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

Self-love, love of pleasure and love of praise banish remembrance of God from the soul.

A mind from which the thought of God has been carried away and which has thus become far removed from remembering Him, is also indifferent to sin with the outer senses. For such a mind can guide neither the hearing nor the tongue, since zest to work on itself has gone out of it.

There is no venom more poisonous than that of the asp or cobra, and there is no evil greater than that of self-love. The winged children of self-love are self-praise, self-satisfaction, gluttony, unchastity, self-esteem, jealousy and the crown of all these, pride. Pride can drag down not men alone, but even angels from heaven, and surround them with darkness instead of light.

Since self-love is the origin and mother of evil, when this is eradicated all the things which derive from it are eradicated as well. For when self-love is absent, not the slightest trace or form of evil can exist in any way at all.

Self-love precedes all passions, and the scorn of ease precedes all the virtues.

A holy man told us one day, that the source of all heresies and schisms in the church was, loving God too little, and ourselves too much.

He who loves himself cannot love God. But he who, for love of God, does not love himself, loves God.

The greatest obstacle that obstructs God's grace is self-love. When God finds one's heart emptied of all desires, He fills it with His grace.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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