The ability to tolerate one’s neighbor is the wisdom of life. One should perceive one’s neighbor as he is. Do you want him to be better? Pray for him. God can make him better. This is how Christian patience manifests itself.
—Metropolitan Onuphry
Category: PRAYER
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You seem unduly distressed about your relations’ disapproval of your actions. Why this great agitation? Since in all conscience you are certain of not being responsible for their hostile attitude to you, and since you are sure you have done nothing to induce them to feel or think as they do, be at peace. Be at peace and pray for them. We cannot persuade all that our actions are right, our motives pure. Everyone has his own way of approaching life, his own ideas on most things.
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To the extent that you pray with all your soul for the person who slanders you, God will make the truth known to those who have been scandalized by the slander.
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It is a kind of self-projection of our own when we insist on other people becoming good. In reality, we wish to become good, but because we are unable to, we demand it of others and insist on this. And whereas all things are corrected through prayer, we often are distressed or become outraged and pass judgment on others.
—Elder St Porphyrios, ‘Wounded by Love’ -
He talks about healing a wound, and does not stop irritating it. He complains of sickness, and does not stop eating what is harmful. He prays against it, and immediately goes and does it. And when he has done it, he is angry with himself; and the wretched man is not ashamed of his own words. “I am doing wrong,” he cries, and eagerly continues to do so. His mouth prays against his passion, and his body struggles for it. He philosophizes about death, but he behaves as if he were immortal. He groans over the separation of soul and body, but drowses along as if he were eternal. He talks of temperance and self-control, but he lives for gluttony. He reads about the judgment and begins to smile. He reads about vainglory, and is vainglorious while actually reading. He repeats what he has learned about vigil, and drops asleep on the spot. He praises prayer, but runs from it as from the plague. He blesses obedience, but he is the first to disobey. He praises detachment, but he is not ashamed to be spiteful and to fight for a rag. When angered he gets bitter, and he is angered again at his bitterness; and he does not feel that after one defeat he is suffering another. Having overeaten he repents, and a little later again gives way to it. He blesses silence, and praises it with a spate of words. He teaches meekness, and during the actual teaching frequently gets angry. Having woken from passion he sighs, and shaking his head, he again yields to passion. He condemns laughter, and lectures on mourning with a smile on his face. Before others he blames himself for being vainglorious, and in blaming himself is only angling for glory for himself. He looks people in the face with passion, and talks about chastity. While frequenting the world, he praises the solitary life, without realizing that he shames himself. He extols almsgivers, and reviles beggars. All the time he is his own accuser, and he does not want to come to his senses—I will not say cannot.
—St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent -
Why do we rush to a lavish table? Because we know the meaning of material food from experience. Why do we not rush to church, but try to come a little later, when a significant portion of the Divine services are already over? Because we do not know from experience the meaning of prayer, which is food for the soul, and which imparts spiritual strength to the soul.
—St. Ignatius Brianchanivov -
For the body that fasts cannot endure to sleep upon its pallet all the night through. Fasting naturally incites wakefulness unto God, not only during the day, but also at night. For the empty body of a faster is not greatly wearied by the battle against sleep. And even if his senses are weakened, his mind is wakeful unto God in prayer. It is better for a man to desist from his liturgy because of weakness due to fasting, than because of sloth due to eating.
—St. Isaac the Syrian -
When they pray, they feel God’s hand comforting them.
And so even though they’re alone, they’re not alone, and I feel like that’s a lesson for all of us. So when loneliness starts to creep in, I feel like when we start to feel lonely, we need to take advantage of that feeling and think about how we can sit in the presence of Christ. So the next time you feel lonely, don’t surrender to that feeling of loneliness. Turn it into a moment of fellowship with God. Read the Scripture. Turn it into a moment of prayer. Invite the Lord to compete with you, to join you, to have fellowship with the saints. And I feel like our church cherishes their relationship with Christ so much that they wanted to spend all their time with the Lord. You know Saint Anthony, his famous line, his famous expression is, I want to be alone with with Thee alone, and he wants to have quiet time with God. So the next time we have this feeling that we’re lonely and isolated, take it as an opportunity to be alone with Thee alone. Open your Bible, read the passage from the Gospel, encounter the love of Christ. And I feel like this encounter will energize you. The promises of God will give you power.
And I feel like if we did this, we will never feel alone. Jesus is with me all the day, all the way.
