When the soul betrays itself and loses the blessed and longed for fervor, let it carefully investigate the reason for losing this. And let it arm itself with all its longing and zeal against whatever has caused this. For the former fervor can return only through the same door through which it was lost. The man who renounces the world from fear is like burning incense that begins with fragrance but ends in smoke. He who leaves the world through hope of reward is like a millstone that always moves in the same way. But he who withdraws from the world out of love for God has obtained fire at the very outset; and, like fire set to fuel, it soon kindles a larger fire.
Let us not extinguish this fire with our worldly chores.
Based on Saint John of the Ladder
In this photo a deacon incensing during the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts
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