Inner Compass

We have a faithful barometer that shows the rise or fall of our spiritual life, and that is the heart. It can also be called a compass that shows us where to sail. It shows whether we are going to the spiritual east – Christ, or to the west – to the dark power of the devil, this lord of death. Therefore, look carefully at your inner compass, and it will show you the right path.

Distinguish in yourself the Life-Giving Spirit and the Spirit that kills. When you have good thoughts in your soul, you feel good and light, you feel calm and joy: this means that the Holy Spirit is in you. When you have evil thoughts or evil movements of the heart, you feel heavy and restless. This means that you have an evil spirit in you. The evil spirit is the spirit of doubt, unbelief, passions, distress, sorrow, confusion; and the good spirit is the spirit of undoubted faith, the spirit of virtue, the spirit of spiritual freedom and breadth, the spirit of peace and joy. By these signs, recognize who is acting in you.

On Prudence

Be moderate in every religious matter, for virtue must also be prudent, corresponding to the forces and circumstances of the time and place. It is good, for example, to pray from a pure heart, but if prayer does not correspond to physical strength, to various circumstances, places and times, then it will no longer be a virtue. That is why the Apostle Peter teaches: "Show prudence in your virtue, temperance in prudence, patience in temperance" (2 Peter 1:5, 6).

About sins

Let no one think that sin is something unimportant. No, sin is a terrible evil that kills the soul! Who among the sincere believers does not know what sorrow and distress strikes the soul, what scorching fire rages in the chest after committing some sin?