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

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

But let thine apparel be plain, not for adornment, but for necessary conversing: not to minister to thy vanity, but to keep thee warm in winter, and to hide the unseemliness of the body: lest under the pretence of hiding the unseemliness, thou fall under another kind of unseemliness by thy extravagant dress.

Though remission of sins is given equally to all, the communion of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in proportion to each man's faith. If you have labored little, you receive little; but if you have wrought much, the reward is great. You are running for yourself, see to your own interest.

The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.

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

Do not neglect the practice of the virtues; if you do, your spiritual knowledge will decrease, and when famine occurs you will go down into Egypt (Genesis 41:57, 46:6).

Apt silence bridles anger.

The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer, and spiritual reading.

'And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.' For we have many sins. For we offend both in word and in thought, and very many things we do worthy of condemnation; and 'if we say that we have no sin' (I Jn. 1:8), we lie, as John says...The offenses committed against us are slight and trivial, and easily settled; but those which we have committed against God are great, and need such mercy as His only is. Take heed, therefore, lest for the slight and trivial sins against you, you shut out for yourself forgiveness from God for your very grievous sins.

Apt silence bridles anger.

Having filled himself with pride, the Antichrist will begin to set himself up and glorify himself as God, belching forth slander against Christ. He will do this so openly that he will command that all those who do not want to serve him as God be killed.

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

Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.

It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.

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

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

Pray before your body takes rest on your bed... If you are tempted, make the Sign (of the Cross) on your forehead reverently… for this is a known and tested weapon against the Devil.

Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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