"By prayer I mean not that which is only in the mouth, but that which springs up from the bottom of the heart. In fact, just as trees with deep roots are not shattered or uprooted by storms... In the same way prayers that come from the bottom of the heart, having their roots there,... Continue Reading →
Pleasures whose only remaining trace is shame
"These pleasures rule every material pursuit, but the zeal for such things achieves no goal, for there is no way, by nature, of preserving the momentary pleasure which people experience, so that the pleasure which they so zealously acquire is stored away for them. On the contrary, it is as though those who love pleasure... Continue Reading →
On Vainglory
"Vainglory involves fantasizing about social encounters, a pretence of industriousness, the contrary of the truth, author of heresies, desire for privilege, the ultimate title, slavery to praises, a spirit with many forms, a beast with many teeth; the mean of vainglory is entwined with pride and jealousy, which are found within one another and which... Continue Reading →
Bury Pride in The Depths of Divine Love
"I know a man who loves God with great intensity, and yet grieves because he does not love Him as much as he would wish. His soul is ceaselessly filled with burning desire that God should be glorified in him and that he himself should be as nothing. This man does not think of what... Continue Reading →
Know Thyself
"For he who thinks he has not sinned never corrects himself. In like manner, he is more easily able to pardon those who sin, whose conscience is disturbed by his own weakness." Origen, Homily 2 on Leviticus
Caring for my Neighbor Starts and Ends in my Prayer Corner
"This story was told: There were three friends, serious men, who became monks. One of them chose to make peace between men who were at odds, as it is written: “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:29). The second chose to visit the sick. The third chose to go away to be quiet in solitude. Now... Continue Reading →
Appearing Good and Doing Evil
"Thus an evil person loves to give the appearance of doing things that seem to be good, yet he is still a shifting liar in his attachments to the world. For by means of a certain love for the things of the world and the flesh by which he is held in bondage to his... Continue Reading →
We All Labor for Each Other
“The brethren, therefore, regardless of what work they are doing, ought to conduct themselves toward each other in love and cheerfulness. And the one who works should say of him who is praying: ‘I also possess the treasure which my brother possesses since it is common.’ And let him who prays say of him who... Continue Reading →
Firstfruits and The Ascension of Our Lord
As we have celebrated another joyous feast of The Ascension of our Lord and Pentecost, let us contemplate what The Ascension of The Lord means for us. In doing so we must contemplate some of the words we pray and say, but perhaps without having fully gleaned what it might mean for us. Here let... Continue Reading →
The Love of God and Neighbour
"Suppose there be a circle... imagine that this circle is the world: the centre of the circle, God, and the radii the different paths or ways of life of men. When the saints, desiring to approach God, walk towards the centre of the circle, insofar as they penetrate to the interior, they draw near to... Continue Reading →
The Love of God
So then, whatever is rightly done of free choice is also in us naturally, at least, in the case of those who have not perverted their rational faculty by iniquity. The love of God is, therefore, demanded of us as a strict obligation, and for a soul to fail in this is the most unendurable of all evils.Separation and estrangement from God are more unbearable than the punishment reserved for hell and more oppressive to the sufferer than the being deprived of light is to the eye.
Show the physician your wound
"Your wounds do not surpass the Physician's skill. Have faith; tell the Physician what ails you." St. Cyril of Jeruslaem, Baptismal Catechesis 2, 6.
