SO GOOD QUOTES

Category: TEMPTATION & LUST & VIRGINITY

  • Distress checks sensual pleasure; the fear of punishment withers desire.

    —St. Thalassios the Libyan

  • The experience of suffering afflicts the senses; distress annuls sensual pleasure.

    —St. Thalassios the Libyan

  • Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul.

    —St. Maximos the Confessor, Four-Hundred Texts on Love

  • Or perhaps God wants to give you a period of rest
    from the burden of sin, so that your soul is not swallowed
    up by despair.

    Since the continual succession of falls, drags the sinner to
    despair. That is why God’s mercies reach out to him, giving him rest, even if it is for a short while, and lifts the war from him. Grace protects and supports him, even if it is for some time. So he passes through a period of calmness, in which sin does not trouble him. Not because he has been purified, but because he is not fighting.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • The Value of Adversity

    It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for
    they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not
    to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to
    suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble
    and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward
    appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think
    well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees
    our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly
    in God that he will not need the consolations of men.

    When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and
    tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his
    greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good.
    Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and
    prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that
    he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he
    understands fully that perfect security and complete peace
    cannot be found on earth.

    —Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

  • Worries are less obtrusive when we choose activities that bring us into a state of flow. When we experience flow, we are completely immersed in what we are doing. We are so absorbed in the present moment that time falls away and we forget our worries. A friend of mine is obsessed with ice climbing.  Climbing up a mountain in the bitter cold does not sound like much fun to me, but when she explained why she loves it, I immediately understood. “It forces me to focus only on climbing, because if I don’t I could fall. It’s the only time I forget everything else–all my worries, my work, everything–and just focus on what is right in front of me.” What my friend was describing was the sensation of being in flow.

    A few years ago I took up sewing. I spent hours creating dresses and dance costumes. I was so absorbed in my creations that hours flew by without my noticing. Nowadays, I experience flow most when I’m writing. Instead of sewing fabric, I stitch together ideas. When I’m immersed in a writing project, I can’t think about anything else.  Writing gives me plenty of footholds to climb out of all the dark places my thoughts want to go. Other introverts might feel this way when they are playing the piano, gardening, or cooking. Anything that fully immerses us in the present moment will also give us respite from our worries.

    —Michaela Chung, The Irresistible Introvert

  • Frankl went on to say it wasn’t pleasure mankind was looking for, that men only sought pleasure when they couldn’t find meaning. If a man has no sense of meaning, Frankl argued, he will numb himself with pleasure.

    —Donald Miller, Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy

  • “So in every test, let us say: ‘Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation.’”

    —Elder Paisios of Mount Athos

  • “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

  • “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