on Watchfulness and Holiness 07

In one who is attempting to dam up the source of evil thoughts and actions, continuity of watchful attention in the intellect is produced by fear of hell and fear of God, by God's withdrawals from the soul, and by the advent of trials which chasten and instruct. For these withdrawals and unexpected trials help us to correct our life, especially when, having once experienced the tranquility of watchfulness, we neglect it. Continuity of attention produces inner stability; inner stability produces a natural intensification of watchfulness; and this intensification gradually and in due measure gives contemplative insight into spiritual warfare. This in its turn is succeeded by persistence in the Jesus Prayer and by the state that Jesus confers, in which the intellect, free from all images, enjoys complete quietude.

St Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness, Vol. 1 pg. 162

Major Arcana: Wheel of Fortune (Labyrinth Tarot)

Luis Royo

let your thoughts move away from their focus, and all sorts of things start moving against you. set your attention in motion. let GOD's wind help turn the wheel. remove the sail and the Wind isn't there to help you; in fact, it may turn against you...trials come, tearing away at your sail, tearing at the stability you'd built, bringing you back to where you'd begun, perhaps even deeper than you'd gone before.

raise the sail, set your attention, and pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of GOD, have mercy on me, a sinner.