Saint John Chrysostom Quotes about Love and Life

4 minutes read

Saint John Chrysostom Quotes About Love

Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.

Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward & learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude.

The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.

Not sharing our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth, but theirs.

When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him.

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.

God loves us more than a father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more, than we are able to love ourselves.

You cannot pray at home as you can at church, where there is a great multitude; where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of priests.

I am a Christian. He who answers thus has declared everything at once-his country, profession, and family; the believer belongs to no city on earth but to the heavenly Jerusalem.

If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice.

Be ashamed when you sin, don’t be ashamed when you repent [To repent means to have a change of heart and mind. It is not simply a feeling of sorrow ,but a psycho/spiritual growth away from evil/death and a turning to God/life]. Sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine. Sin is followed by shame; repentance is followed by boldness [ Boldness means to beg God for undeserved mercy]. Satan has overturned this order and given boldness to sin and shame to repentance.

Let us always guard our tongue; not that it should always be silent, but that it should speak at the proper time.

When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their follow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them.

When you are before the altar where Christ reposes, you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there are troops of angels and archangels standing by you, and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration.

To destroy the fetus ‘is something worse than murder.’ The one who does this ‘does not take away life that has already been born, but prevents it from being born.’

It is impossible to be saved without the help of the Most Blessed Virgin because those who are not saved by the justice of God are saved by the intercession of Mary.

No matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin all: no matter how boldly you speak, how fairly reprove, or whatnot.

Paul commands: ‘Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the Traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.’ From this it is clear that they did not hand down everything by letter, but there is much also that was not written. Like that which was written, the unwritten too is worthy of belief. So let us regard the Tradition of the Church also as worthy of belief. Is it a Tradition? Seek no further.

Such is friendship, that through it we love places and seasons; for as bright bodies emit rays to a distance, and flowers drop their sweet leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favor even to the places where they dwell. With friends even poverty is pleasant. Words cannot express the joy which a friend imparts; they only can know who have experienced. A friend is dearer than the light of heaven, for it would be better for us that the sun were exhausted than that we should be without friends.

God helps those who work, not those who are idle. No one helps an inactive person, but one who joins in the labor. The good God himself will bring…work to perfection.

If you wish to leave much wealth to your children, leave them in God’s care. Do not leave them riches, but virtue and skill. For if they learn to expect riches, they will not mind anything besides, and their abundant riches shall give them the means of screening the wickedness of their ways.

The Eucharist is a fire that inflames us, that, like lions breathing fire, we may retire from the altar being made terrible to the devil.