The unrest incident to youth, the vacillating response to disparate appeals, the insatiable hunger for whatever appears attractive or beautiful will subside, and a steady orientation towards the essential and decisive become dominant.
Supernatural readiness to change should grow with age..
Transformation in Christ
Dietrich von Hildebrand
Category: FAITH
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Whenever the process of the soul’s submission to God reaches its full stride, man will never be able to bear any pleasure, comfort, or corruptive seduction that draws him away from his state of submission to God and his enjoyment of his obedience to him. This is freedom, absolute freedom.
—Matthew the Poor, Orthodox Prayer Life -
90. The man who lives devoutly does not allow evil to slip into his soul; and, no evil being present, his soul is safe from danger and harm. Such a man is dominated neither by demon nor by fate, for God delivers him from all evil and, protected like a god, he lives unharmed. If he is praised, he laughs within himself at those who praise him; if he is execrated, he does not defend himself against those who mock him, and he never gets angry at what they say.
—St Anthony the Great
On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life
One Hundred and Seventy Texts -
53. Those who know God are filled with good impulses; desiring the heavenly, they despise worldly objects. Such men neither like nor are liked by many people. Consequently numbers of idiots not only hate but also ridicule them. And they patiently endure all that comes from their poverty, knowing that what seems to many to be bad, for them is good. For he who comprehends the celestial believes in God, knowing that all are creatures of His will; whereas he who does not comprehend the celestial never believes that the world is a work of God and was made for man’s salvation.
—St Anthony the Great
On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life
One Hundred and Seventy Texts -
“He who has died to all things remembers death, but whoever is still tied to the world does not cease plotting against himself.”
—St. John Climacus -
“If a man has no worries about himself at all for the sake of love toward God and the working of good deeds, knowing that God is taking care of him, this is a true and wise hope.”
—St. Seraphim of Sarov -
It is hard to live in the present. The past and the future keep harassing us. The past with guilt, the future with worries. So many things have happened in our lives about which we feel uneasy, regretful, angry, confused, or, at least, ambivalent. And all these feelings are often colored by guilt. Guilt that says: “You ought to have done something other than what you did; you ought to have said something other than what you said.” These “oughts” keep us feeling guilty about the past and prevent us from being fully present to the moment.
Worse, however, than our guilt are our worries. Our worries fill our lives with “What ifs”: “What if I lose my job, what if my father dies, what if there is not enough money, what if the economy goes down, what if a war breaks out?” These many “ifs” can so fill our mind that we become blind to the flowers in the garden and the smiling children on the streets, or deaf to the grateful voice of a friend.
The real enemies of our life are the “oughts” and the “ifs.” They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful. When Jesus spoke about God, he always spoke about God as being where and when we are. “When you see me, you see God. When you hear me you hear God.” God is not someone who was or will be, but the One who is, and who is for me in the present moment. That’s why Jesus came to wipe away the burden of the past and the worries for the future. He wants us to discover God right where we are, here and now.
—Henri Nouwen -
There are two realities to which you must cling. First, God has promised that you will receive the love you have been searching for. And second, God is faithful to that promise.
So stop wandering around. Instead, come home and trust that God will bring you what you need. Your whole life you have been running about, seeking the love you desire. Now it is time to end that search. Trust that God will give you that all-fulfilling love and will give it in a human way.
—Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom
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Such is our life! Calm and tempest alternate with each other; and time passes, passes, seeking to plunge into the abyss of eternity. Blessed is that swimmer in the sea of life, who often directs his gaze heavenward.
—St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) -
in this case death does not bring separation, but union with Him Who is longed for; for when (a soul) departs , then it is with Christ, as the Apostle says.
On Virginity, Chap. 23
St. Gregory of Nyssa
SO GOOD QUOTES 