SO GOOD QUOTES

Category: JUDGMENT

  • He does not search people’s intentions and inner purposes, which God alone knows.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Fruits of the Spirit

  • Many take actions that they later on regret, either due to its bad results or because their conscience troubles them and turns against them. It could also be that they fail to put matters back to the way they were before taking these wrong actions. 

    The regret increases more as the person realises the horror of his sin and the greatness of his guilt, just like Judas, and as Cain said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” (Gen. 4:13). 

    The regret also increases when one realises that it is of no use. For example, a word is said and nobody can get it back, or take it out of the ears of those who heard it, no matter how the person apologises. 

    Wrong deeds that one regrets could be the result of rashness, hastiness and lack of consideration. It could also be due to lack of consultation before taking such action. The terrible and wrong deed could also be the outcome of anger, inner revolution, loss of self-control, ignoring the results or not giving them a thought completely. 

    As one regrets what he does hastily and without consultation, he may also regret giving in to his desires and passions, without putting God before him and without considering his dignity as an image of God. 

    One may also regret not taking the future into account when he acted carelessly in a light, and lazy manner. 

    Nevertheless, regret has its benefit, as it leads one to repentance, correcting his lifestyle. It also has another benefit, as it leads one to a life of humility and contrition. That is what happened with the prophet David, who every night, drenched his couch with his tears. It also happened to St. Paul, the Apostle, who says, “… I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.” (1 Cor. 15:9). 

    Regret could be of benefit here, but in eternity it turns into torment. There wouldn’t be repentance, as the time of repentance would be over, “… and the door was shut …” as in the parable of the foolish virgins who heard the Lord saying, “I do not know you.” (Matt. 25:10). The regret here turned into “.. weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 25:30). 

    Struggle then while you are on earth before it is too late when regret wouldn’t be of benefit. That is the share of those who do not labour now, as the poet says:

    If you did not sow and watched a reaper – 

    You shall regret for wasting the time of sowing.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Words of Spiritual Benefit Vol. IV

  • Light or darkness will never be hidden. Whatever is within us, will be known. As much as we try to hide, it will be known.

    —Fr. Daniel Fanous

  • Some, I know not why (for I have not learned to pry conceitedly into the gifts of God) are by nature, I might say, prone to temperance, or silence, or purity, or modesty, or meekness, or contrition. But others, although almost their own nature itself resists them in this, to the best of their power force themselves; and though they occasionally suffer defeat yet, as men struggling with nature, they are in my opinion higher than the former.

    St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent

  • The parable about the talents offers the thought that life is a time for trading.

    That means that it is necessary to hasten to use this time as a person would hurry to a market to bargain for what he can. Even if one has only brought bast shoes, or only bast, (very inexpensive, unsophisticated items) he does not sit with his arms folded, but contrives to call over buyers to sell what he has and then buy for himself what he needs.

    No one who has received life from the Lord can say that he does not have a single talent—everyone has something, and not just one thing; everyone, therefore, has something with which to trade and make a profit.

    Do not look around and calculate what others have received, but take a good look at yourself and determine more precisely what lies in you and what you can gain for that which you have, and then act according to this plan without laziness.

    At the Judgment you will not be asked why you did not gain ten talents if you had only one, and you will not even be asked why you gained only one talent on your one, but you will be told that you gained a talent, half a talent or a tenth of its worth.

    And the reward will not be because you received the talents, but because you gained.

    There will be nothing with which to justify yourself—not with nobleness, nor poverty, nor lack of education. When this is not given, there will be no question about it.

    But you had hands and feet. You will be asked, what did you gain with them?

    You had a tongue, what did you gain with it?

    In this way will the inequalities of earthly states be leveled out at God’s judgment.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, Thoughts for Each Day of the Year: According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God

  • The almsgiver is a harbor for those in necessity: a harbor receives all who have encountered shipwreck, and frees them from danger; whether they are bad or good or whatever they are who are in danger, it escorts them into its own shelter. So you likewise, when you see on earth the man who has encountered the shipwreck of poverty, do not judge him, do not seek an account of his life, but free him from his misfortune. God has excused you from all officiousness and meddlesomeness… . A judge is one thing, an almsgiver is another.

    —St. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty

  • Is it less grave to steal silver than gold, because silver is less valuable than gold? From the point of view of the victim, the loss of silver is less grave. But for the perpetration of the crime, there is no difference.

    —St. John Chrysostom, On Living Simply

  • “We can find something edifying in everybody’s life. Even the worst thief has something good in him.”

    —Elder Thaddeus of Serbia

  • 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

  • “Our starting point is always wrong. Instead of beginning with ourselves, we always want to change others first and ourselves last. If everyone were to begin first with themselves, then there would be peace all around!”

    —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives