A bound person cannot run. Nor can the mind, which works like a slave for a certain passion, be able to offer a true prayer, because it is dragged around and wanders here and there on account of impassioned thoughts and cannot remain undisturbed. You will not be able to pray clearly if you are preoccupied with material things and are agitated by incessant cares, because prayer implies riddance of every care.
–Saint Nilus of Sinai (d. 430)
True freedom consists in not being attached to anything. It is in this detachment that God seeks your soul in order to work His great marvels.
–Jacques Philippe (1947-
Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
All that you lose in the name of God, you keep. All that you keep for your own sake, you loose. All that you give in the name of God, you will receive with interest. All that you give for the sake of your own glory and pride, you throw into the water. All that you receive from people as from God will bring you joy. All that you receive from people as from people will bring you worries.
–Saint Nicholas of Serbia (1880-1956)
Everyone, without exception, wants happiness, blessedness. However they all have different ideas about it: one thinks it lies in the delight of the senses and an easy life; another, in virtue; another, in knowledge of the truth. Hence he who teaches us all… begins by correcting those who stray, guiding those who are on the way, and welcoming those who are knocking at the door… So he who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6) both corrects and guides and welcomes, and he begins with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Mt 5:3)
–Blessed Isaac of Stella (Twelfth Century)
A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.
–Saint Dominic (1170-1221)
