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

Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; love God, and you will attain spiritual knowledge.

Almsgiving heals the soul's incensive power; fasting withers sensual desire; prayer purifies the intellect and prepares it for contemplation of created beings. For the Lord has given us commandments which correspond to the powers of the soul.

A little fire softens a large piece of wax. So, too, a small indignity often softens, sweetens and wipes away suddenly all the fierceness, insensibility & hardness of our heart.

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

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

It is a sin to spend time idly.

One who lives in idleness sins continually.

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

Strive to walk worthily of the vocation to which you were called.

Most of us call ourselves sinners, and perhaps really think it; but it is indignity that tests the heart.

Ease and idleness are the destruction of the soul and they can injure her more than the demons.

The roof of any house stands upon the foundations and the rest of the structure. The foundations themselves are laid in order to carry the roof. This is both useful and necessary, for the roof cannot stand without the foundations and the foundations are absolutely useless without the roof-- no help to any living creature. In the same way the grace of God is preserved by the practice of the commandments, and the observance of these commandments is laid down like foundations through the gift of God. The grace of the Spirit cannot remain with us without the practice of the commandments, but the practice of the commandments is of no help or advantage to us without the grace of God.

Those who yield themselves to idleness and apathy, even though they may be spiritual and holy, hurl themselves into unnatural subjection to passions.

But if you give a strong body rest and ease and idleness, all the passions dwelling in the soul are intensified. Then, even if the soul has a great desire for good, even the very thought of the good that is desired will be taken from you.

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

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