Mother Gabriel
The Sayings
From: Mother Gabriel, The Ascetic of Love, by Sister Gabriel, publisher www.toperivoli.gr
101. Love alone is enough to make a miracle happen. Neither Prayer nor the Komboskini (Prayer rope) have such power.
102. Experience has taught me that no one can help anyone, no matter how strong his wish and love may be. Help comes only in the Hour of God, from the One.
105. We are useful only when we do not exist for ourselves. And vice versa.
106. We must not take decisions on behalf of others. We should leave this to the Angels for they always find the best solution.
108. Like Simon of Cyrene, we must be always ready to rush to the help of our fellow-man.
109. If you seek assistance from someone who is busy, he will do it for you, not the indolent and the lazy.
110. Woe to me if I do not love.
111. Three things are needful. First Love, Second Love, Third Love.
112. The fasting of a diet is so easy when one wants to slim. And so difficult is the Wednesday and Friday fast when the Church wants it.
113. In the Church we should always sit in the same place, for the Angels.
114. After the Liturgy, we should sit in the Church so long as we can, for the Angels
115. When we are talking and someone interrupts us, we should not continue. It means that he should not hear that which we would have said. The Angels do thus.
116. He who does not want to see anybody is not human.
117. Nowhere are we ‘forever'. (We are never anyplace "forever".)
118. Whatever happens to us is only our own fault.
119. Every morning, on the new page we open, we sign the blank. Whatever God wills, let Him write. (Every morning open a new page and put your signature on the blank. Whatever God wants, let Him write.)
120. When we pray we should lock our door.
125. If you do not reach the point of despair, you will never see the Light.
136. Be still and know...There is no greater school than this kind of stillness of the mind.
137. The only true joy is freedom from worry.
138. Just as you cannot get very close to the sources of great rivers because of the noise of the waters, and you cannot talk or hear, so you cannot get close to the source of life and love, which is God. And only from a distance can you receive the warmth, the energy, the power and the "water" which He gives you, to conduct it in your turn.
139. Like a little bird who, when the branch he is standing on breaks, doesn't worry but opens his wings and flies, so our faith and hope in God give us the strength and joy to fly when the twig breaks beneath our feet.
140. The more closed is the door of our cell, the more open the gate of heaven.
141. The body needs "terrorism". It is the only way.
142. When somebody sets out to spoil our joy, we should remember within ourselves that God loves us.
143. You should be with people as you are with Christ; just as if He were present, and then you will not get upset about anything or with anybody.
144. The more we take things and problems to heart, the more we show our pride and lack of faith.
145. Someone truly humble does not get upset, because whoever gets upset starts off with judgement, with condemnation and rebellion.
146. The libraries and lecture halls are always full; but what saint has ever come from them?
147. Our intellectual cultivation is done in the heart. That is an intellectual person. Not somebody educated, as many think.
148. There is something called Christian self-respect. Because the Christian knows that he is a brother of the Prince of Glory and a son of the Father. Because of this it is not allowed in his presence for others to talk in an unseemly way or to condemn people present or absent.
149. God our Father Himself takes us by the hand and takes us to testing. For our purification and perfection. That is why God the Son has taught us to pray to Him, "and lead us not into temptation".
150. Christ said to us: Go and make disciples of all nations. And we - hushing up - what do we do?
151. If you love the Lord, then you have patience towards His will. If however you have patience without love, then you are like a soldier of Hitler's. Nothing more.
152. Condemnation, mockery, contempt, hypocrisy, saying "Yes, but..." - these are the weapons of the weak man who has failed in what he wanted to do in his life and his destination before God.
153. Our Lord gave as an example of freedom from care, not people but the birds of heaven.
154. When you don't seek anything, and when whatever God gives you, you give it all away... that is love.
155. When we ask somebody to pray for us to obtain such and such a virtue, we should also pray the same, for in this case, our prayer is the best.
156. We need patience under the darts of the evil one, persistence in the breaking of our ego, and submission to the holy will of God. Only with these can we progress.
157. Never take part in a discussion where someone is being condemned or even simply gossipped about.
158. Often His will does not seem to us either just, or convenient or pleasant. But when we see that behind this is a mountain, the mountain of His love, then we see that things could only have been thus; harmonized in God.
159. The greater your faith in the heavenly, the less you get upset about the earthly.
160. What makes us upset is the sense of wrong that we have when we think we have been wronged. But what we see as wrong, God regards as the greatest school for the progress of our souls.
