Words from the Saints -- February 29, 2024
Gerald Largent
"Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God." --St. John Cassian
"And love, having God as its cause, is like a spring bubbling up whose stream never stops and He alone is the cause of love and its material is inexhaustible… for this material which brings him to the remembrance of God is always available to him, so that even in sleep he speaks with God." --St. Isaac the Syrian
"For it is impossible for a person to deserve to triumph over a passion (spiritual struggle) before he has understood that he is not able to obtain victory in the struggle by his own diligence and his own effort, even though in order to be cleansed he must always be careful and attentive, day and night." --St. John Cassian