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

Along with an evil thought, a hostile power enters into us, and then the soul is clouded, and evil thoughts harass her.

He who is deprived of repentance is deprived of the delight to come. He who is close to all things is far from repentance.

The zeal which wishes to destroy great evil without appropriate preparation is a great evil in itself.

When a person truly repents, grace approaches at once, and it increases with zeal.

Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.

Repentance signifies regret, change of mind. The distinguishing marks of repentance are contrition, tears, aversion towards sin, and love of the good.

Repentance is real when afterwards you keep trying strenuously to live now as you ought; but without this it is not very effectual, if you repent just to say your sins & to keep on living as before.

Compunction comes when you consider how much you have grieved God Who is so good, so sweet, so merciful, so kind, and entirely full of love; Who was crucified and suffered everything for us. When you meditate on these things and other things the Lord has suffered, they bring compunction.

Woe is he who knowingly chooses to sin with the intention to repent when morning comes, for he knows not what the coming day or the night that precedes it will bring.

He Who before our offence forbids us to sin, after our offence ceases not from waiting for us to repent, He Whom we have rejected calls after us. We have turned away from Him, but He has not turned away from us.

He who has repented travels towards the Lord.

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

Constantly bear in mind that, in the eyes of God, a penitent sinner is preferable to a proud man who has not sinned otherwise than his pride…

Just as the most bitter medicine drives out poisonous things, so prayer joined to fasting drives evil thoughts away.

Those who have sinned must not despair. Let that never be. For we are condemned not for the multitude of evils, but because we do not want to repent...

In words of boastfulness and self-justification there always lie concealed contrariness and pride, from which God turns away. After sinning one ought immediately to 'flee.' But, you will say, where? To the calm haven of heartfelt repentance. Every night before you go to sleep, tell God, the Knower of Hearts, all the sins you have committed in deed, word, and thought, and believe that God receives your heartfelt repentance. At the same time try to render your heart contrite by the memory of sudden death.

Repentance raises the fallen, mourning knocks at the gate of Heaven, and holy humility opens it.

The way to attain compunction is an attentive life. ‘The beginning of repentance comes from the fear of God and attention,’ as the holy martyr Boniface says.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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