By Saint Gregory the Theologian
All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
(Ecclesiastes 1:7)
What beautiful words!
Saints are like the rivers. Their work and their mission is, with their deeds, their virtues, and their words, to pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground, that is the hearts of the people, who live in this life on earth.
Whatever the saints do, no matter how many pieces of advice they give, people will always be thirsty unless they seek to find the way back, to return to their inner selves, with their hearts, at that Source from which the works of the saints flow.
As long as they will neglect to return to their inner selves, to their hearts, in order to feel the love of our Creator, and to bind wholeheartedly with Him. Whatever they are trying to do, it will always be in vain; and their word, not just will not cool their lips, but on the contrary, they will more and more dry them!
The saints were struggling to return to their inner selves, by spreading love; and there, in the depths of their hearts, they found and absorbed all those things which, by their deeds and words, they give to the world.
In that way, the saints learned how to love those words they say and are distillation of wisdom.