The company we keep

The Lord desires one man to be saved through another, and in the same way satan strives to destroy one man through another. 

 

 



On the flowering of the Spirit within

The demons try to undermine your inward resolution by buffeting your souls with an untold variety of temptations.  Yet out of these many tribulations a garland is woven for you; Christ’s power ‘comes to its fullness in us in our weakness, (II Cor 12:9).  It is usually when our situation is most gloomy that the grace of the Spirit flowers within us.  ‘light has shone in the darkness for the righteous, (Ps 112:4 LXX), if, that is, ‘we hold fast to our confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firmly to the end,’ (Heb 3:6). 

On blaming

It is most necessary and helpful for the soul to endure with fortitude every tribulation, whether inflicted by men or by demons.  We should recognize that our sufferings are no more than we deserve, and we should never blame anyone but ourselves.  For whoever blames others for his own tribulations has lost the power of judging correctly what is to his own advantage.  St. John of Karpathos (The Philokalia, Vol 1)