“May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen.  May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart’s vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages.” (Prayer of Origen, 185-254 AD)
 
 
"It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not  fear or be dismayed"   (Deuteronomy 31:8)
 
 
"God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you, because our knowledge of you is imperfect. In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy; we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins; and we have
foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life. But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving, and that our resentment against you was groundless."

(St. Augustine of Hippo)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"You may leave everything, follow the Lord and then regard yourself greater and more superior than others, and by doing this, you are accepting the poison of Pharisaism."       (The Gift of Faith, pg. 167)

 
 
 
 
"Our loving Father detaches you as delicately as possible from all that enslaves you and stops you on the path to Him. Yet you still cry instead of thanking Him."   (Open Wide the Door to Christ, pg. 170

 
 
"The sincere Christian attitude entails giving up a life that is organized according to one's own desires and ideas - a life that does not count on God and on His will."
(Open Wide the Door to Christ, pg. 87)