The Ship of Stillness and the Fire of Divine Vision

Reflection on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily 21:27-28, Homily 22:1-4, Homily 23:1-2

There is a beauty hidden in the life to which God calls us, a radiance that has nothing to do with worldly glory and everything to do with a heart that longs for Him alone. Saint Isaac opens before us the strange and glorious paradox that the love of God sometimes urges us outward in mercy and at other times draws us inward into stillness. It is not the path alone that matters but whether the heart walks it for His sake. One monk runs after another for God’s sake and the other flees for God’s sake. Abba Arsenius turns from conversation for the same reason another might turn toward it. The goal is not the action but the flame that burns within the intention. True stillness is not an exterior quiet while the soul wrestles with the weight of its own self assigned importance. Stillness is a separation from every care so that the soul may converse with God upon the sea of life, borne up not by confidence in its own wisdom but by the tranquillity that His grace gives.

From this stillness arises the possibility of divine vision. It is not sight with the eyes but the mind touched by spiritual understanding that is granted, never seized. Even the angels do not move at will into the contemplation of God’s essence, how much less those of us who bear flesh and the memory of sin. Yet God in His goodness draws the mind beyond what it knows. He grants vision not of heavens split open but of understanding awakened and taken by wonder. The contemplation of God’s operations in creation and providence becomes a ladder by which the heart ascends. In rare moments He grants something higher, a noetic perception that does not originate from the senses. This is the reward of purity, and not one in a thousand of the righteous receives it, yet even the faintest taste is enough to keep the soul laboring with joy.

Saint Isaac speaks of the blessing of that silent doxology whispered only by the heart when the body rests upon its knees. The tongue is still yet praise rises like incense from within. Such sweetness is not the fruit of our demand but the consolation of God to those who guilelessly persevere. In the beginning grace offers a foretaste when the mind is captured during reading and prayer, carried away from earthly meditation. It is as though God bends close to say Remember why you began. Then the soul keeps vigil and does not tire. It prays and does not count the hours. It tastes something otherworldly, brief but unforgettable. For those more advanced in stillness, the perception of divine mysteries comes both in the quiet of their prayer and in the sacred liturgy, where heaven and earth touch in ways language fails to describe.

In the humility of Homily twenty three Saint Isaac marvels that flesh clad creatures have been deemed worthy to minister before God as though they were among the incorporeal ranks. He confesses that he has not lived even a thousandth part of what he has written yet he dares to write so that others may be stirred to desire such a life and perhaps practice it. The life God calls us to is not reserved for the strong but for the willing. The sweetness of prayer is but its beginning. Beyond sweetness is vision, beyond labor is rest, beyond words is the silent knowledge of God.

To read these words is to feel a pull within the heart. Something in us recognizes our own origin and destiny. We were created to behold God. The world offers noise, ceaseless activity and the turbulence of self will but the Spirit draws the soul toward the ship of stillness where God is known not through argument but through presence. The path is narrow and few walk it without faltering yet grace keeps calling. When we taste its sweetness even once we are ruined for anything less. The desire awakens not as demand but as longing. The soul bends the knee in secret, the tongue falls silent and the heart speaks without sound. There in the hidden place where God meets us we discover that the life He calls us to is not a burden but a homecoming. And the soul whispers its assent not with clamor but with stillness filled by love.

A Prayer for the Path of Stillness

O Lord of mercy and quiet wonder

You call the heart to a love beyond words

Grant me the longing that seeks only You

Teach me the stillness where Your Spirit speaks

Silence the noise of my thoughts

and calm the sea of my restless desires

Purify my intentions

that whether I speak or am silent

serve or withdraw

I may do so for Your sake alone

Give me a taste of that hidden sweetness

when the heart bends in prayer

and praise rises without sound

Draw me into the ship of stillness

where Your presence becomes its own vision

and Your grace its own reward

May I walk before You with simplicity

wait for You with trust

and love You with an undivided heart

For You are my peace

my joy

my home

Amen