June 21

The suffering of an unwise life leads to the realization of the necessity of living wisely.

1

Like the thief, I knew that I had been leading and continue to lead a bad life, and I see that most people around me live just like me. And, like the thief, I knew that I was unhappy, that I was suffering and that the people around me are just as unhappy and suffering, and I did not see any way out of this situation besides death. And, like the thief to the cross, I was nailed to this life of suffering and evil by some force. And as the terrible darkness of death was waiting for the thief after a life of senseless suffering and evil, the same awaited me also.

In all this I was exactly like the thief, but the difference between me and the thief was that he was already dying, but I was still alive. The thief could believe that his salvation was there, beyond the grave, but I could not believe this because, besides the afterlife, I still had to live here. I did not understand this life. It seemed terrible to me. And then suddenly I heard the words of Christ, I understood them, and life and death no longer appeared to me as an evil, and instead of despair I felt the joy and happiness of life, which death cannot disturb.

2

The majority of people are prodigal sons and daughters, who squander their vitality and means on things of no worth. They move ever further away from their “father’s house,” feeding, like the prodigal son, on husks. Finally, their spiritual poverty forces them to return to their “father’s house,” and then, like babies, they have to learn the true path of life from the beginning.

— Lucy Mallory

3

There are three paths to wisdom: the first is contemplation, the noblest path; the second is imitation, the easiest path; the third is experience, the most difficult path.

— Confucius

4

In every suffering that befalls you, think not so much about how to rid yourself of suffering, but about what effort the suffering requires of you for moral improvement.

All misfortunes, both of humankind and of individuals, are not useless and lead both humankind and individuals, albeit in a roundabout way, towards the same one goal that has been set for us: the manifestation of God by everyone within themselves and within the whole of humankind.