Christ Alone Suffices
In the course of many years, prayer proceeds to work its way in a slow, steady, and accumulative manner, which destroys the spirit of sin and gradually cleanses the conscience until your life of prayer matures. Then suddenly, the light of salvation illuminates the soul with a joy permeating your whole being and enveloping your whole life. This inner light, which seems to be sudden, is however the work of long years of thousands of prayers.
Father Matthew the Poor (Matta El-Maskeen) (1919-2006) is the refounder and the spiritual father of the Monastery of St. Macarius the Great, Wādī al-Naṭrūn, Egypt. He has greatly contributed to the revival of the Coptic monastic life and has played a significant role in the rediscovery of the Early Church Fathers. Father Matthew has been a great advocate of Christian unity. He has hundreds of publications in numerous fields only some of which have been translated so far.