Lord! How characteristic it is of human beings to attract and assimilate images, to settle into them and reside in them—whilst for them, as being made in Thine image, it should be natural to strive with all love and zeal towards the First Image, and cleave to Him. But this greedy, pleasure-loving, flabby, and sluggish flesh of ours pulls us away from Thee. We need fasting and temperance, but we are passionate for pleasures. Strengthen us for abstinence!
St. John of Kronstadt
