31 January 2022
Humility is the salt of virtue. As salt gives flavor to food, so
humility gives perfection to virtue. Without salt, food goes bad easily, and
without humility, virtue is easily spoiled by pride, vainglory, impatience –
and it perishes. There is a humility which a man gains by his own struggles:
knowing his own insufficiency, accusing himself for his failings, not allowing
himself to judge others. And there is a humility into which God leads a man
through the things that happen to him: allowing him to experience afflictions,
humiliations, and deprivations.
Saint Philaret of Moscow
(1782-1867)
On Prayer
30 January 2022
Do nothing at all unless you begin with prayer.
Saint Ephrem of Syria (c. 306-373)
Do nothing at all unless you begin with prayer.
Saint Ephrem of Syria (c. 306-373)
On Desire
29 January 2022
As God illumines all people equally with the light of the sun, so do those who desire to imitate God let shine an equal ray of love on all people. For wherever love disappears, hatred immediately appears in its place. And if God is love, then hatred is the devil. Therefore as one who has love has God within himself, so he who has hatred within himself nurtures the devil within himself.
Saint Basil the Great
As God illumines all people equally with the light of the sun, so do those who desire to imitate God let shine an equal ray of love on all people. For wherever love disappears, hatred immediately appears in its place. And if God is love, then hatred is the devil. Therefore as one who has love has God within himself, so he who has hatred within himself nurtures the devil within himself.
Saint Basil the Great
Learning to Love
28 January 2022
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.
Saint Francis de Sales
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.
Saint Francis de Sales
Woe to us who...
27 January 2022
What answer shall we give to our immortal King, Christ our God, Who shall come again in the glory of His Father to judge both the quick and the dead, to declare the secret thoughts of all hearts, and receive from us our answer for every word and deed. O, woe, woe, woe to us who bear the name of Christ, but have none of the spirit of Christ in us; who bear the name of Christ, but do not follow the teaching of the Gospel! Woe to us who ‘neglect so great salvation’! Woe to us who love the present fleeting, deceptive life, and neglect the inheritance of the life that follows after the death of our corruptible body beyond this carnal veil!
Saint John of Kronstadt
What answer shall we give to our immortal King, Christ our God, Who shall come again in the glory of His Father to judge both the quick and the dead, to declare the secret thoughts of all hearts, and receive from us our answer for every word and deed. O, woe, woe, woe to us who bear the name of Christ, but have none of the spirit of Christ in us; who bear the name of Christ, but do not follow the teaching of the Gospel! Woe to us who ‘neglect so great salvation’! Woe to us who love the present fleeting, deceptive life, and neglect the inheritance of the life that follows after the death of our corruptible body beyond this carnal veil!
Saint John of Kronstadt
26 January 2022
Wherever you may be, you can pray anywhere. Only show good will, and neither place nor time will be a hindrance for you. And although you might not be bending your knees nor beating your breast, or raising your arms to heaven, but have merely displayed a fervent soul, by this you will have fulfilled everything necessary for prayer…God does not regard the place. He desires only a sincere heart and a meek soul.
Saint Basil the Great
Wherever you may be, you can pray anywhere. Only show good will, and neither place nor time will be a hindrance for you. And although you might not be bending your knees nor beating your breast, or raising your arms to heaven, but have merely displayed a fervent soul, by this you will have fulfilled everything necessary for prayer…God does not regard the place. He desires only a sincere heart and a meek soul.
Saint Basil the Great
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