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

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

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

St. Paul says: 'The person engaged in spiritual warfare exercises self control in all things' (I Cor. 9:25). Aware of all that is said in divine Scripture, let us lead our life with self-control, especially in regard to food.

Lack of self-control is actually an evil both ancient and modern, though it did not precede its antidote, fasting. By means of our Forefathers' self-indulgence in paradise and their contempt for the fast already in existance there, death entered the world. Sin reigned and brought in the condemnation of our nature from Adam until Christ.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

No virtue makes flesh-bound man so like a spiritual angel as does self-restraint, for it enables those still living on earth to become, as the Apostle says, 'citizens of heaven' (cf. Phil. 3:20).

In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the center of its own humility.

Just as a moth devours clothing and a worm devours wood, so dejection devours a man’s soul.

Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not 'dash your foot against a stone.'

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