Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Patience, generosity and meekness

You complain that your life is 'rough and rugged.' But whatever we do is always like that. Where there are men, there are passions, narrow-mindedness, selfishness, conceit. Thus it is all the more necessary for us to maintain ourselves at a certain depth, to keep in mind the all-embracing, final goal before us, to destroy in ourselves all that is petty and trivial: then we shall find it easier to suffer with the faults of others. O God, send us patience, generosity and meekness. We are working, not for ourselves, but for God: and therefore all conflicts will be settled, not through our own great efforts, but through God's wisdom.
— Fr Alexander Elchaninov, The Diary of a Russian Priest

1 comment:

Jim Swindle said...

Good words.