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

If someone is judged worthy to receive the gift of knowledge but allows his heart to be full of bitterness or rancor or aversion to another, it is as if he had been struck in the eye by a thornbush. That is why knowledge is no good without charity.

Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence.

If you have received from God the gift of knowledge, however limited, beware of neglecting charity and temperance. They are virtues which radically purify the soul from passions and so open the way of knowledge continually.

Nothing causes a man to sin so often as his tongue.

The arrows of the enemy cannot touch one who loves quietness; but he who moves about in a crowd will often be wounded.

Beware of envy. Wherever there is envy, God's spirit does not exist.

True escape from the world is for a person to know how to control his tongue, wherever he might be.

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

A fish swiftly escapes a hook and a sensual soul shuns solitude.

Control the tongue, so that it will not utter empty words. Whoever preserves his tongue, preserves his soul from grief.

Solitude offers us an excellent opportunity for calming our passions and giving our reason time to remove them thoroughly from our soul. For just as wild animals can be soothed by being stroked, so all our anger, fear and stress, which poison and disrupt our soul, can be soothed by an atmosphere of peace where the freedom from constant disturbance ensures that our soul can be brought more easily under the power of reason.

Nothing so fills the heart with contrition and humbles the soul as solitude embraced with self-awareness, and utter silence.

The saints’ freedom from envy is a wonderful phenomenon. The saints not only did not allow envy to conquer their hearts, but exerted themselves greatly to ensure that their friends be exalted and they themselves debased.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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