I know a man who, when he saw a woman of striking beauty, praised the Creator for her. The sight of her lit within him the love of God.
Interpretation
The quote expresses admiration for beauty as a reflection of divine creation.
In this quote, John Climacus highlights how the experience of witnessing beauty can evoke feelings of reverence and love for the Creator. It suggests that beauty, when recognized, can serve as a bridge to a deeper spiritual appreciation and connection to God, emphasizing the idea that the appreciation of physical beauty can lead to a greater understanding of divine love and creation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about finding divinity in everyday life.
The first stage of this tranquility consists in silencing the lips when the heart is excited. The second, in silencing the mind when the soul is still excited. The goal is a perfect peacefulness even in the middle of the raging storm.
Someone who is elated with wine speaks the truth on all subjects, even without meaning to. In the same way, anyone who is inebriated with the spirit of penitence will never be able to tell lies.
God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all ~faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; 'for there is no respect of persons with God.'
Obedience is the burial of the will and the resurrection of humility.
The slave of the belly ponders the menu with which to celebrate the feast. The servant of God, however, thinks of the graces that may enrich him.
Ascend, my brothers, ascend eagerly. Let your hearts' resolve be to climb. Listen to the voice of the one who says: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of our God' (Isa. 2:3), Who makes our feet to be like the feet of the deer, 'Who sets us on the high places, that we may be triumphant on His road' (Hab. 3:19).
I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds_x000D_ _x000D_ All the world's loves in its unworldliness.
My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.
I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.
It is always difficult to give oneself up; few persons anywhere ever succeed in doing so, and even fewer transcend the possessive stage to know love for what it actually is: a perpetual discovery, and immersion in the waters of reality, an unending re-creation.
Every human activity can be put at the service of the divine and of love. We should all exercise our gift to build community.
Love is that splendid triggering of human vitality the supreme activity which nature affords anyone for going out of himself toward someone else.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.