Spoken of Him

"…even if [Rodrigues] was betraying [his fellow priests], he was not betraying his Lord. He loved him now in a different way from before. Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. “Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of Him."

-Shusaku Endo, Silence

Rushed To Your Aid

"You may think that your voice did not reach the saints, our Panagia or Christ. On the contrary, even before you cried out, they rushed to your aid."

-St. Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Blissfully

“The smell of death was thick in the city of Varanasi. And in Tokyo as well. And yet the birds blissfully sang their songs.”

-Shusaku Endo, Deep River

Cover Him

Frange esuriénti panem tuum, et egénos vagósque induc in domum tuam: cum víderis nudum, óperi eum, et carnem tuam ne despéxeris.

Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house; when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thine own flesh.

I was praying None today in my Monastic Diurnal and these words really stood out to me.  How beautiful is the concept of love that we are called to have for humanity.  What a standard the Lord gives us.  When I see the poverty of others, I am to care for them as if I was in their situation.  Christ is present in all especially in the suffering.  Let us not despise "thine own flesh."