Tag: sin
Persevere In Lectio Divina
And by experience we see that many persons who recite a great number of vocal prayers. the Office and the Rosary, fall into sin, and continue to live in sin. But he who attends to mental prayer scarcely ever falls into sin, and should he have the misfortune of falling into it, he will hardly… Read More ›
Judas lost heaven for a little silver
He missed the crown of immortality and the desirable honor of the apostleship. He missed to be numbered among the Twelve to whom Christ somewhere said, You are the light of the world. He did not care to be a light of the world. He forgot Christ, who says, You who have followed me in… Read More ›
Choosing the Proper Course of Action
It so happened that a certain brother in the coenobium committed a crime, and when he was condemned by the brothers he fled to Abba Antony. Some brothers who wanted to reform him went after him, and began to make out a case against him because of his crime, even though he denied having done… Read More ›
Conversion and Humility
One of the early experiences on the way to conversion is the sense of being trapped in sinfulness. Half-desiring an escape but not perceiving any possible means of release. For the eye of the mind is unable to fix itself firmly on what it had so fleetingly glimpsed. It is subject to the constraint of… Read More ›
Sin and Compulsions: An Inner Tyranny
People who sin because of their compulsions are not having much fun, nor is their life spectacularly fulfilling. They may experience relief or temporary gratification of one sort or another, but fundamentally they are unfree. In a sense they are non-persons. They are being driven by their passions, both conscious and unconscious. Whatever they may… Read More ›
People who do not know God
People who know nothing of God and whose lives are centered on themselves, imagine that they can only find themselves by asserting their own desires and ambitions and appetites in a struggle with the rest of the world. They try to become real by imposing themselves on other people, by appropriating for themselves some share… Read More ›
What Mighty Opponents Oppose Us
Once, when about to eat, having risen up to pray about the ninth hour, Antony perceived that he was caught up in the spirit, and, he stood and saw himself, as it were, from outside himself, and that he was led in the air by certain ones. Next certain bitter and terrible beings stood in… Read More ›
Why Do Ascetics Avoid Certain Things?
There was a certain old man who lived a life of such strict self-denial that he never drank wine. And when I arrived at his cell we sat down to eat. Dates were brought and he ate, and he took water and drank. And I said unto him laughingly, “So you are angry with absinthe,… Read More ›
Acceptable Prayer to God
How can a person know that his prayer is acceptable to God? When a person makes sure that he does not wrong his neighbor in any way whatsosever, then let him be sure that his prayer is acceptable to God. But if someone harms his neighbor in any way whatsoever, either physically or spiritually, his… Read More ›
