Words from the Saints -- March 14, 2024

"Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and our God, who grants us faith in Him so that we may live." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"In doing penance it is necessary to deprive oneself of as many lawful pleasures as we had the misfortune to indulge in unlawful ones." --St. Gregory the Great

"Sleep makes me weary, but You give me rest. There is no rest for one who is weary unless he looks at You, nor is there any sweetness for one embittered unless he converses with You, nor is there any health for one who is sick unless he touches Your hand, nor is there any purification for one who is impure unless he bathes in Your light." --St. Nikolai (praying to God)

"That your enemies have been created is God's doing; that they hate you and wish to ruin you is their own doing. What should you say about them in your mind? "Lord be merciful to them, forgive them their sins, put the fear of God in them, change them!" You are loving in them not what they are, but what you would have them to become." --St. Augustine of Hippo

"Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after a victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations." --St. Augustine of Hippo

"We should love the Lord as we do our friends. Many a time I have seen people bring grief to God, without being bothered about it, and I have seen these very same people resort to every device, plan, pressure, plea from themselves and their friends, and every gift, simply to restore an old relationship upset by some minor grievance." --St. John Climacus

"The fear of God compels us to fight against evil; and when we fight against evil, the grace of God destroys it." --St. Mark the Ascetic