My beloved spiritual children,
Christ is in our midst!

As we progress closer and closer to Great and Holy Week, it is good, I feel, to reflect on the Sayings by Mother Gabriel which are most inspiring:

Any place may become a place of Resurrection, if the humility of Christ becomes the way of our life.
You may sleep, as long as you are in a state of watchfulness.
There are some who stay awake for a few, and some who stay awake for all.
Orthodox spirituality is knowledge acquired through suffering rather than through learning.
Do not wish for many things, whether they are within or out of reach. Instead, take care to sanctify the little you have.
To learn how to love God: this is the one and only Education.
There is nothing cheaper than money.
Better Hell in this world than in the other.
It is not what we say, but what we live. It is not what we do, but what we are.
I put on the Rasson (Monastic habit) and do not speak unless I am asked. The Rasson speaks.
If you have love for all the world, the whole world is beautiful.
Someone said that a Christian is he who purifies love and sanctifies work.
Our purpose should be to have the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) in our heart, even when we have the...Parasite in our head.
We become a reflection of Heaven by saying: "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven".
He who loves is not aware of it, as he is not aware of his own breathing.
When doors are open in Heaven, they are also open on Earth.
When the mind is not distracted by worldly matters and remains united to God, then even the "Good day" that we say becomes a blessing.
In the early steps of our life we need the presence of someone we love. As we advance, the One, God, fills us with His Love and joy so much that we no longer need anyone. The soul does this at the beginning because she does not know yet Whom she loves, and thinks it is this or that person.
When God created us, He gave us Life and breathed His Spirit into us. This Spirit is Love. When love deserts us, we become as dead as corpses. We are not alive anymore.
True inner progress begins only when a person stops reading anything but the Gospel. It is only then that, united with God through the Jesus Prayer, he can hear God's Will.

[Source:Myriobiblos. Mother Gabriel, The Ascetic of Love)

(To be continued)

With agape in our Savior,
+Father George