from, My Life in Christ

On the Eve of St. Nicholas' Feast Day: Some wisdom from Holy Scripture and re-sharings from, My Life in Christ, by St. John of Kronstadt    Inbox

Dan Everiss <oregdan@hotmail.com> Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 3:58 PM Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original "If ye have faith even the size of a mustard seed, ye can move mountains!" "Be ye not therefore faithless, but believing!" "When God so wills, the order of nature, is overturned, for HE DOETH WHATSOEVER HE WILLITH!" "Whatever ye ask in my name, I will do!" "Blessed are the PURE in HEART, FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD!"   There is no happiness for me on earth save the Lord Jesus Christ, with His Father and the Holy Spirit. He is my sole blessedness upon earth. After God, there is nothing on earth dearer to me (as it should be) than the human soul - it is dearer than anything else. Man is a precious being. God Himself came down from heaven upon earth for his salvation. To man he gives for food and drink His most pure Body and Blood (all of Himself), only that he may become blessed, that he may not be lost. All the fruits of the earth, the treasures of all the three kingdoms of the earth, He has given into the dominion for the use and pleasure of man. By all these immeasurable bounties the Lord has shown, and still shows, that He infinitely loves mankind, and every man separately. Let us, too, imitate God’s love and bountifulness; let us be, as far as possible, merciful and bountiful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful [Luke 6:36]. My Life in Christ, St. John of Kronstadt, page 159 The sin of inattention is one to which we are, in a great degree subjected; we must not disregard it, but must repent of it; we give ourselves up to inattention, not only at home, but also in church. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” [Luke 22:310]. The causes of inattention are - the Devil, and our manifold attachment to worldly, earthly things; its reason is - want of faith; the means to overcome it - fervent prayer. My Life in Christ, St. John of Kronstadt, page 159