“We should follow the example of the birds. They are always joyful, whereas we are always bothered by something.”
simplicity
We do not need riches or learning in order to know the Lord, we must simply be obedient and sober, have a humble spirit and love our fellow-men. The Lord will love a soul that does this, and of His own accord make Himself manifest to her and instruct her in love and humility, and give her all things necessary to find rest in God.
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Christ is joy
Christ is our Friend, our Brother; He is whatever is beautiful and good. He is everything. In Christ there is no gloom, melancholy or introversion, whereas man suffers from various temptations and situations that make him suffer. Christ is joy, life, light, the true light, which makes man glad, makes him fly, makes him see all things, see all people suffer for all people and want all people to be with him, close to him.
Saint Silouan
adorned with His Grace
Man is made of the dust of the earth, but God so loved him, that He adorned him with His grace and fashioned him in the likeness of the Lord.
Saint Silouan the Athonite
kindling Divine Love
The more wood you pile on a fire, the more heat you get, and thus it is with God – the more you think on Him, the more you are fired with love and fervour towards Him. He who loves the Lord is always mindful of Him and remembrance of God begets prayer.
Saint Silouan
intent on God
“We eat and drink every day, yet on the morrow our bodies need food and drink again. In like manner, the recollection of God’s bounties never wearies that soul, but disposes her still more to think on God.”
Saint Silouan
outside air
Television dulls children’s minds. They lose the ability to think on their own, to think critically…
Television has done us great damage.
Saint Paisios the Athonite
anxiety dissolves with Faith
“What is true for parents is also true for teachers.
With prayer and sanctity you can also help children at school. Don’t attempt to correct bad situations with human methods. No good will come of this. You will only produce good results with prayer. Invoke the grace of God on all the children, for divine grace to enter their souls and transform them. That is what it means to be a Christian. You teachers transmit your anxiety ot the children, without realizing it, and this affects them. Anxiety dissolves with faith. What is it that we say?
“We commit our whole life to Christ our God.”
Saint Porphyrios
tending the garden of the soul
“People are always in a hurry, rushing from one place to another.
They have to be here, the next hour they have to be there and the hour after that they will have to be someplace else. To remind themselves of their many obligations, they have to write them down. With all this running around it is a good thing they still remember their names! They do not even recognize themselves! No wonder! It is so difficult to see yourselves mirrored in murky waters. May God forgive me, but the world has become a huge madhouse! No one thinks of the next life anymore. All they want is more and more material goods. This is why they can not find peace and run around constantly.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
teach a child in the way he should walk
“When from a young age a child becomes filled with Christ, goes to church with his parents, communes, chants, prays – later on when he gets older, leaves home and end up possibly in an unfavorable environment, it’s not difficult for him. It’s like wood which has been drenched in linseed oil. Afterwards, it doesn’t absorb water; since the oil protects it, it won’t take in water and it repels it.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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