March 13

The man seized by spiritual joy is astounded by the many blessings that God in his grace has bestowed on him, and he loves his Benefactor. But he who stubbornly indulges in luxury and splendor, like the rich man (Luke 16:19), thinks that those consumed by fear and facing trials and temptations suffer in this way because of their sins, and in his comfort and complacency he despises them. He imagines that he deserves his easy life, although in fact he does not deserve it at all; for, blinded by his inane love for the ephemeral, he has made himself unworthy of the life held in store.

~St Peter of Damaskos

March 12

If you deny yourself and constantly renounce your own opinions, your own will, your own righteousness–or what amounts to the same thing: the knowledge, understanding, will and righteousness of fallen nature–in order to plant within you the knowledge of God, the will of God, and the righteousness of God taught us in the holy Gospel by God Himself, then fallen nature will open fire within you and declare a savage war against the Gospel and against God. Fallen spirits will come to the help of fallen nature.

Do not fall into despondency on this account. By your firmness in the struggle, show the tenacity of your purpose and the stability of your free will. When thrown down, get up. When duped and disarmed, rearm yourself afresh. When defeated, again rush to the fight. It is extremely good for you to see within yourself both your own fall and the fall of the whole of mankind.

It is essential for you to recognize and study this fall in your own experience, in your heart and mind. It is essential for you to see the infirmity of your knowledge and intellect, and the weakness of your will.

~Ignatius Brianchaninov

March 11

A Hymn of St Ambrose

The eternal gifts of Christ the King, the Martyr’s glorious deeds we sing: and while due hymns of praise we pay, our thankful hearts cast grief away.

The Church in these her princes boasts, these victor chiefs of warrior hosts: the soldiers of the heavenly hall, the lights that rose on earth for all.

The terrors of the world despised, the body’s torments lightly prized, by one the brief space of death and pain, life everlasting they obtain.

To flames the martyr saints are haled: by teeth of savage beasts assail’d; against them, armed with ruthless brand and hooks of steel, the torturers stand.

The mangled frame is tortured sore; the holy life-drops freshly pour: they stand unmoved amidst the strife, by grace of everlasting life.

‘Twas thus the yearning faith of Saints, the unconquered hope that never faints, the love of Christ that knows not shame, the prince of this world overcame.

In these the Father’s glory shone, in these the will of God the Son: in these exults the Holy Ghost, through these rejoice the heavenly host.

Redeemer, hear us of thy love, that with this glorious band above, hereafter, of thine endless grace, thy servants also may have place.  Amen.

~St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (374-397 A.D.)

March 10

…even the doing of what is good requires discrimination….for the good is not good unless its purpose is conformed to God’s will. On many occasions in divine Scripture God is grieved with someone who is doing something that appears to all to be good, and He looks favourably on someone who appears to be doing evil. A case in point is that of the prophet who asked someone to strike him; when the man refused he was eaten by a wild beast, although he had acted in a way that was ostensibly good (1 Kings 20:35-36).

St Peter, too, thought he was acting rightly when he refused to have his feet washed, but he was rebuked for this (John 13:8). Hence we should do all we can to discern the will of God and to do it, whether it corresponds to what we think good or not….in short, all that God arranges is admirable, beyond the grasp of intellect and thought.

~St Peter of Damaskos

March 9

The man who practices human righteousness is full of self-opinion, arrogance, self-deception. He preaches and blows his own trumpet about his good deeds without paying the least attention to what our Lord forbids. He repays with hatred and revenge those who dare to open their mouths for the most reasonable and well-meaning contradiction of his righteousness….

On the other hand, one who practices the commandments of the Gospel is always immersed in humility. Comparing the loftiness and purity of the holy commandments with his own fulfillment of them, he constantly admits that his efforts are extremely unsatisfactory and unworthy of God….

Whenever trouble or suffering comes his way by the ordering of divine providence, he submissively bows his head, knowing that by means of suffering God trains and educates His servants during their earthly pilgrimage. He is kind and merciful to his enemies and prays for them as brothers who have been lured away by demons, as members of one body who are spiritually sick, as his benefactors, and as instruments of the providence of God.

