Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: passions

Our Society

We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the… Read More ›

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Why have sympathy for others, but none for yourself?

Now when a person comes to himself as did that young prodigal son, where does he find himself? Is it not in a far country, in the Land of Unlikeness, and in a strange land, where he sits down and weeps as he remembers his father and his home. And does he not find cause… Read More ›

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Truly, this is the way of love

A brother once went out on a pilgrimage from the monastery of Abba Poemen, and came to a hermit, who lived in love towards all and received many  visitors.  The brother told the hermit stories of Abba Poemen.  And when he heard of Poemen’s strength of character, he longed to see him. The brother returned to Egypt.  And… Read More ›

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On Modesty

Malice, or any other passion that has taken root in your heart, has a tendency – in accordance with the infallible law of evil – to discharge itself outwardly. This is why it is usually said of an evil or angry man that he has vented his anger upon another person or upon another object…. Read More ›

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Our Response to High-Profile Meltdowns

By Fr. James Farfaglia, 5/21/2011: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) We need not be discouraged, shocked or worried Sexual sin is not the only sin, but it is certainly the battle of our times.  It is quite possible that when we consider the demands of our spiritual life and the impact on us of the continuous bombardment… Read More ›

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The Teachings of Pithyrion

After this we returned to the Thebaid to see a rugged mountain, overhanging a river, a very menacing, rocky apparition, fearful to look at, and in this precipitous place there were caves which were terribly difficult to approach. Many monks dwelt here, the leader of whom was a father called Pithyrion. He had been a… Read More ›

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Do not Render Evil for Evil

Another brother questioned Abba Poemen in these words: “What does ‘See that none of you repays evil for evil’ mean?” The old man said to him, “Passions work in four stages; first, in the heart; secondly, in the face; thirdly in words; and fourthly, it is essential not to render evil for evil in deeds…. Read More ›

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Moderating the Passions

Abba Nilus said, ‘The person who loves contemplative quiet remains invulnerable to the enemy’s arrows, but the person who mixes with crowds of people continuously receives blows. When the irascible part of the soul is at peace it becomes gentle, and when desire has been stilled by contemplative quiet it is inclined to be more… Read More ›

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