A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Whatever gentleness you use in speaking with others, that very same gentleness will Christ use with you. With whatever measure you measure out to others, with that very same measure will He apportion out to you. Just as you forgive the failings of others, He forgives yours. With whatever love and gentleness you seek Him, likewise will He appear to you.

God always helps. He always comes in time, but patience is necessary. He hears us immediately when we cry out to Him, but not in accordance with our own way of thinking. You think that your voice did not immediately reach the saints, our Panagia, and Christ. On the contrary, even before you cried out, the saints rushed to your aid, knowing that you would call upon them and seek their God-given protection. However, since you do not see beyond what is apparent and do not know how God governs the world, you want your request to be fulfilled like lightning. But this is not how things are. The Lord wants patience. He wants you to show your faith. You cannot just pray like a parrot. It is necessary also to work towards whatever one prays for, and then to learn to wait.

If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.

All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.

Spiritual reading and prayer purify the intellect, while love and self-control purify the soul's passionate aspect.

Unless a man keeps the commandments of God, he cannot progress, even in a single virtue.

If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.

Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart's warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither it.

Live very modestly. Be very humble. Don't speak idly about humility, but be like rubbish for people to step on, if you want Christ to visit you. Your heart needs to become as soft as cotton.

The person who is unaffected by the things of this world loves stillness; and he who loves no human thing loves all men.

Christ allows temptations so that we may be purified of our predispositions.

Struggle until death to fulfill the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.

Strive to love every man equally, and you will simultaneously expel all the passions.

Worldly virtues promote human glory, spiritual virtues the glory of God.

He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.

The life of a man is leavened with afflictions and torments. When you see a little joy in your soul, know that it is a phone call telling you to endure the affliction that will come.

Ascetic exertion, at the personal, family, and parish level, particularly of prayer and fasting, is the characteristic of Orthodoxy.

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Archangel Michael Orthodox Church
5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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440-526-5192 (Phone)