“No benefit comes from a just man's prayer if he who asks for it finds more pleasure in sin than in virtue. For Samuel mourned over Saul when he sinned, but he was not able to obtain God's mercy, for his grief was not supported by the necessary change of life on the part of the sinner. Hence God put an end to the pointless grief of His servant, saying to him, 'How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?' (I Sam. 16:1).” IfsMenLongEndsAbleChristianAsksPrayerSinPleasureGriefVirtueSeeingBenefitsMercyIsraelServantLife ChangingSinnerOrthodoxRejectedMournPointlessNecessary Change Author:Maximus the Confessor
“Didn't love, like a plant from India, require a prepared soil, a particular temperature? Sighs in the moonlight, long embraces, tears flowing over hands yielded to a lover, all the fevers of the flesh and the languors of tenderness thus could not be separated from the balconies of great châteaux filled with idle amusements, a boudoir with silk blinds, a good thick carpet, full of pots of flowers, and a bed raised on a dais, nor from the sparkle of precious stones and shoulder knots on servants' livery.” LoveLongHandsTearsParticularFlowerLoversBedStonesIndiaFilledEmbracePlantPreparedRaisedFleshShouldersServantSoilPotThickTendernessIdleSighAmusementCarpetMoonlightTemperatureFeverSilkKnotsSparkleBalconiesPrecious StonesBoudoir Author:Gustave Flaubert