In the case of physical illness, even if doctors tell us it is beyond hope, we do all we can to save the body. But on the other hand, when it comes to the spirit and its maladies, for which recovery is never beyond reach, we plunge into despair as if there is nothing we can do. Focusing on your spirit more than your body will save both; focusing on just the body will cause you to lose both.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
ON REPENTANCE & DEFEATING DESPAIR
Letters to Theodore
Category: VAINGLORY
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if He had placed corporeal beauty also under our control we should have been subjected to excessive anxiety, and should have wasted all our time upon things which are of no profit, and should have grievously neglected our soul.
For if, even as it is, when we have not this power in ourselves, we make intense efforts, and give ourselves up to shadow painting, and because we cannot in reality produce bodily beauty, we cunningly devise imitations by means of paints, and dyes, and dressing of hair, and arrangement of garments, and penciling of eyebrows, and many other contrivances, what leisure should we have set apart for the soul and serious matters, if we had it in our power to transfigure the body into a really symmetrical shape? For probably, if this were our business, we should not have any other, but should spend all our time upon it, adorning the bondmaid with countless decorations, but letting her who is the mistress of this bondmaid lie perpetually in a state of deformity and neglect.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
ON REPENTANCE & DEFEATING DESPAIR
Letters to Theodore -
Whoever writes should put in his mind before writing what consequences, effects and reactions are likely to result from it. A piece of writing is something for which one is responsible before, one’s conscience, before God and before its readers. Blessed is the person who writes with his conscience before his pen. And blessed is he whose writing can call forth nobility and not sharp arrows of animosity. No one ought to write and publish without considering the possible reactions to his work, or just to achieve some personal gain.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life
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Maybe you think that you are more tempted by arrogance than by self-rejection. But isn’t arrogance, in fact, the other side of self-rejection? Isn’t arrogance putting yourself on a pedestal to avoid being seen as you see yourself? Isn’t arrogance, in the final analysis, just another way of dealing with the feelings of worthlessness? Both self-rejection and arrogance pull us out of the common reality of existence and make a gentle community of people extremely difficult, if not impossible, to attain. I know too well that beneath my arrogance there lies much self-doubt, just as there is a great mount of pride hidden in my self-rejection. Whether I am inflated or deflated, I lose touch with my truth and distort my vision of reality.
—Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
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We come to realize that what previously seemed so important for our lives, loses its power over us. Our desire to be successful, well liked, and influential becomes increasingly less important as we come closer to God’s heart. To our surprise, we even may experience a strange inner freedom to follow a new call or direction as previous concerns move into the background of our consciousness.
—Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life
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“Just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn’t make it right. I’m ashamed of it. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I’m sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a splash.”
—Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger(via Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation)
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“Much time had I spent in vanity, and had wasted nearly all my youth in vain labour.”
—St. Basil the Great -
“When we fulfill the commandments in our outward actions, we receive from the Lord what is appropriate; but any real benefit we gain depends on our inward intention.”
—St. Mark the Ascetic -
There are many disciples of Christ who can justly claim that they are indifferent to material possessions. They happily live in simple huts, wear rough woolen clothes, eat frugally, and give away the bulk of their fortunes. These same people can justly claim that they are indifferent to worldly power. They happily work in the most humble capacities, performing menial tasks, with no desire for high rank. But there may still be one earthly attribute to which they cling: reputation. They may wish to be regarded by others as virtuous. They may want to be admired for their charity, their honesty, their integrity, their self-denial. They may not actually draw people’s attention to these qualities, but they are pleased to know that others respect them. Thus when someone falsely accuses them of some wrongdoing, they react with furious indignation. They protect their reputation with the same ferocity as the rich people protect their gold. Giving up material possessions and worldly power is easy compered with giving up reputation. To be falsely accused and yet to remain spiritually serene is the ultimate test of faith.
—St. John Chrysostom, On Living Simply
SO GOOD QUOTES 