The mighty giants of the Philistines.
“Every good comes providentially from God.
However, it quietly leaves those
who are ungrateful, unfeeling and idle.
Every tribulation reveals the state of our will.”
“Image that there are three powerful and mighty giants of the Philistines ... When these three have been overthrown and slain, all the power of the demons is fatally weakened. These three giants are: ignorance, the source of all evils; forgetfulness, it’s close relation and helper; and laziness, which weaves the dark shroud enveloping the soul in murk. This third vice supports and strengthens the other two, consolidating them so that evil becomes deep-rooted and persistent in the negligent soul. Laziness, forgetfulness, and ignorance in their turn support and strengthen the other passions. Helping one another, and unable to hold their positions apart from one another, they are the mainstay and the chief leaders of the devil’s army. Through them the whole of this army infiltrates the soul and is enabled to achieve its objectives, which otherwise it could not do.
Peace is deliverance from the passions, and is not found except through the action of the Holy Spirit.”
Wisdom from Saint Mark the Ascetic
