Daily Meditations Archives - Page 171 of 333

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Great Lent: A Chatterer is like an Old Boot. The Powerful have a Thousand Masters.

03/29/2018

A Chatterer is like an Old Boot If two people are engaged in conversation they should speak in measured tones. Yelling and shouting is what idiots do. Talking in a whisper so that the person cannot hear is the mark of a fool. In conversation we must not let ourselves be seized with the desire always to interrupt in order to show off our fatuous superiority. Everything ought to lead to tranquility, as in the

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Great Lent: Learn to Laugh in a Relaxed Way. High Life.

03/28/2018

Learn to Laugh in a Relaxed Way Laughter is a sign of friendliness so long as it is not coarse. In general, a person can do whatever is natural, but it must be in due measure and at the right time. Therefore, you ought not to laugh always simply because you have the capacity, any more than a horse is always neighing because it is capable of neighing. We ought to control our laughter, to

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Great Lent: Open the Route to God for your Opponents. I Suggest a Different Kind of Envy

03/27/2018

Open the Route to God for your Opponents Don’t ever hurt one of your neighbours by using words in two senses. He could reply in the same way and you would both be wandering off the path of love. Go to him and warn him with affectionate sincerity. When you have between you removed the cause of your unhappiness, you will both of you be free from anxiety and bitterness. Don’t recall to your memory

Monday of the Sixth Week of Great Lent: How to Love a Friend … and Persecute an Enemy. Our Enemies do not Know the Gratitude We Owe Them.

03/26/2018

How to Love a Friend … and Persecute an Enemy Augustine said: ‘The evil-doer is sad when he sees that his enemy has taken a warning and avoided punishment.’ Gregory said: ‘We are only faithful to our friends when our actions match our promises. ‘People have no right to persecute their enemies with the sword, but they should persecute them with prayer.’ Jerome said: ‘Often our friends are only so-called friends: not being able to

The Feast of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

03/25/2018

Commemorated on March 25 The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacombs of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast. In 692 the Council in Trullo celebrated the Annunciation during Great Lent. The Greek and Slavonic names for the Feast may be

Friday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent: Poison in your Heart: The Memory of Insults. Reconciliation with our Neighbours.

03/23/2018

Poison in your Heart: The Memory of Insults The memory of insults is the residue of anger. It keeps sins alive, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyses prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul. If anyone has appeased his anger, he has already suppressed the memory of insults, while as long as the mother is alive the son persists. In order

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent: How to Eradicate Ill-Feeling. If Someone Causes You Trouble.

03/22/2018

How to Eradicate Ill-Feeling Do you maintain that you are keeping the commandment of love towards your neighbour? If so, why is there so much bitter ill-feeling in you against this or that person? Is that not perhaps a sign that you are preferring transient goods to loving, and that just to possess them you are struggling even to the point of hostility to your brothers and sisters? Sadness and ill-feeling go hand in hand.

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent: Hypocrisy and Lies, Mother and Daughter. Are You Demanding Justice?

03/21/2018

Hypocrisy and Lies, Mother and Daughter Fire is produced from stone and steel; lying comes from loquacity and gossip. And the lie destroys love. No one who has any sense would say that telling lies is not an important sin. The Holy Spirit has severely condemned it. ‘You destroy those that speak lies,’ says David to God. [Ps 5:7] The mother of lying is hypocrisy, mother and also, often, its substance as well. Hypocrisy in

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent: Do Not Judge. Pure like Susanna.

03/20/2018

Do Not Judge The Fathers teach us that nothing is more serious than judging your neighbour. Despite this, such a serious evil is committed even for things, let’s say, of little seriousness. It all begins with vague suspicions and thoughts like this: ‘What does it matter if I hear what so-and-so is saying? What harm is there in going to see what that person is up to?’ The mind quickly forgets its own sins and

Monday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent: Can a Parrot Be Worth More than an Orphan? From Egoism to Pride is Not Far.

03/19/2018

Can a Parrot Be Worth More than an Orphan? Some men, instead of learning how to keep house and look after themselves, have recourse to domestic servants, and get themselves cooks and housemaids. Others, womanisers, spend whole days with their lady loves, telling lewd stories and corrupting them with their remarks and their deceitful actions. Others still, become slaves to lust through the influence of high-ranking prostitutes and behave like pigs in the trough. Some