The devil is a…
The devil is a great chained dog which puts people to flight, which makes a great noise, but which only bites those who come too close.
–Saint John Vianney (1786-1859)
Without temptations…
Without temptations, it is not possible to learn the wisdom of the Spirit. It is not possible that Divine love be strengthened in your soul. Before temptations, a man prays to God as a stranger. When temptations are allowed to come by the love of God, and he does not give in to them, then he stands before God as a sincere friend. For in fulfilling the will of God, he has made war on the enemy of God and conquered him.
–Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)
Spiritual discouragement…
Doesn’t God consider spiritual discouragement worse than any other sin? Yes indeed!
–Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
We deceive ourselves…
Every person has a little corner in his heart he never wants anyone to venture into, even with a candle. That is why we deceive ourselves and why our neighbors know us better than we know ourselves.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Giving up prayer…
No soul ever fell away from God without giving up prayer. Prayer is that which establishes contact with Divine Power and opens the invisible resources of heaven. However dark the way, when we pray, temptation can never master us. The first step downward in the average soul is the giving up of the practice of prayer, the breaking of the circuit with divinity, and the proclamation of one’s owns self sufficiency.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
Gluttony is hypocrisy…
Gluttony is the hypocrisy of the stomach which complains of being empty when it is well fed, and bellows that is hungry when it is almost full to the bursting.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)
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