Thoughts

"As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mind of God."

"Just as a strongly flowing fountain is not blocked up by a handful of earth, so the compassion of the Creator is not overcome by the wickedness of his creatures."

"Someone who bears a grudge while he prays is like a person who sows in the sea and expects to reap a harvest."

—St. Isaac The Syrian

"He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins..."

—St. Maximos the Confessor (Third Century on Love no. 55)

"Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes."

—St. John Climacus