Compassion of the Father, The

Boris Bobrinskoy shows how by spiritual union to the life of Christ, we can be clothed with the Holy Spirit and filled with the infinite mercy of the Father, who far from pleasing himself in a blessed transcendence, suffers with humanity. This way of purification triumphs over all the deadly forces of division, darkness, and hate that dwell in the heart--a universe vaster than any other universe. The invocation of the Name, the asceticism of the body, and the baptism of the intellect constitute this long and difficult way of conversion and of cure: of unification with God, others, and even oneself.

Facing the suffering and the misery of the world, where may one find the strength to offer sympathy, support, and discernment? How may one descend into the hell of the human heart without despairing? Bobrinskoy shows how by spiritual union to the life of Christ, we can be clothed with the Holy Spirit and filled with the infinite mercy of the Father.

From his long experience as a priest and a theologian, the author reveals the Trinitarian love guiding the living tradition of the Church, a river of revelation and faith that has its foundation in the Scriptures and that transmits itself from heart to heart, as from a spiritual father to his children. Existential and paradoxical, his meditation explores the subtle and deep links between hesychasm and the Eucharist, solitary prayer and intercession for the world, the spiritual life and theological reflection, and fidelity to tradition and creative liberty. By listening to the Word of the Spirit, Bobrinskoy always returns to that same silence of the Father, whose mercy is the eternal source of authentic love and true unity.