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

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

Self-knowledge is a true idea of one's spiritual growth, and an unbroken remembrance of one's slightest sins.

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

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.

Every man that loves God loves a quiet life.

One who is capable of seeing himself is better than one who has been made worthy to see angels.

What is self-justification? - Self-justification is when a man denies his sin, as we see in the case of Adam, Eve, Cain and others who have sinned but, wishing to justify themselves, denied their sin.

Nothing is better than to realize one's weakness and ignorance, and nothing is worse than not to be aware of them.

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

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.

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.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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