Beauty of body attracts the eyes; beauty of soul attracts God. Man sees the face; God sees the soul. Mary’s beautiful purity must have been such that it attracted less the eyes than the souls of men. No one would have loved her mind or soul because of the beauty of her body, but they would have so loved her beauty of soul as almost to forget she even had a body. It is very likely that a human eye, looking on Mary, would scarcely have been conscious that she was beautiful to the eye. Just as corrupt men are made pure in thought by the sight of an innocent child, so all fleshly thoughts would have been left behind, by one vision of the Immaculate Mother. As one listens to a consummate artist playing the piano, one forgets that he has hands; so, in the ravishing melodies of Mary’s Immaculateness, one would have hardly adverted to that fleshly keyboard from which they came. When one is overjoyed by the beauty of a picture, he does not pay much attention to the frame.
Meaning Of Repentance | St. John Climacus
"TO REPENT IS NOT TO LOOK DOWNWARDS AT MY OWN SHORTCOMINGS, BUT UPWARDS AT GOD’S LOVE.IT IS NOT TO LOOK BACKWARDS WITH SELF-REPROACH, BUT FORWARD WITH TRUSTFULNESS.IT IS TO SEE NOT WHAT I HAVE FAILED TO BE, BUT WHAT BY THE GRACE OF CHRIST I MIGHT YET BECOME.”St. John...








