists then we must also acknowledge that we sin and need to correct our actions and be mindful of ourselves.

Saint Herman of Alaska also had experiences where Demons and Satan came to Him and tried to get Him to do things. One day a Bishop came to Him and went into His house, the great Saint did not acknowledge Him and after some time he asked the Saint why this was so. Saint Herman told Him the story and said that unless when they enter His Hut or before He speaks to anyone they must recite Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, for Demons and Satan can't utter such words and go away. The Bishop spoke these words and spent time with the Saint to which Saint Herman told many of His experiences.

In another Orthodox writing, beautiful words where written that said we should have an attitude of repentance within and without and move forward with each action as such. For when we move forward in this manner we are conscious of God and each soul around us. Saint Sofia of Kleasora also spoke about repentance but not that we see ourselves as bad or that we are hard on ourselves but so that we become conscious of those around us and try and do no hurt to them for them we do Hurt to Jesus our savior. For each day during the Liturgy our Lord and Savior Jesus allows Himself to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. How merciful He is, each drop of His blood shed for us is His grace removing our sins. How long brothers and sisters must He be crucified how long will we keep going on without repentance and realizing that it is time to change to become more conscious, to become more Divine love in nature.

The question then must be asked why we allow Satan not be acknowledged by us? Why do we keep allowing Him to run amok outside and inside of us, are we afraid of Him? When we have the Lords name on our lips and reverberating in our hearts He cannot come close. Or is it the fact that if we acknowledge Him it means we have to acknowledge that we Sin, that we need to be more conscious, change and repent more for our actions. We should realize at some point we will need to look inside ourselves with honesty and take stock of our actions either now or before God when our souls leave the body. There is one thing all the Saint say, rather do this now and change now before you are standing before God the Father for then it is to late.

May The Lord and Savior guide you and protect you.

Silence

Going into silence to retreat into oneself is counter productive and makes your growth retreat instead of expand. So many people go into silence to be with themselves and to find themselves.   

How can one find oneself when one is retreating, surely one truly finds oneself when one is growing and being one with oneself but also one with the world around oneself. Growth comes from accepting all around and all within then true permanent growth can occur. We are all Divine in nature and running inwards to run away means you will not grow and learn to be one with the world accepting the good and the bad and rising above both. Once you rise above both then you will find true silence, silence in the mind, silence in the heart and silence in the soul that will explode from you, go into silence and remain one with all around you untouched serving God and humanity.

Becoming love through remembrance

We do our Sadhana to remind us of this love, this love that we have inside of us, this love that we are in essence. We are Divine love and it is a Divine that love that flows as Bhakti / devotion for God through us, as we immerse ourselves deeper in the love so all everyone around us immerses themselves in this love.  That is why we do our Sadhana to help us remember and be this love, for we can be no other way but this love. It is the final part of our journey, just a fully blossomed flower started as a seed in the dirt so we incarnate and grow towards the light, each time reaching further and further up, becoming more and more this pure essence this love. Just as the beautiful flower begins to fully realize it's essence and opens its self up for all to feast on its beauty and grace so we to reach the ever flowing love from within that others long for and is then given freely by you.

Be this love from within with sincerely, do not be the snake dripped in honey for others by pretending to be this love rather just be the love. Sincerely be the open blossoming flower for all to gaze on and soak up, your Sadhana practice will guide you and help you to be this love. Always remember the Divine for the Divine name is the compass that always keeps you pointing in the direction of freely giving this love and the Divine name is the limitless reservoir that always fills you up so you may over flow. As your love spills over so others will be bathed in the beauty of the Divine and begin themselves to want to remember who they are in essence.