humility Archives - Page 8 of 10

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Progress in Self-Knowledge & God has Created Nothing Evil

04/06/2016

Progress in Self-Knowledge I pray you, brothers and sisters: let us strive with every means at our disposal to know ourselves. Then each one of us, starting with this self-knowledge, will be able to discover what is too high for us. We need to know ourselves so well that we can say like David: ‘I am a worm and no man’ [Ps. 22:7] or like Abraham: ‘I am dust and ashes.’ [Gen. 18:7] Otherwise it

The Quarrelsome Brother

03/03/2016

The Quarrelsome Brother I once told him, “Elder, I can’t work together with this brother … he is a complainer.” “You fool, you are an egotist. Do you know that? Because of this you suffer in many ways.” “I know it Elder. I have been like this from my youth. Pray that God will give me a humble heart.” “When the heart has God-given humility it sees everything clearly. It already lives in the earthly

Shaping Life Spiritually (Part III)

01/20/2016

Along with continence of the tongue and belly, along with silence and fasting, humility is also described in many other sayings of the fathers as the royal road to God. For the monks humility is considered “the greatest virtue, for it lets a person rise up from the abyss, even when the sinner is like a demon.” The third practice consists in the interesting advice not to be sorry for something that is past. In

ON THE AVOIDANCE OF EXTRAVAGANCE

11/02/2015

It is a known fact that a person who practises the piano too zealously gets cramp in his hands, and a too diligent writer exposes himself to writer’s cramp. Dejected and downcast, the musician or author, just now so full of hope, must break off his work; in idleness he is exposed to many evil influences. From this example you should take warning. Fasting, obedience, self-discipline, watchfulness, prayer all make up the constituent parts necessary

Humility and Simplicity

09/15/2015

Abba Poemen asked at every moment: “Who am I and who are You?” St. Francis would also spend whole nights praying this same prayer. Baron Von Hugel, in his classic study of mysticism, said this might just be the perfect prayer. It is through encountering the absolute safety of God that we discover our true self, and in finding our truest self, we find a God who is always and forever larger than we expected.

WHEN YOU FAST: A REFLECTION ON GREAT LENT (Part I)

03/23/2015

By George Parsenios PhD What appears to happen in the Passion of Christ and what actually happens are not at all the same. What appears to happen is not that extraordinary. The Romans crucified a Jewish man in order to keep public order. During their long rule over Judea, the Romans had killed many Jews, making the death of Jesus one among these many. But, only in appearance. The reality was very different. The Paschal

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part II)

03/03/2015

The prayer then turns us to four key virtues Christians should struggle to attain. During Lent, we are to intensify our efforts to acquire them: humility, chastity, patience, and love. HUMILITY IF PRIDE IS, as all Christian teachers have believed, the ultimate spiritual sin that blinds us to our own sins and shortcomings, then humility is the virtue that sees things as they really are. Therefore, it is only when we humble ourselves that we

Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: THE FOREFEAST OF THE NATIVITY

12/19/2014

Become Like Children “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (Mark 10:15) EVERY YEAR AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHES, we hear a great deal of speculation about the meaning of Christmas in a society that is persistently trying to shake off it Christian identity. During such a debate about the meaning of Christmas, one comment in particular struck me: “Christmas is a feast for children.” Although

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part II)

11/12/2014

Do not direct your gaze towards the enemy. Never get into a controversy with him whom you cannot possibly resist. With his millennia of experience he knows the very trick that can render you helpless at once. No, stand in the middle of your heart’s field and keep your gaze upward; then the heart is protected from all sides at once: the Lord Himself sends His angels to guard it both from right and left

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part I)

10/21/2014

Whoever engages in inner warfare needs at every moment four things: humility, the greatest vigilance, the will to resist and prayer. It is a matter of dominating, with God’s help, the “Ethiopians of thought”, thrusting them out by the door of the heart, and crushing at once those who dash your little ones against the rocks (Psalm 137: 9). Humility is a prerequisite, for the proud man is once and for all shut out. Vigilance

Tags

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Progress in Self-Knowledge & God has Created Nothing Evil

The Quarrelsome Brother

Shaping Life Spiritually (Part III)

ON THE AVOIDANCE OF EXTRAVAGANCE

Humility and Simplicity

WHEN YOU FAST: A REFLECTION ON GREAT LENT (Part I)

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part II)

Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: THE FOREFEAST OF THE NATIVITY

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part II)

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part I)

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