Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Saint Quote of the Day- Fear & Love of God

'No one can love God consciously in his heart unless he has first feared Him with all his heart. Through the action of fear the soul is purified and, as it were, made malleable and so it becomes awakened to the action of love. No one, however, can come to fear God completely in the way described, unless he first transcends all worldly cares; for when the intellect reaches a state of deep stillness and detachment, then the fear of God begins to trouble it, purifying it with full perception from all gross and cloddish density, and thereby bringing it to a great love for God's goodness. . . Fear and love are found together only in the righteous who achieve virtue through the energy of the Holy Spirit in them. For this reason Holy Scripture says in one place: "O fear the Lord, all you who are His saints," (Ps. 34:9) and in another: "O love the Lord, all you who are His saints." (Ps. 31:23) From this we see clearly that the righteous, who are still in the process of being purified, are characterized both by fear and by a moderate measure of love; perfect love, on the other hand, is found only in those who have already been purified and in whom there is no longer any thought of fear, but rather a constant burning and binding of the soul to God through the energy of the Holy Spirit. As it is written, "My soul is bound to Thee: Thy right hand has upheld me." (Ps. 63:8. LXX)'
St. Diadochos of Photiki