"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."
What is the Spiritual meaning of this text from Acts?
The meaning of the name, ‘Jerusalem’ is, ‘the city of Peace'.
Spiritually speaking, ‘the city of Peace' is the place of the heart where, in stillness, we see and come to know God - “Be still and know that I am” (Psalm 46:10)
Simply speaking, if we were to recollect our mind, concentrate our attention and lead our mind down by an act of will to the place of the heart, avoiding distraction by occupying the mind with the Jesus Prayer - “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” - throwing away any and all thoughts that try to intrude - we will be ‘endued with power from on high’.
St Nicephorus the solitary says of this:
“Force your mind to descend into the heart and to remain there. Accostom it not to come out of the place of the heart too soon. At first it feels very lonely in that inner seclusion and imprisonment, but when it gets accustomed to it, it begins, on the contrary to dislike its aimless circling outside. Then we see that the Kingdom of Heaven is truly within us.
When you thus enter into the place of the heart, give thanks to God and, praising His mercy, keep always to this doing, and it will teach you things that in no other way will you ever learn.
Moreover you should know that when your mind becomes firmly established in the heart, it must not remain there silent and idle, but it should constantly repeat the Jesus Prayer and never cease. For this practice, keeping the mind from dreams, renders it elusive and impenetrable to enemy suggestions and every day leads it more and more to love and longing for God
If you do this with strong desire and attention, full of sweetness, a whole host of virtues will come to you: Love, Joy, Peace and others, through which, later, every petition of yours will be answered in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is glory, and power, honour and worship, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.”
We were created to be like God, this is the ‘Promise of the Father' that Jesus sends upon us, ‘enduing us with power from on high', if only we will ‘tarry in the city of Jerusalem’ for just a little while…
https://open.substack.com/pub/stevenberger/p/a-most-profitable-discourse-on-sobriety?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nm0v2
Thank you Steven for the inspiring vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem - the City of Peace as dwelling in our heart.
Truly my soul could not survive the menacing forces of the current conditions in the world if I had not been so fortunate as to learn the art of “ Forcing the Mind down into into the heart”, and discovering there the refuge of Peace. This quote is so affirmative of our way through the intensifying onslaughts against our souls.
The Jesus prayer has become the armor of God that I put on when my mind goes feral. His mantle of peace settles over me as I settle into the rhythm of the words becoming one with the rhythm of my heartbeat.
Sometimes I interchange the last line from “have mercy on me a sinner”, to “have mercy on me and the whole world”. If I am really really struggling- especially with fear- I will say “have mercy on me, and grant me Thy Peace”. I have overcome many battles with dark forces within and without with this method.
Can you remind me of a scene in the gospels or elsewhere in which a greeting is given along the lines of “The grace and peace and truth of Jesus Christ be with you”? I am trying to remember where I heard this. Was it a greeting between the disciples?
Gracias