Words from the Saints -- February 11, 2020

"We are not without hope of salvation, nor is it at all the right time for us to despair. All our life is a season of repentance, for God 'desires not the death of the sinner', as it is written, 'but that the wicked turn from his way and live' (Ezekiel 33:11). For, if there were no hope of turning back, why would death not have followed immediately on disobedience, and why would we not be deprived of life as soon as we sin? For where there is hope of turning back, there is no room for despair." --St. Gregory Palamas

"A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life; whereas a diligent heart is an open door." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The memory of insults is the residue of anger. It keeps sins alive, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul. If anyone has appeased his anger, he has already suppressed the memory of insults, while as long as the mother is alive the son persists. In order to appease the anger, love is necessary." --St. John Climacus

"As a fish cannot swim without water, and as a bird cannot fly without air, so a Christian cannot advance a single step without Christ." --St. Gregory the Theologian

"Give no ear to the slanderer's talk nor let your talk run on in the fault-finder's hearing, by readily speaking and listening to things against your neighbor; otherwise you will fall from divine charity [love] and be found a foreigner to eternal life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

Words from the Saints -- February 4, 2020

"There are three things which produce love of material wealth: self-indulgence, self-esteem and lack of faith. Lack of faith is more dangerous than the other two." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"When the devil sees a soul protected by virtues, he dare not come near it, fearing the strength and power given to it by prayer." --St. John Chrysostom

"To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty." --St. Justin Martyr

"If a man tries to overcome temptations without prayer and patient endurance, he will become more entangled in them instead of driving them away." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

Words from the Saints -- January 28, 2020

"If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the sins we have committed, we even add to them. . . If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. Nobody must rejoice in the security of their own good deeds. As long as we are still experiencing the uncertainties of this life, we do not know what end may follow... we must not trust in our own virtues." --St. Gregory the Great

"Thus it is we ought to love our enemies. This is to love God, Who hath enjoined it, Who hath given it as His law. To imitate Him is to love our enemy. Consider it is not thine enemy thou art benefiting, but thyself; thou art not loving him, but art obeying God. Knowing therefore these things, let us confirm our love one to another, that we may perform this duty perfectly, and attain those good things that are promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, and honor, now, and forever and ever. Amen." --St. John Chrysostom

"Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"The forceful practice of self-control and love, patience and stillness, will destroy the passions hidden within us." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing when your conscience says another. For Scripture places such people under a curse." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!" --St. Anthony of Optina

Words from the Saints -- January 21, 2020

"The New Man of grace is the result of prayer." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside." --St. Basil the Great

"Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbor comes to you, always have great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses His will through him. 'It is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). Therefore, do not grudge anything to your brother, but do to him as to the Lord; especially as you do not know in whom the Lord will come and visit you; be impartial to all, be kind to all, sincere and hospitable. Remember that sometimes God speaks even through unbelievers, or disposes their hearts towards us, as it happened in Egypt when the Lord gave Joseph favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison (Genesis 39:21)." --St. John of Kronstadt

"Having read Holy Scripture very carefully, you should also read the holy Fathers who interpret the Scriptures. You will receive no less delight from reading the Fathers than you do from the Scriptures. The Fathers develop the hidden meanings in Scripture and with their own writings help us to understand what we did not before. Because of that philosophic axiom that all men by nature seek knowledge, we must say that great delight follows naturally when we learn about hidden and unknown matters. This is why there will be ineffable joy and gladness that will come to your soul from the interpretations and the words of the holy Fathers. You too will be shouting, ad did David, those enthusiastic words in the Psalms." --St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain

"What is the will of God that St. Paul urges and invites each of us to attain (1 Thessalonians 4:3)? It is total cleansing from sin, freedom from the shameful passions and the acquisition of the highest virtue. In other words, it is the purification and sanctification of the heart that comes about through fully experienced and conscious participation in the perfect and divine Spirit." --St. Makarios of Egypt

"Just as those whose sense of smell is healthy can tell who has hidden perfumes, so the pure soul can recognize in others both the fragrance which he himself has obtained from God, and the stench from which he has been freed." --St. John Climacus

"Fire makes iron impossible to touch, and likewise frequent prayer renders us more forceful in our warfare against the enemy. That is why the demons strive with all their strength to make us slothful in attentiveness to prayer, for they know that prayer is our invincible weapon against them." --St. John of Karpathos

Words from the Saints -- January 14, 2020

"The tongue of a back-biting soul is three-pronged: it injures the speaker, the listener and sometimes the person being maligned." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste." --St. Cyril of Alexandria

"Hence it is very clear that disturbing urges are not always aroused in us by other people's faults. Rather, we are to blame -- we who have stored up within ourselves the causes of our offenses and the seeds of our vices that, when the rain shower of temptation drenches our mind, at once break forth into buds and fruits." --St. John Cassian

