It is a difficult concept, I agree! I am lucky if I grasp this even for a moment.

This week on Tuesday, we commemorated St. Paisios of Mt. Athos. For that reason, I've been (re)reading many of his teachings. Here are a couple of them:

There are four stages in confronting injustice. Let’s say someone strikes you unjustly. If you are at the first stage, you strike back. If you are at the second stage, you feel very upset inside, but control yourself and do not speak. At the third stage you are not agitated by the injustice. But at the fourth stage, you experience great joy, extraordinary spiritual gladness. When someone is wronged and proves that he was not at fault, he is justified and feels satisfied. In this case, he feels a worldly joy. But if he confronts the injustice spiritually, with good thoughts, and without trying to prove that he is innocent, he experiences spiritual joy. That’s when he has divine consolation in his heart 16 and is moving in the realm of doxology, glorifying God. Have you any idea what joy can be felt by a soul that is wronged but does not attempt to justify itself so that people will say, “Bravo,” or “I am sorry”? It rejoices more in being wronged than in being justified. Those who reach this spiritual condition wish to thank the one who wronged them for the joy rendered in this life but also for the eternal life that has been secured. How different is the spiritual from the worldly!

There is no greater joy than the joy you feel when you accept injustice. I wish everyone was unjust to me! I can honestly tell you that the sweetest spiritual joy I have experienced has been through accepting injustice. Do you know how much I rejoice when someone tells me that I am in error? “Glory be to Thee, O God,” I say. “From this, I will get a reward, while if someone should call me a saint, I will bein debt. ”There is no sweeter thing than to endure injustice!

Is this not a strange concept? I think so, but I also think it's beautiful. I hope to someday attain such a state of being.