Quotes of the Day for February 7, 2025 – Thoughts on understanding and using our faults, mistakes, and weaknesses rightly
“Once, a very spiritual professor…was asked: “Who was the greatest teacher in your life?” He replied: “My mistakes.” His mistakes were his greatest teacher. We must use our mistakes properly: We learn from them and move on. We don’t learn and then dwell on the past. Instead, we learn and we focus on Christ. The next time a similar situation arises, we know better.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“Saint John the Theologian reminds us that “God is greater than our hearts,” so that at times even our conscience will not tell us the full truth of our inner state….And an awareness of our faults is helpful mostly because it helps us to ignore, with a subtle art, both the faults and the enemy’s attempts to exploit them, so that instead we turn to Christ…‘Through the purity of our hearts, we fulfill God’s Will and receive all the good things of the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s as if we incarnate God’s Will inside us, and receive the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts.’ When we say purity here, it doesn’t refer to someone who has never made mistakes in their life. It means that we cultivate the Holy Spirit inside us, and this Holy Spirit is the purity of our heart. This cultivation becomes, and gives us, the purity of our hearts.” (Timothy G. Patitsas, Gerondas Aimilianos, Bishop Emilianos)
“…love is always about freedom—it does not go with force. And how can you help a person gain experience and acquire wisdom if you do everything for him without his labors and efforts? We know that wisdom comes from experience, and experience is gained from mistakes. By doing them a person learns and improves: you should never despair, and even after the most serious falls, whether in a monastery or in the world, you must stand up firmly, trusting in Providence, love and mercy of God for everyone.” (Kira Kireyeva)
“The plight of the paralyzed man shows us the common condition of fallen humanity. None of us took the initiative in bringing salvation to the world and this fellow did not ask Christ to help him or even know His name. The Lord graciously reached out to him, nonetheless, asking the seemingly obvious question, “Do you want to be healed?” The Savior’s words should challenge each of us because we often become so comfortable with our weaknesses, desires, and habits that we do not think that we need healing at all. We so easily accept the lie that being “true to ourselves” means defining ourselves in terms of our passions and acting accordingly. To do so, however, is to deny the truth of our Lord’s resurrection, for He has destroyed the enslaving power of sin and death, making us participants in His healing, restoration, and fulfillment of the human person. Instead of embracing personally His great liberation, we too often make the tragic choice of living as though He were still in the tomb.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“…when we fall, when we’re arrogant, conceited, vain, and proud in general, there’s no need to be confused, to ponder and waste time, but rather seek salvation in repentance and in the consciousness of our own infirmity. God allows us to fall so we might better know our weaknesses and thereby learn to despise our passions. True humility is based on knowledge, on the experience of our powerlessness and unreliability.” (St. Seraphim Chichagov)
Comments