“The thought that is contained within your mind is under your control. If you spread it, it becomes under people’s control; it has gone out of your domain to a wider domain in which it and you will be judged”
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Avoid not only impure deeds, but even words, so that you may be a pure and undefiled man not only in your deeds, but also in your words.
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The spiritual person is socially successful, loved by all, at the same time, he uses a correct spiritual and faultless way.
It is easy for a spiritual person to train himself to be silent so that he would not err by the tongue… Stronger than him is the spiritual person who talks, not only without fault, but in a positive way to benefit others. He is a tactful speaker whose talk people enjoy…
It is quite easy for a spiritual person to abstain from joking and become always serious. Few will be able to harmonise with his continual seriousness. They will be pleased to see a spiritual person who is at the same time cheerful and happy, laughs with them without any fault on his side or theirs.
Spirituality does not mean being grave, it turns people off…
Spirituality has nothing to do with isolation from society and its faults. Otherwise, religion would not be good for society…
To become adapted to society is a side of spirituality. It is a higher level than the social. It is not wise for some to put it on a lower level, or else that could be one way of self-centeredness…
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, WORDS OF SPIRITUAL BENEFIT VOL. II
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Among the items that waste time are friendships and spending too much time in speaking about what is beneficial and non-beneficial (more so in what is non-beneficial). It is rare for two people to sit together and build each other speak of what is mutually beneficial.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us -
Among the items that waste time is for the mind to replay what it saw during the day. It finds audiovisual flashbacks of the entire past: discussions, images, actions, meetings, and conversations, as well as the mind’s consequent inferences— this consumes a great amount of time.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us -
For myself, I am working to make voluntary what will eventually happen anyway. Learning to bear my own company and seeking to bear the company of God are proper to this time. I am noticing some changes. For example, I can barely stand to have the radio or music playing in the car when I’m driving – they’re distractions. I’d rather pray. Nevertheless, the noise of my ADD-addled brain provides ample distraction by itself most of the time. What to do with that noise is a matter of constant learning.
Slowing Down for the Necessary Thing
ARCHPRIEST STEPHEN FREEMAN
SO GOOD QUOTES 