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

Ignorance of the scriptures is a precipice and a deep abyss.

Our achievements must never loom large in our eyes; only our failures. But this must never lead us to despondency - the constant temptation - only to humility.

Humility has such power that it inclines even the hard of heart. For God, the lover of humility, works through the humble.

After careful clearing, we need to sow the good seed so that it may produce good fruit. The person who wants to sow his, field must also hide the seed, dipping it into the earth as otherwise the birds will come and take it, and it will be lost. After that, he awaits the mercy of God until He sends rain and the seed grows. Even if the farmer works hard, clearing, preparing and sowing, if God does not give rain for the seeds, his entire labor is in vain. We also need the same. Even if we on one occasion do something good, we must cover it with humility and show to God our weakness, asking Him to bless our labor since otherwise it is in vain.

What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue. To acquire it, a man must always think of himself with contrition, self-belittlement and painful salf-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.

Our own will is like a wall of brass between us and God, preventing us from coming near to Him or contemplating His mercy.

Be despised and rejected in your own eyes, and you will see the glory of God within yourself. For where humility blossoms, there God’s glory bursts forth.

There are certain kinds of trees which never bear any fruit as long as their branches stay up straight, but if stones are hung on the branches to bend them down they begin to bear fruit. So it is with the soul. When it is humbled it begins to bear fruit, and the more fruit it bears the lowlier it becomes. So also the saints; the nearer they get to God, the more they see themselves as sinners.

If you love the Sender, then also love the letter which is sent from Him to you. For the word of God is given by God to me, to you, and to everyone, so that everyone who desires to be saved may receive salvation through it.

Reading the scriptures is a great safeguard against sin.

All that the Lord has done, we shall find, is intended to instruct us in humility.

In the humble God rejoices, but from the proud He is driven away; where there is humility, the glory of God shines forth.

We have become so inattentive to the work of our salvation that we misinterpret many other words in Holy Scripture as well, all because we do not seek the grace of God and in the pride of our minds do not allow it to dwell in our souls. That is why we are without true enlightenment from the Lord, which He sends into the hearts of men who hunger and thirst wholeheartedly for God’s righteousness or holiness.

We see that water gravitates from the mountains to low-lying areas; so too, the grace of God is poured out from the Heavenly Father upon humble hearts.

When it is needful that a person be humbled, then not only the Superior, the sisters, strangers and near ones, but even all creation, according to the words of St. Isaac the Syrian, will rise up against that person.

Let us have recourse to humility on all occasions; for the humble lie prone on the ground, and how can a man fall if he lies on the ground? But a man who stands on a height can easily fall.

Keep both eyes open. This is the measure of humility: if a man is humble he never thinks that he has been treated worse than he deserves. He stands so low in his own estimation that no one, however hard they try, can think more poorly of him than he thinks of himself.

It seems to me that, in all cases when indignity is offered to us, we should be silent; for it is our moment of profit.

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

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