It is the age with which our true life begins. A man should not despair, no matter how great his sins, for a man is not saved by his good deeds, but by his faith in Christ the Savior, and his deeds should manifest his faith.
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
Nothing and no one can snatch out of God's hands a soul dedicated to His service. For God gives to such a soul for the time of its earthly pilgrimage a narrow path paved with diverse sorrows and deprivations, because it is impossible to come to God along a broad way.
The world lies in a state of spiritual deception and manifests an affinity for those in the same state. But it despises and rejects those who serve Truth.
Knowing the Savior and thus acquiring eternal blessedness is man's primary happiness on earth, and his only treasure.
Faster and faster time passes, and the hour of our entrance into eternity draws nigh. Make use of your days on earth to prepare for this. Such preparation dispels temporal sorrows and brings consolation, thereby indicating that this preparation is indeed a preparation for blessedness.
If we are handed the cup of suffering, let us accept it as the cup of salvation, as a pledge of eternal joy. He who refuses sorrows, rejects also salvation God allows the devil to strike us for the sake of our salvation and humility.
One must never, for any reason, become despondent, for we are carried in the Hands of God's Providence. Our concern is to be true to the Lord. And the Lord purposely reveals the weaknesses of him to whom He wishes to grant His gift of discernment. For the beginning of a soul's enlightenment is the perception of its own sins and its insignificance.
May the Lord teach you humility the source of all calm. From humility peace and quiet flow into the heart. If we are handed the cup of suffering, let us accept it as the cup of salvation, as a pledge of eternal joy. He who refuses sorrows, rejects also salvation God allows the devil to strike us for the sake of our salvation and humility.
My sincere desire is to end my days somewhere in solitude and anonymity, in spiritual vigilance and repentance. One should not deceive oneself with false expectations of a long earthly life. Everything passes, both the good and the bad, and neither humans nor demons can overcome that which God does not allow.
Have mercy, O Lord, on this zealous writer-ascetic of blessed memory, and through the blessed Saint Ignatius, have mercy also upon us who are tossed about on waves of sin in the stormy sea of life.
+ Glory to God for All Things +
St. Ignatius (Dimitry Alexandrovich Brianchaninov in the world) was born on February 5, 1807 on his father’s estate in the village of Pokrov in the Vologda Province. His mother gave birth to him after a prolonged infertility, by her fervent prayers and travels to the surrounding holy places. The boy spent his childhood in the solitude of village life; from his earliest years he was inexplicably attracted to the monastic life. His religious temper appeared all the more noticeably with age, being manifested in a special disposition towards prayer and the reading of spiritual books.