"Without winter there would be no spring, without spring there would be no summer.
So it is in the spiritual life: a little consolation, then a little pain, and thus, little by little, the path of salvation is formed.
The Lord could comfort us all the time, but ceaseless consolation harms us, just as if the sun were to blaze without cease, everything would dry up or fall to the ground; but when phenomena alternate, it is good.”
Saint Anatoly “the Younger” of Optina
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