A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God?
So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, charity. A psalm is a city of refuge from the demons, a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from toils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women.
It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with God.
For, a psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense.
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“It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”
—Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles -
Know that the desire to be perfect is probably the veiled expression of another desire—to be loved, perhaps,
How to Be Perfect
by RON PADGETT -
“You’re unhappy because you’re not in alignment with who you are. Not because of what anyone else is doing.”
—Maryam Hasnaa -
“Believe that others are better than you in the depths of their soul, although outwardly you may appear better than they.”
—St. Augustine -
Abba Paphnutius, the disciple of Abba Macarius [the city-dweller], said that the elder used to say: “When I was a child, I and the other children used to pasture cattle and they went off to steal some figs. One [fig] fell as they were running along: I took it and ate it and, when I recall that, I sit weeping.”
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
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Abba Joseph says to Abba Nisteros: “What am I to do with my tongue for I cannot control it?” The elder said to him: “So when you speak, do you experience repose?” “No,” he said to him, and the elder said: “If you do not experience repose, why do you speak? Better to keep quiet; and if a conversation is taking place, hear a great deal rather than speak.”
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
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“If you want to find rest in this life and the next, say at every moment, ‘Who am I?’ and judge no one.”
—Abba Poemen -
“Run away the first time; run away the second time; the third time, become a sword.”
—Abba Poemen
SO GOOD QUOTES 