scharfflaw:

“Do not fear the conflict, and do not flee from it; where there is no struggle, there is no virtue.”

— John of Kronstadt

Our propensity is to consider ourselves virtuous. However is it really true? Are we truly virtuous or have we been fooling ourselves to cover our own failures? I am the sort of person who cares for the poor…in spite of the poor man I just avoided. I am the sort of person who loves his children…even though I have been hiding at work and not going home.

True virtue is proven in the struggle. In conflict. In pain. In sacrifice. It is in the furnace of suffering that we come face to face with ourselves – and choose whether to run to the locked room or be crucified with Christ.