Look at the lives and examples of the holy fathers, in whom true perfection and godliness shone, and you will see how little—indeed, how nothing—our own efforts amount to. We have every reason to mourn the state of our lives.

The holy friends of Jesus Christ served God while thirsty and hungry, cold and poorly clothed. They laboured with sincerity through every hardship: in suffering, in long night-vigils and fasts, in constant prayer and sacred contemplation, in oppression and in many humiliations.

How great and bitter were the trials borne by the apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all who chose to follow in Christ’s footsteps! They put their bodies and souls to death in this world so that they might enter eternal life.

What a beggarly, wretched, and painful existence the holy fathers led in the desert! How long and heavy were the temptations they endured, and how fiercely the enemy assailed them! How often and fervently they prayed! How strictly they practised daily self-denial! How intense was their passion for the spiritual contest, what mighty battles they fought to subdue evil! With utter honesty before themselves as they approached God, they worked by day and found comfort in long prayers by night. They spent every hour to good purpose; no length of time ever seemed enough for God’s service. For the delight of being filled with thoughts of God they even set aside the body’s need for food.

They renounced riches, rank, worldly honour and fame, friends and family. They wished to own nothing of this world beyond what was strictly necessary for life. They refused to pamper the body, even in hardship; in earthly matters they were poor, yet in love and virtue they were exceedingly rich. Outwardly they endured deprivation, yet inwardly they were fed by the love and comfort of God.

Strangers to the world, they were intimate friends of God. For this reason the world rejected them, but in God’s sight they were beloved. They abided in true humility, lived in simple obedience, and walked in love and patience. Thus, day by day, they grew in spirit and were granted a share in the great love of God.