“When you think of the mystical experience of many saints, you may ask yourself whether joy and suffering aren’t aspects of the same phenomenon on a very high level. An analogy, crazy for sure, comes to mind: extreme cold burns. It seems nearly certain, no, it is certain, that we can only go to God through suffering and that this suffering becomes joy because it finally is the same thing.”
—Jacques Maritain
Category: SUFFERING & TRIBULATION
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It is surprising that many speak only of pains in sickness: without mentioning the blessings and benefits of sickness! Some could reach a state of grumble and distress, and even they could ask God “Why have you done all this to me?” But you should not be like that. But in your sickness you thank God for the blessings you received because of this sickness: Say to Him, I thank you God for this sickness, which gave me more time for prayer or repentance and granted me humbleness and broken heart and a feeling of my weakness. I thank you God for this sickness which made me feel the love of people. I thank you because this sickness gave me a period of isolation which I spent in bed – which was necessary to me – at least to search out my soul and be with you.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Thanksgiving -
“So in every test, let us say: ‘Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation.’”
—Elder Paisios of Mount Athos -
“The natural property of the lemon tree is such that it lifts its branches upwards when it has no fruit, but the more the branches bend down the more fruit they bear. Those who have the mind to understand will grasp the meaning of this.”
—St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent -
“Those who have been humbled by their passions may take courage. For even if they fall into every pit and are trapped in all the snares and suffer all maladies, yet after their restoration to health they become physicians, beacons, lamps, and pilots for all, teaching us the habits of every disease and from their own personal experience able to prevent their neighbours from falling.”
—St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent -
If, desirous of bringing them to self-knowledge and of leading them to the right path of perfection, God sends them afflictions and sickness, or allows them to be persecuted, by which means He habitually tests His true and real servants, this test immediately shows what is hidden in their hearts, and how deeply they are corrupted by pride. For whatever affliction may visit them, they refuse to bend their necks to the yoke of God’s will and to trust in His righteous and secret judgments. They do not want to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Who humbled Himself and suffered for our sakes, and they refuse to be humble, to consider themselves the lowest of all creatures, and to regard their persecutors as their good friends, the tools of the divine bounty shown to them and helpers in their salvation.
—Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare -
The prophet Jeremiah says that our waiting on God should be characterized by hope and quietness:
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26)
How are you waiting? Patiently or impatiently? Quietly or complainingly? With hope or with despair? It might just be that HOW you’re waiting will impact HOW LONG you’re waiting as well.
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“Just as a man with fever has no right to commit suicide, so till our very last breath we must never give up hope.”
—St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent -
“No matter how much the waves of temptation rise up against your soul, always hasten to Christ. The Saviour will always come to your aid and will calm the waves. Believe that the Lord has providentially arranged such experiences for your soul’s healing and do not reject them, seeking bodily peace and imaginary tranquility, for it is better to be shaken and yet to endure. If you will gain an insight from this, it will greatly lighten your struggle and you will gain more peace than if you do not.”
—St. Leo of Optina
SO GOOD QUOTES 