Choosing Wheat or Tares

June 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment

“Just as it is impossible to stop a watermill from turning, although the miller has power to choose between grinding either wheat or tares, so it is impossible to stop our mind, which is ever-moving, from having thoughts, although it is within our power to feed it either with spiritual meditation or with worldly concerns.” […]

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Fear and Love

July 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“No one can love God consciously in his heart unless he has first feared him with all his heart.” St. Diadochos of Photiki, On Spiritual Knowledge, #16 I do not fear God with all my heart.  Instead, I fear people.  This troubling realization came to me two weeks ago as I read Jesus’ words in Luke […]

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Keeping a Watch on our Senses

June 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

“’Take heed, lest your hearts be overwhelmed with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of this life’ (cf Luke 21:34)…stand guard, then, over your heart and keep a watch on your senses.”- St. Isaiah the Solitary, On Guarding the Intellect: Twenty-Seven Texts (Pg 24, 12th text) When St. Isaiah refers to guarding our hearts and […]

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