Love (Sacrificial)
“To the faithless question “Why should the Son of God have become flesh for the salvation of mankind and have sacrificed Himself?” we can answer that love always expresses itself in sacrifices. When I love someone, I give him gifts, thus sacrificing a part of my property; or provide him with some comfort, possibly denying myself, consequently sacrificing my own comfort; or help him in need or in sickness, consequently sacrifice my work or my leisure; or else I may defend him
Distraction
“Sons of the world see distraction as innocent, but the Holy Fathers see it as the beginning of all evil. One of the greatest ascetics of old, St. Poemen the Great, teaches that the beginning of evil is distraction.” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Archbishop Averky Taushev) “Quiet, for me, seemed an impossible quality to cultivate without a sense of time as ample. I wanted our lives to be, not crammed with endless activity or entertainment or things, but ordered, roomy, so that