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"By saying that He will even hand us over to burning for the sake of sufferings, torment and all sorts of ills,"

"And it is clear that He does not abandon them the moment they fall,"

"No part belonging to any single one of (all) rational beings will be lost,"

"Let us beware in ourselves, my beloved,"

"The life of solitaries is higher than this world"

"converse and not working with any of the realities here below,"

"What is a charitable heart? It is a heart which is burning with love for the whole creation, for men, for the birds, for the beasts … for all creatures. He who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without his eyes being filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes his heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain being inflicted upon a creature. That is why such a man never ceases to pray for the animals … [He is] … moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united with God."

"By stillness of the body and ceasing from this world,"

"When the soul has become limpid,"

"Even if there was a time when creation did not exist,"

"Now is there yet another place above where creation has ascended?"

"At night when all sounds are still,"

"In the night which calms all the efforts"

"All of these realities are within the light of the mind."

"For he says:"

"Many times a day,"

"If all the writings of the desert fathers which teach us concerning watchfulness and prayer were lost and the writings of Abba Isaac the Syrian alone survived, they would suffice to teach one from beginning to end concerning the life of stillness and prayer. They are the Alpha and Omega of the life of watchfulness and interior prayer, and alone suffice to guide one from his first steps to perfection."

"Forsake not Isaac."

"I am reading St Isaac the Syrian. I find something true, heroic, spiritual in him; something which transcends space and time. I feel that here, for the first time, is a voice which resonates in the deepest parts of my being, hitherto closed and unknown to me. Although he is so far removed from me in time and space, he has come right into the house of my soul. In a moment of quiet he has spoken to me, sat down beside me. Although I have read so many other things, although I have met so many other people, and though today there are others living around me, no one else has been so discerning. To no one else have I opened the door of my soul in this way. Or to put it better, no one else has shown me in such a brotherly, friendly way that, within myself, within human nature, there is such a door, a door which opens onto a space which is open and unlimited. And no one else has told me this unexpected and ineffable truth, that the whole of this inner world belongs to man."

"Mysteries are revealed,"

"In the measure that love for the flesh prevails in you,"

"There is nothing so capable of banishing the inveterate habits of licentiousness from our soul,"