Words from the Saints -- January 7, 2020

"There are many differing methods of prayer. No method is harmful; if it were, it would be not prayer but the activity of Satan." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The person who truly wishes to be healed is he who does not refuse treatment. This treatment consists of the pain and distress brought on by various misfortunes. He who refuses them does not realize what they accomplish in this world or what he will gain from them when he departs this life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"Without contrition of the heart it is altogether impossible to rid ourselves of evil. Now the heart is made contrite by threefold self-control: in sleep, in food and in bodily relaxation. For excess of these three things leads to self-indulgence; and this in turn makes us accept evil thoughts, and is opposed to prayer and to appropriate work." --St. Kosmas Aitolos

"True hope seeks the one Kingdom of God and is sure that everything necessary for this mortal life will surely be given. The heart cannot have peace until it acquires this hope. This hope pacifies it fully and brings joy to it. The most holy lips of the Savior spoke about this very hope: 'Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'" (Matthew 11:28).” --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"No one in this world is happy unless he has opened wide the gates of his spiritual Jerusalem--his soul--and received God into himself. A godless man feels lonely to despair. The society of others does not make his loneliness go away, but only increases it. However he who has taken God into his soul will never feel lonely even in a desert. No one dies an eternal death other than one in whom God has died." --St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Words from the Saints -- December 31, 2019

"No other book so glorifies God as does the Psalter (Book of Psalms). It profits the soul; it glorifies God together with the angels." --St. Basil the Great

"It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Without sorrows there is no salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven." --St. Jerome "A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ." --St. Herman of Alaska

Words from the Saints -- December 24, 2019

"Guard your mind, and you will not be harassed by temptations. But if you fail to guard it, accept patiently whatever trial comes." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Prayer is a petition for good addressed by the pious to God. But we do not rigidly confine our petition to words. Nor yet do we imagine that God requires to be reminded by speech. He knows our needs even though we ask Him not...I say that we must not think to make our prayer complete by syllables. The strength of prayer lies rather in the purpose of our soul and in deeds of virtue reaching every part and moment of our life." --St. Basil the Great

"Every genuine confession humbles the soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it teaches the soul that it has been delivered by the grace of God." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts or desires; to suppress every evil thought; not to desire to do anything out of self love, but to do everything out of love for God." --St. Innocent of Alaska

Words from the Saints -- December 17, 2019

"Learn something from the Scriptures by heart, and keep your mind focused on it. These things impede the demons from making assaults against us." --St. Nil of Sora

"A man who is truly without possessions is one who has renounced all his worldly goods and has absolutely nothing on earth except his body; and who, breaking his attachment to the body, has entrusted himself to the care of God and of the devout." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"Deeper spiritual knowledge helps the hard-hearted man: for unless he has fear, he refuses to accept the labor of repentance." --St. Mark the Ascetic

Words from the Saints -- December 10, 2019

"He took what is mine in order that He might impart to me what is His. He took it not to overturn it but to fill it." --St. Ambrose of Milan

"God is nearer to us than any man at every time. He is nearer to me than my raiment, nearer than the air or light, nearer than my wife, father, mother, daughter, son, or friend. I live in Him, soul and body. I breathe in Him, think in Him, feel, consider, intend, speak, undertake, work in Him." --St. John of Kronstadt

"If then we have angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also." --St. John Chrysostom

"It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"You who judge others, at some time be also a judge of yourself, look into the recesses of your own conscience; rather, because there is no shame, indeed, in doing wrong, and sin is so committed as if pleasure came rather through sins themselves, do you who are seen clearly and nakedly by all yourself also look upon yourself." --St. Cyprian of Carthage

Words from the Saints -- December 3, 2019

"Prayer does not consist merely in standing and bowing your body or in reading written prayers….it is possible to pray at all times, in all places, with mind and spirit. You can lift up your mind and heart to God while walking, sitting, working, in a crowd and in solitude. His door is always open, unlike man’s. We can always say to Him in our hearts 'Lord, Lord have mercy.'” --St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

"Wickedness is an intricate net; and if someone is careless when partially entangled, he gets completely enmeshed." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Descend into your heart, and there do battle with Satan." --St. Macarius the Great

"If you wish to be in control of your soul and body, forestall the passions by rooting out their causes." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

Words from the Saints -- November 26, 2019

"Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love bears all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love. Love admits of no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in harmony. By love have all the elect of God been made perfect; without love nothing is well-pleasing to God." --St. Clement of Rome

"Let your prayer be completely simple. For both the publican and the prodigal son were reconciled to God by a single phrase." --St. John Climacus

"The man who cries out against evil men, but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God." --St. Silouan of Mt. Athos

"Where there is no prayer and fasting, there are the demons." --St. Theophan the Recluse

