The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not those who belong to the “more perfect state,” but those who love and suffer most. This is why they can move ahead of so many others whose lives, apparently, were more successful.
VIRGINITY
A Positive Approach to Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom of Heaven
Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
Category: LOVE
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It may be useful to train oneself, initially, to the notion that
sudden death and Judgment are imminent. This is because
the principle of “love” might not be attractive to a frivolous person while, on the other hand, fear mixed with trust might be a viable starting point; experiencing love will follow.
From Heart to Heart
Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty -
For some there is salvation by fear: we contemplate the threat of punishment in hell and so avoid evil. But the person who is hastening to spiritual perfection rejects fear. Such a disposition is servile, and the person with this disposition does not remain with the master out of love. He stays put out of fear of being scourged.
Then, there are those who conduct themselves virtuously out of the hope of a reward for a life piously lived. They do not possess the good out of love but out of the expectation of recompense.
But the person seeking perfection disdains even rewards: he does not prefer the gift to the one who bestows it. He loves, “with his whole heart and soul and strength, ” him who is the source of all good things. This, then, is the attitude which he commands to the souls of all who listen to him, for he summons us to share his own life.
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The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward.
The perfect person does good through love.
His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does.
He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward.
The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.
—St. Clement of Alexandria, A Perfect Person’s Rule of Life -
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.
The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom
Henri Nouwen -
I don’t know of a single person who after meeting Father Raphael did not afterwards decisively change and turn back to the spiritual life. This is even though, to be honest, Father Raphael could not even manage to utter the simplest of sermons.
Everyday Saints and Other Stories
Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov -
From The Screwtape Letters—a fictional work written from a senior demon’s perspective, advising a junior tempter.
The hatefulness of a hated person is ‘real’—in hatred you see men as they are, you are disillusioned; but the loveliness of a loved person is merely a subjective haze concealing a ‘real’ core of sexual appetite or economic association.
SO GOOD QUOTES 