Category: FAITH

  • this displays the bright aspect of the Church: that having received her enemy as a captive, she spares him, and when all have despised him in his desolation, she alone like an affectionate mother has concealed him under her cloak, opposing both the wrath of the emperor and the rage of the people and their overwhelming hatred.

    Saint John Chrysostom
    HOMILY ONE, On Eutropios the eunuch, patrician, and consul
    On the Vanity of Riches

  • Consider what privileges you enjoy who have been initiated into the Mysteries, with what company you offer up that mystic hymn, with what company you cry aloud the “Thrice Holy Hymn.” Teach “them that are without” that you have joined the chorus of the Seraphim, that you are ranked as a citizen of the commonwealth above, that you have been enrolled in the choir of angels, that you have conversed with the Lord, that you have been in the company of Christ. If we regulate ourselves in this way we shall not need to say anything when we go out to those who are left behind: but from our advantage they will perceive their own loss and will hasten hither, so as to enjoy the same benefits themselves. For when, merely by the use of their senses, they see the beauty of your soul shining forth, even if they are the most stupid of men, they will become enamored of your goodly appearance. For if corporeal beauty excites those who behold it, much more will symmetry of soul be able to move the spectator and stimulate him to equal zeal. Let us then adorn our inward man, and let us be mindful of the things which are said here when we go out: for there especially is it a proper time to remember them. And just as an athlete displays in the lists the things which he has learned in the training school, even so ought we to display in our transactions in the outside world the things which we have heard here.

    Saint John Chrysostom
    If Thine Enemy Hunger, Feed Him
    Homilies on Profitable Subjects

  • Do you not know that if you come and worship God and take part in the work which goes on here, the business you have on hand is made much easier for you? Have you worldly anxieties? Come here on that account that by the time you spend here you may win for yourself the favor of God, and so depart with a sense of security; that you may have Him for your ally, that you may become invincible to the demons because you are assisted by the heavenly hand. If you have the benefit of prayers uttered by the fathers, if you take part in common prayer, if you listen to the divine oracles, if you win for yourself the aid of God, if, armed with these weapons, you then go forth, not even the devil himself will be able henceforth to look you in the face, much less wicked men who are eager to insult and malign you.

    But if you go from your house to the market place and are found destitute of these weapons, you will be easily mastered by all who insult you.

    This is the reason why both in public and private affairs, many things occur contrary to our expectation, because we have not been diligent about spiritual things in the first place, and secondarily about the secular, but have inverted the order.

    For this reason, also the proper sequence and right arrangement of things has been upset, and all our affairs are full of much confusion.

    Saint John Chrysostom
    If Thine Enemy Hunger, Feed Him
    Homilies on Profitable Subjects

  • Now if after thirty-eight years he was thus meek and gentle, when all the vigor and strength of his reasoning faculties was broken down, consider what he is likely to have been at the outset of his trouble. For be assured that invalids are not so hard to please at the beginning of their disorder, as they are after a long lapse of time: they become most intractable, most intolerable to all, when the malady is prolonged. But as he, after so many years, was so wise and replied with so much forbearance, it is quite clear that during the previous time also he had been bearing that calamity with much thankfulness.

    Saint John Chrysostom
    On the Two Paralytics in the Gospels
    Homilies on Profitable Subjects

  • I was becoming more miserable, and Thou nearer.

    Confessions
    St. Augustine

  • Reasons and wisdom behind the alleged delay:
    3. The reason might be to test our faith

    It is a test for us whether we become worried when our prayers are not responded to immediately, whether we grumble, resort to a human being, complain to others, blaspheme, or we wait with faith, hope, and trust. It is a test from God to our faith, and a test from us to ourselves so that we may be able to treat any weakness that may be found in us.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Hope

  • Believe that in days of sorrow He is sowing light for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Look forward to the reaping. Anticipate the joy which is set before you, and shall flood your heart with minstrel notes when patience has had her perfect work.

    You will live to recognize the wisdom of God’s choice for you. You will one day see that the thing you wanted was only second best. You will be surprised to remember that you once nearly broke your heart and spilt the wine of your life, for what would never have satisfied you, if you had caught it, as the child the butterfly or soap-bubble. You will meet again your beloved. You will have again your love. You will become possessed of a depth of character, a breadth of sympathy, a fund of patience, an ability to understand and help others, which, as you lay them at Christ’s feet for Him to use, will make you glad that you were afflicted.

    The Gift of Suffering
    by F.B. Meyer

  • God does not show us the whole plan of our life at a burst, but unfolds it to us bit by bit. Each day He gives us the opportunity of weaving a curtain, carving a peg, fashioning the metal. We know not what we do. But at the end of our life the disjointed pieces will suddenly come together, and we shall see the symmetry and beauty of the Divine thought. Then we shall be satisfied. In the meantime let us believe that God’s love and wisdom are doing the very best for us.

    The Gift of Suffering
    by F.B. Meyer

  • You felt you were Christ’s companion; that He was using you, and there was a constant interchange of holy fellowship between Him and you. But for some reason which you cannot understand the morning light has died out of your life, and instead of your sitting with Christ upon the throne, in the conscious enjoyment of fellowship with Him, you have been brought down into the very dust of neglect and forsakenness; and for a long time now you have been saying, “My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?” You cannot imagine why. The probability is, that in your case it is not the result of any sin on your part, or of any neglect of your duties, but because God is desirous of ascertaining whether you love Him for the light of His face or for Himself.

    The Gift of Suffering
    by F.B. Meyer

  • Every means has proved powerless, every path too short. God’s impenetrable night wraps round us. Terrible loneliness accompanies us, but this is necessary and inevitable. Every word of consolation seems like a lie. One believes one has been abandoned by God.

    Letters from the Desert
    by Carlo Carretto