• 169. SPARE TIME

    The one who knows the value of time would use it for his benefit. This person would never have spare time, because his time will never be enough for the responsibilities that he has.

    The one with spare time must have empty space in his life that has not been filled yet. Having emptiness in life, in aim or in ambition is really a sad matter!

    Therefore, those with great endeavours never have spare time.

    Those with ambitions in life. either spiritual or academic or even materialistic would have no spare time.

    Spare time is the result of man’s failure to know how to use his time. Once he does, this problem would not be there any more.

    The problem of spare time could face the old or those who reached the retiring age and thought that their message in life has ended. Their life became without job and without aim!

    Those people need to search for a job so their world does not become boring and a burden on them.

    The spiritual concept of using the spare time is not to look for a way to pass time! It is looking for a way to benefit from time.

    Time is a part of life and it is unlawful to kill it or waste it uselessly.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Words of Spiritual Benefit Vol. IV

  • “A bad word makes even good people bad, but a good word turns even bad people into good.”

    +Saint Macarius of Egypt

  • A hermit said, “This is the monastic life: not to live with the wicked, not to see evil, not to be inquisitive, not to be curious, not to listen to gossip, not to use the hands for taking, but for giving; not to be proud in heart or bad in thought, not to fill the belly, in everything to judge wisely.  That is the life of the true monk.”

    The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
    Benedicta Ward

  • “For I have often seen people who had offended God and were not in the least perturbed about it. And I have seen how those same people provoked their friends in some trifling matter and then employed every artifice, every device, every sacrifice, every apology, both personally and through friends and relatives, not sparing gifts, in order to regain their former love.”

    — St. John Climacus

  • “How do we know if thoughts come to us
    from God, or from the devil? What should
    we do if thoughts of our failings and sins
    are presented to us? The Fathers give a
    simple rule: if the thought of a past failing
    discourages us to the point of depression,
    draining all our energy and zeal, tempting
    us to quit every struggle for virtue, or to
    remain complacent, it is from the devil. If,
    however, the sorrow such a thought brings
    gives us a desire to change, energy to
    repent, fast, pray, forgive, etc., it is from
    God. St Paul himself talks about these two
    sorrows: one which is worldly, and brings
    death; one which is godly, and brings zeal
    and energy to change (2 Cor 7:10).”

    — Hieromonk Calinic (Berger)

  • “Sometimes what serves as a medicine for one is poison for another; and sometimes something given to one and the same person at a suitable time serves as a medicine, but at the wrong time it is a poison.”

    —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent

  • “You should know that you have been greatly benefited when you have suffered deeply because of some insult or indignity; for by means of the indignity self-esteem has been driven out of you.”

    — St. Maximos the Confessor

  • “We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us, neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much.”

    — Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

  • “When you observe some thought suggesting that you seek human fame, you can be sure it will bring you disgrace.”

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

  • … the same saint may say one thing about a certain matter today, and another tomorrow; and yet there is no contradiction, provided the hearer has knowledge and experience of the matter under discussion. Again, one saint may say one thing and another something different about the same passage of the Holy Scriptures, since divine grace often gives varying interpretations suited to the particular person or moment in question. The only thing required is that everything said or done should be said or done in accordance with God’s intention, and that it should be attested by the words of Scripture. For should anyone preach anything contrary to God’s intention or contrary to the nature of things, then even if he is an angel St. Paul’s words, ‘Let him be accursed’ (Gal. 1:8), will apply to him.

    —St. Peter of Damaskos (The Philokalia Vol. 3; Faber and Faber pg. 207)