161. Never rely on something somebody tells you. Find out for yourself.
162. We must know when to be quiet, and when to leave where we are.
163. The more we discuss something that happens, the more it stays in our lives, whereas in the normal course of events it would leave at the right time.
164. When I have Christ as my head, how can I put my head under a human head?
165. In the Bible you will not find the word "duty".
166. Do not discuss with anyone anything not related to God, and you will always be quiet.
167. Better to be dumb than stupid.
168. When we say that somebody is "sensitive", this means he suffers because his ego is hurt and because he is proud. The same happens with children, who as soon as somebody scolds them or opposes them, immediately start crying. This is not permissible for a person of God. The saints didn't have pride, and whatever people did to them they accepted it because they had humility and meekness. In this case the soul is not "sensitive", is not offended; it has love, dispassion...
169. When I am united with Christ, who will separate me? Is there another person? Only somebody outside of here... in which case let him stay where he is!
170. Illness always comes along with spiritual experiences to a person who is in a position to grasp them.
171. We all think that we are right. That is why we think that all our deeds are rightly done. But unfortunately, just as the Truth is One, so also the Right is One... but we are not in a position to discern.
172. If we don't stumble, we don't progress. We should thank God that we don't break an arm or a leg into the bargain.
173. If you want to do something, don't advertise it. It will "materialize" in words and will no longer need to materialize in reality too. Keep it secret until the last moment - from everybody!
174. We should every day be spectators of the miracles of God.
175. When you spontaneously say something about God, this is from God. On the other hand when it becomes "preaching", then it is the ego leading the way. In the first case the seed catches, in the second it does not.
176. Where there is no respect for the person, there is none for God either. And the other way round.
177. If people had two things, readiness for change and "yes" to that spiritual person who loves them and who they trust, then the blessing of God would come upon them. This is why wherever there is obedience, God's blessing comes and the miracle happens.
178. After obedience there comes, at the time appointed by God, direction from above.
179. The most powerful prayer is the Epiclesis (Invocation) of the Holy Liturgy.
180. We cannot have one foot here and the other there. God wants us whole. So when we say that we belong to God and that we love Him, how can we and how dare we not be a hundred per cent His?
181. Only on His own does the Lord bring blows. So that they wake up and become conscious and repent.
182. He who does not lose, does not find.
183. Love is a bomb that destroys all evil.
184. Never say that it is too late, even if you have fallen very low...
185. We should always say "Thank God for our existence." Thank God for the existence of the other. This is the true thanksgiving God wants.
186. We must guard against the feeling of ownership.
187. Never let the other understand that he has hurt you.
188. When we have doubt about some stance that we ought to take, we should ask our conscience, not only ourselves. And always take the position of the other.
189. We must never betray the truth which we feel in ourselves. Not for anybody. Not for any situation. Perhaps that is why you see me here today and there tomorrow. But rather than betray the voice of God within me, I prefer to be homeless and a beggar.
190. Never leave anywhere of your own accord. No, no, no! If the other does not drive you away, don't leave.
191. If I had the possibility I would do special "caprices" to whoever doesn't have means... Not charity.
192. The other day a lady asked me what would happen with the 'toll booths' after death. I said to her, " I will tell them the Light of Christ shines to All! You however are in darkness and I don't see you!"
193. The over-aged and the under age have the same problem in this world... As soon as you pass a certain age, they tell you: "Ah, now he will fall ill and what are we going to do - shall we treat him? Don't move, don't do this, don't do that." Just for their own sake, so that they don't have to treat you. Not for yours!
194. The greatest part of my prayer here and for years now is Thankgiving. What else should I ask, when I have everything?
195. It is not the Abbot's fault when he is strict. It is the fault of our own conscience. Because whatever fearful sin we may have committed, we have to tell it. On the other hand when the Ego in capital letters holds us back, the other gets strict.
196. He who honours somebody else, is essentially honouring Christ who is in him. That is how it works. And when we ourselves give others an honour or a position, we are really honouring the Lord who we have within us and who every person has.
197. Whatever you eat and whatever you drink after the Table, make the sign of the cross over it and say to yourself, "For healing of soul and body".
198. Even if personally we have no sorrow of our own, we see the sorrow in the world and sorrow over it. But if people do not have faith we cannot do anything.
199. God put the senses in the head. Why? Do you know? So that we can not see ourselves. Yes! So that we see only the other and love only the other. And so that we see ourselves only in the eyes of the Other.
200. You should have continual conversation with your guardian angel. About everything. Especially in difficulties and when you cannot get across to someone. He always helps
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