• Do whatever falls to your hands, in your circle and in your situation– and believe that this is and will be your true work; nothing more from you is expected.

    …
    It is a great error to think that you must undertake important and great labours, whether for heaven, or, as the progressives think, in order to make one’s contribution to humanity.

    …
    That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord’s commandments.

    …
    Just exactly what is to be done? Nothing in particular, just that which presents itself to each one according to the circumstances of his life, and which is demanded by the individual events with which each of us meets.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Spiritual Life

  • Think nothing and do nothing without a purpose directed to God. For to journey without direction is wasted effort.

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

  • Take the trouble to spend only one single day according to God’s commandments, and you will see yourself, you will feel by your own heart, how good it is to fulfill God’s will.

    —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

  • When you see that you’re making no progress in your spiritual life, don’t despair. But neither should you be content with whatever progress you may have already made.

    —Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Mount Athos

  • Don’t wage your Christian struggle with sermons and arguments, but with true love. When we argue, others react. When we love people, they are moved and we win them over. When we love we think that we offer something to others, but in reality we are the first to benefit.

    —Elder Porphyrios

  • Do not consider great the missionary to Africa or the significant inventor. Great is the little person who forbears the madness, the injustice, the persecution, the pain of his neighbor and of his own life.

    —Monk Moses the Athonite

  • Let books be your dining table,
    And you shall be full of delights.
    Let them be your mattress,
    And you shall sleep restful nights.

    —St. Ephrem the Syrian

  • When we are impatient, we experience the present moment as empty and we want to move away from it. Much of our commercial culture skillfully exploits our impatience and tempts us to move toward the “real thing,” which is always somewhere else or at some other time.

    —Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

  • A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience comes from the Latin verb patior, which means “to suffer.” Waiting patiently is suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the fullest in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.

    —Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

  • Whenever there is a lack of clarity or ambiguous circumstances, it is time to wait. Active waiting is essential to the spiritual life. In our mostly active lives and fast-paced culture, waiting is not a popular pastime. It is not something we anticipate or experience with great joy. In fact, most of us consider it a waste of time.

    —Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life