Consistency
The father asked his elder son to work in his vineyard that day. ‘I don’t want to’ he said; however, later he changed his mind and went. The father said the same thing to his second son, who replied ‘Yes, I’ll go’, but he did not in fact go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? Matthew 21: 28 -31
After Cuthbert reluctantly agreed to become a bishop ‘he continued with the utmost constancy to be what he had been before. He showed the same humility of heart, the same poverty of dress, and, being full of authority and grace, he maintained the dignity of a bishop without abandoning the ideal of a monk or the virtue of the hermit…
His discourse was pure and frank, full of gravity and probity, full of sweetness and grace, dealing with the ministry of the law, the teaching of the faith, the virtue of temperance, and the practice of righteousness … He followed the example of the saints, fulfilling the duty of peace among the brothers; he held fast to humility also and the excellent gift of love without which every other virtue is worth nothing. He cared for the poor, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, took in strangers, redeemed captives, and protected widows and orphans.
The Life of Cuthbert by an anonymous monk of Lindisfarne
The silent power of a consistent life
Florence Nightingale
Long obedience in the same direction.
Frederick Nietzsche
I make Christ’s Cross over my face
Each day and each night
That I place myself under his keeping
I shall not be overwhelmed
I shall not be destroyed
I shall not be imprisoned
I shall not be cast down.
Black thoughts shall not lie on me
Confusion shall not lie on me
No ill-will of enemy shall lie on me.