Words from the Saints -- August 26, 2021
Gerald Largent
"When you delight in hearing evil talk, be angry with yourself and not with the speaker. For listening in a sinful way makes the messenger seem sinful." --St. Mark the Ascetic
"Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual knowledge in the soul. Just as the light of the sun attracts a healthy eye, so through love knowledge of God naturally draws to itself the pure intellect." --St. Maximos the Confessor
"Below the first, there is a second kind of prayer, when words are uttered, while the heart is touched, and the mind follows them, and knows to Whom the supplication is addressed." --St. Nilus of Sinai
"He who wishes to purify his faults purifies them with tears and he who wishes to acquire virtues, acquires them with tears." --St. Poemen
"But how is it possible to become like the Lord and have knowledge of God if one is subject to physical pleasures? Every pleasure is the consequence of an appetite, and an appetite is a certain pain and anxiety, caused by need, which requires some object." --St. Clement of Alexandria
"He who prays for those who offend him is without rancor; and the unstinting giver is set free from it." --St. Thalassios the Libyan
"Blessed the one who loves good and fair words and hates base and destructive speech, because he will not become a prisoner of the Evil One." --St. Ephraim of Syria