Trials are sent…
Trials are sent to some so as to take away past sins, to others so as to eradicate sins now being committed, and to yet others so as to forestall sins which may be committed in the future.
–Saint Maximos the Confessor (580-662)
The difficulties of life…
The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them – through faith or unbelief – that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)
Defect in prayer…
Certainly the greatest defect we have in our prayers – and in all that happens to us, particularly in that which concerns tribulations – is our lack of confidence.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
We need crosses and contradictions…
In order to attract us the Lord gives us many graces and we imagine we are almost in Heaven. We do not know, however, that to grow we need hard bread – crosses, humiliations, trials and contradictions.
–Saint Pio (1887-1968)
Faith flourishes in the dark…
Faith flourishes in the dark: trials, temptations, spiritual dryness and suffering are all opportunities for our faith to grow stronger. We can, of course, neglect these opportunities and allow our faith to wither and die. But those who praise God in life’s difficulties will experience the opposite effect.
–Saint Mary Magdalene De Pazzi (1566-1607)
Trials and temptations…
For our love for God is demonstrated above all by the way we endure trials and temptations.
–Saint Gregory Palamas (1296-1359)
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