"Every physical and spiritual task which does not involve pain, toil and trouble never bears fruit for the person who engages in it, for the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence and the violent lay hold of it (Mt. 11.12) - 'violence' here meaning the laborious exercise of the body in everything." (Ignatius Brianchaninov, from On the Prayer of Jesus, quoted in Wounded By Love; The Life and Wisdom of Elder Prophyrios. p.108)
'When you love Christ you exert yourself, but in blessed exertions. You suffer, but with joy. . . Exertion for Christ, true desire for Christ, is love sacrifice and dissolution of the self. This is also how David felt: My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. My soul longs with cravings and melt away of our love for God.' (p.108)
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