St. Maximos' Hut

Today's reading is a wonderful bit of poetry that involves the personification of Wisdom.

It ends as follows:

4 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.

35 For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the LORD.

36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
all who hate me love death."

My prayer is the my daily pursuit of truth does not end at knowledge, but wisdom. Here's a link to an interesting discussion of the difference.

Todays reading comes in two parts. A warning against financial folly, and a warning against adultery. How are these two dangers related? Do they have similar causes? Similar consequences? Are these "social" or "individual" dangers?

Well, today's reading deals with some rather intimate stuff.

Suffice to say that as each year goes by I am more convinced that God's rules are self-enforcing. They are so consonant with human nature, and so finely atuned to social equlibria that they do not require divine intervention for enforcement.

There are few difficulties in my life that can't be traced to my own attempts to cut a corner or to circumvent God's plan for general equilibrium.

"The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.
He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly." (v. 22-23).