Even the love of study can make people unbelievably selfish; the passion for research can make men as mad and blind as termites in their dark tunnel.
Letters from the Desert
by Carlo Carretto
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and I repeat again St. Augustine’s words: “Love and do as you will.” Don’t worry about what you ought to do. Worry about loving. Don’t interrogate heaven repeatedly and uselessly saying, “What course of action should I pursue?” Concentrate on loving instead. And by loving you will find out what is for you. Loving, you will listen to the Voice. Loving, you will find peace.
Letters from the Desert
by Carlo Carretto -
When the blessed St. Arsenius was about to depart, the brethren saw him weeping, scared and terrified. His disciples asked him, “Even you fear this hour, O father?” He said unto them, “The dread of this hour has been with me from the time I became a monk.” And so he died.
Abba Arsenius – The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
Bishop Macarius -
When Abba Poemen heard of his repose, he said:
Blessed are you, O Abba Arsenius, for you wept over yourself in this world. For he who does not weep for himself in this world must weep for ever in the next. He may weep here voluntarily, or there because of the punishments [which he will receive], but it is impossible for a man to escape weeping either here or there.Abba Arsenius – The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
Bishop Macarius -
The saint sees that one hour of sleep per day is sufficient for a monk. While many people see that a person must sleep for eight hours per day, some specialists and those who have experience assert that the body, through habit, may be satisfied with less than that, without any effect on the productivity of the person, just like the stomach which gets used to being small or large in size.
Abba Arsenius – The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
Bishop Macarius -
If people don’t either love or hate your work, you just haven’t done all that much.
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The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
