Category: HUMILITY

  • There are many disciples of Christ who can justly claim that they are indifferent to material possessions. They happily live in simple huts, wear rough woolen clothes, eat frugally, and give away the bulk of their fortunes. These same people can justly claim that they are indifferent to worldly power. They happily work in the most humble capacities, performing menial tasks, with no desire for high rank. But there may still be one earthly attribute to which they cling: reputation. They may wish to be regarded by others as virtuous. They may want to be admired for their charity, their honesty, their integrity, their self-denial. They may not actually draw people’s attention to these qualities, but they are pleased to know that others respect them. Thus when someone falsely accuses them of some wrongdoing, they react with furious indignation. They protect their reputation with the same ferocity as the rich people protect their gold. Giving up material possessions and worldly power is easy compered with giving up reputation. To be falsely accused and yet to remain spiritually serene is the ultimate test of faith.

    On Living Simply
    St. John Chrysostom

  • And once I begin to realize that my own life is a life full of compromise, a life full of little steps toward the Kingdom of Heaven (a calling that I fall so miserable short of), then I will start to have compassion on others. You know, there are some sins I have never tempted with. Drunkenness, for example, has never been a temptation to me. There are some commands of Christ that are less difficult for me to fulfil than others—mostly, it seems, because I am seldom seriously tested in those areas. And, surprise, surprise, it seems that the sins that are not struggles for me are the very sins that I find most offensive in others. The commandments that are least difficult for me to understand and strive to keep are the very ones that cause the most offence in me when others do not seem to keep them. I find this phenomenon quite predictable, at least in myself.

    But when I keep myself aware of the many and great compromises in my life, the great distance between the life I actually live and the life in the Kingdom of Heaven I strive to enter, then it is easier for me to have compassion on others. When I realize that there are whole swaths of disobedience to Christ’s commands in my life, whole areas where the teaching of Christ has made little or no impact, then it is easier for me to be compassionate on the blindness of others.

    Your Kingdom Come: Look To The Monastics
    Fr. Michael Gillis

  • Often the Lord allows the enemy to surprise us, and we wonder: what has happened to us? The Lord permits these things to happen in order that we might realize we are nothing and the trust we place in ourselves is nothing. We must learn to never ascribe any merit to ourselves.

    Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

  • “The more we look at ourselves, the less we see.”

    —Fr. Michael Gillis
    Praying In The Rain, What is Worth Living For? A Response

  • Once again, be silent! Let no one notice what you are about. You are working for the Invisible One; let your work be invisible.

    Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
    Tito Colliander

  • “If you do good, you must do it only for God. For this reason you must pay no attention to the ingratitude of people. Expect a reward not here, but from the Lord in heaven. If you expect it here — it will be in vain and you will endure deprivation.”

    —St. Ambrose of Optina

  • In writing down my thought, it sometimes escapes me; but this makes me remember my weakness, that I constantly forget. This is as instructive to me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to know my nothingness.

    —Blaise Pascal, Pensées

  • “The older you grow, the more quiet you become. Life humbles you gradually as you age.”

    —Marc Chernoff

  • If a man has reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense to what has been told you, but reply, “The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.”

    —Epictetus, Enchiridion

  • “Believe that others are better than you in the depths of their soul, although outwardly you may appear better than they.”

    —St. Augustine