This world and…
This world and the world to come are two enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.
— Saint Clement (first century)
Fighting your passions…
Are you fighting against your passions? Fight, fight, and be good soldiers of Christ! Do not give in to evil and do not be carried away by the weakness of the flesh. During the time of temptation, flee to the Physician, crying out with the Holy Church, our mother: “O God, number me with the thief, the harlot, and the publican (i.e., with the repentant), and save me!”
–Saint Anatoly of Optina (1824-1894)
Anger makes us…
This deadly cancer of anger from which so much harm grows: it makes us unlike ourselves, makes us like timberwolves or furies from Hell, drives us forth headlong upon the points of swords, makes us blindly run forth after other men’s destruction as we hasten toward our own ruin.
— Saint Thomas More (1478-1535)
To avoid dissensions…
To avoid dissensions we should be ever on our guard, more especially with those who drive us to argue with them, with those who vex and irritate us, and who say things likely to excite us to anger. When we find ourselves in company with quarrelsome, eccentric individuals, people who openly and unblushingly say the most shocking things, difficult to put up with, we should take refuge in silence, and the wisest plan is not to reply to people whose behavior is so preposterous.
— Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)
If temptation comes…
If temptation comes upon you in the place where you are living, do not abandon the place where temptation came upon you; otherwise, no matter where you go, you will be confronted there by that from which are fleeing.
–The Desert Fathers (and Mothers)
Pray that temptation…
Pray that temptation may not come to you; but when it comes, accept it as your due and not undeserved.
–Saint Mark the Ascetic (Fifth Century)
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