We should refer all our problems, whatever they are, to God, just as we say in the Divine Liturgy that we ‘commend our whole life to Christ our God.’ We leave everything to You, O Lord. Whatever You Will. Let Your Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relation to their children through their mildness, patience and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children.
Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behavior of the children. And their behavior is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the parents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, harmony and understanding between the parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.
– St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia, Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios
Featured image: Photographer Anna Romanova. source
A person can become a saint anywhere. He can become a saint in Omonia Square*, if he wants. At your work, whatever it may be, you can become saints—through meekness, patience and love.
Make a new start every day, with new resolution, with enthusiasm and love, prayer and silence—not with anxiety so that you get a pain in the chest. … Look on all things as opportunities to be sanctified.
– St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia, Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios
*in Athens, synonymous with vice and corruption
Featured image: Chapel at Fort Ross, north of San Francisco, early 1900s. source