"You should know that there is present with you the angel whom God has appointed for each man… This angel, who is sleepless and cannot be deceived, is always present with you; he sees all things and is not hindered by darkness. You should know, too, that with him is God." --St. Anthony the Great

Words from the Saints -- November 19, 2019

"Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude." --St. John Chrysostom

"The Psalms are the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense." --St. Basil the Great

"The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts." --St. John Chrysostom

"When a man grows inwardly and increases in holiness, he is something great and marvelous. But just as the elephant fears the mouse, so the holy man is still afraid of sin. Lest after preaching to others, he himself should be cast away (1 Corinthians 9:27)." --St. John of Karpathos

"You are a man, and yet you spit the venom of a poisonous serpent. You are a man and yet you become like a raging beast. You have been given a mouth not to wound but to heal." --St. John Chrysostom

Words from the Saints -- November 12, 2019

“Every vice leads in the end to forbidden pleasure; and every virtue to spiritual blessing. Each arouses what is akin to it.” --St. Mark the Ascetic

"We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. . .I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!" --St. Tikhon of Voronezh

"The blessedness of seeing God is justly promised to the pure of heart. For the eye that is unclean would not be able to see the brightness of the true light, and what would be happiness to clear minds would be a torment to those that are defiled. Therefore, let the mists of worldly vanities be dispelled, and the inner eye be cleansed of all the filth of wickedness, so that the soul's gaze may feast serenely upon the great vision of God." --St. Leo the Great

"Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord's Day, in which our life is blessed by Him and by His death" --St. Ignatius of Antioch

"Our Lord and Savior shows us this holy will (when our will perfectly says 'Thy will be done...') by giving us the example of its being done in Himself in order to suppress the free will of the flesh in us when He says: 'I have come not to do my own will, but to do the will of the One who sent me.' And again He says in His holy passion: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' This voice of fear in the Lord was that of the flesh He had assumed, and shows us that the acts of life must always be well considered if death to come must be feared." --St. Benedict of Nursia

Words from the Saints -- November 5, 2019

"The help of God is always ready and always near, but is given only to those who seek and work, and only to those seekers who, after putting all their powers to the test, cry out with their whole heart: 'Lord help us!'" --St. Theophan the Recluse

"It is pointless for someone to say that he has faith in God if he does not have the works which go with that faith." --St. Gregory Palamas

"Each time someone accepts humiliation for the sake of Christ's truth he will be glorified a hundredfold by other men. But it is better always to do good for the sake of blessings in the life to come." --St. Mark the Ascetic

Words from the Saints -- October 29, 2019

"Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent." --St. John Climacus

"It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop,...while buying or selling,...or even while cooking." --St. John Chrysostom

"The more you pray to God in times of sorrow, the sooner you will feel His sweet consolation." --St. Anthony of Optina

Words from the Saints -- October 22, 2019

"Life of the soul is union with God, as life of the body is union with the soul. As the soul was separated from God and died in consequence of the violation of the commandment, so by obedience to the commandment it is again united to God and is quickened. This is why the Lord says in the Gospels, 'The words I speak to you are spirit and life' (John 6:63)." --St. Gregory Palamas

"Sin is a blazing fire. The less fuel you give it, the faster it dies down; the more you feed it, the more it burns." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The person who fears the Lord has humility as his constant companion and, through the thoughts which humility inspires, reaches a state of divine love and thankfulness. For he recalls his former worldly way of life, the various sins he has committed and the temptations which have befallen him since his youth; and he recalls, too, how the Lord delivered him from all this, and how He led him away from a passion-dominated life to a life ruled by God. Then, together with fear, he also receives love, and in deep humility continually gives thanks to the Benefactor and Helmsman of our lives." --St. Maximos the Confessor

Words from the Saints -- October 15, 2019

"The Kingdom of Heaven is not a reward for works, but a gift of grace prepared by the Master for His faithful servants." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"How many times have I prayed for what seemed a good thing for me and not leaving it to God to do as He knows best But having obtained what I begged for, I found myself in distress because I had not asked for it to be, rather, according to God's will." --St. Nilus of Sinai

"It is possible to pray at all times, in all places, with mind and spirit. You can lift up your mind and heart to God while walking, sitting, working, in a crowd and in solitude. His door is always open, unlike man’s. We can always say to Him in our hearts 'Lord , Lord have mercy.'" --St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

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Readings for the Week of October 13, 2019

10/13: 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1; Matthew 15:21-28

10/14: Ephesians 4:25-32; Luke 3:19-22

10/15: Ephesians 5:20-26; Luke 3:23-4:1

10/16: Ephesians 5:25-33; Luke 4:1-15

10/17: Ephesians 5:33-6:9; Luke 4:16-22

10/18: Colossians 4:5-9, 14, 18; Luke 10:16-21

10/19: 1 Corinthians 15:39-45; Luke 4:31-36