Patristic Quote of the Day

Do you wish to learn that we accomplish more before God when we pray through ourselves than when others pray for us? The Canaanite woman cried out, and the disciples came, and He said to them: “‘I have not been sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” However, when she herself approached, He helped her. You see how He held her off when others prayed, but when she herself cried out in prayer, He acceded. So although we are not ignorant that we are unworthy sinners, let us be by ourselves and without intercessors, still we should not lose heart.—St. John Chrysostom,  Homily, de profectu evangelii, vol. 5, fol. 428 (HT: Pr. Heath Curtis)