~Ignatius Brianchaninov

March 8

When we make specific requests in our prayers, this is not so as to inform God, for He already knows our hearts; we make them so that we may be brought to contrition. We also do it because we desire to remain longer in His presence, attentively addressing yet more words to Him, giving thanks to Him, acknowledging the many blessings we have received from Him, for as long as we can, as St John Chrysostom says of the Prophet David….[it] is done out of longing and so that the word of divine Scripture should be imprinted in the intellect of whoever is reading or praying.

For God knows all things…we, however, have need of hearing things, so that we may know what we ask for and why we are praying, and may be filled with gratitude and cleave to God through our entreaties. It is through such repetition that we avoid being overcome by our enemies when we are troubled in thought, for then they will not find us unmindful of Him; and it is also through it that, helped by prayer and the study of divine Scripture, we may come to acquire the virtues about which the holy fathers have written in their various works, through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

~St Peter of Damaskos

March 7

The Lord said: ‘He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day’…from these words of the Lord, it is evident that we shall be judged by the Gospel, and that negligence in carrying out the commands of the Gospel is an actual rejection of the Lord Himself.

Let us take all care, brothers, to become doers of the commandments of the Gospel. When death will come is unknown. We may be suddenly called to judgment when we are least expecting it. Blessed are those who have prepared themselves for their passage to eternity by a life in accordance with the Gospel!

Woe to the easy-going, the careless, the self-willed, the self-opinionated! Woe to those who have not broken fellowship with Satan! Woe to those who have not entered into fellowship with God! Greater woe to those who have entered into fellowship with God, and then abandoned it!

~Ignatius Brianchaninov

March 6

Finally, after long labors and exertions, The Christian principles appear victorious, reigning without opposition; they penetrate the whole composition of human nature, dislodging from it, demands and inclinations hostile to themselves, and place it in a state of passionlessness and purity, making it worthy of the blessedness of the pure in heart–to see God in themselves, in sincerest communion with Him.

Such is the place in us of the Christian life. This life has three stages which may be called: 1. turning to God; 2. purification or self-amendment; 2. sanctification.

In the first stage a man turns from darkness to light, from the domain of Satan to God; in the second, he cleanses the chamber of his heart from every impurity, in order to receive Christ the Lord Who is coming to him; in the third, the Lord comes, takes up His abode in his heart, and communes with him. This is the state of blessed communion with God–the goal of all labors and ascetic endeavors.

~St Theophan the Recluse

March 5

The sowing and development of the Christian life are different in essence from the sowing and development of natural life, owing to the special character of the Christian life and its relation to our nature.

A man is not born a Christian…[and] since the natural man is injured and opposed by the demand of Christianity…the beginning of a true Christian life in a man is a kind of re-creation…this seed of life (this resolution) is not surrounded in a man by elements favorable to him, and besides this the whole man, his body and soul, remain unadapted to the new life, unsubmissive to the yoke of Christ.

Therefore from this moment begins in a man a labor of sweat–to educate his whole self, all his faculties, according to the Christian standard…in a Christian it is a battle with oneself involving much labor, intense and sorrowful, and he must dispose his faculties for something for which they have no inclination: like a soldier, he must take every step of land…from his enemies by means of warfare…of forcing himself and opposing himself.

~St Theophan the Recluse

March 4

True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God; and one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the commandments, with the aid of Divine grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path–start walking! This is easily said; but how to do it?

For the most part the very desire to walk is lacking. The soul, attracted by some passion or other, stubbornly repulses every compelling force and every call; the eyes turn away from God and do not want to look at Him. The law of Christ is not to one’s liking; there is no disposition even to listen to it….

But suppose someone has turned toward God, suppose he has come to love His law…will [we] be successful merely because we desire it to be? No. Besides the desire one must also have the strength and knowledge to act…he who begins with the aid of grace to strive toward God on the path of Christ’s law, will inevitably be threatened by the danger of losing his way at the crossroads…of imagining himself saved. These crossroads are unavoidable because of the sinful inclination and disorder of one’s faculties, which are capable of presenting things in a false light–to deceive and destroy a man….

These general considerations which are unavoidable to all on the path of salvation render indispensable certain guiding rules of the Christian life by which it should be determined: how to attain to the saving desire for communion with God and the zeal to remain in it, and how to reach God without misfortune amidst all the crossroads…in other words, how to begin to live the Christian life and how, having begun, to perfect oneself in it.

~St Theophan the Recluse