"You who are in the monastery, when you approach your brother; you who are married, when you approach your spouse; you who are a father or a mother, when you approach your child: 'Let words of consolation leap forward before the rest of your speech'.
Whatever you say, whatever you think of saying, say it only after you've said a word or two which will give the others joy, consolation, a breath of life. Make them say 'I feel relief, I feel joy'. Make others proud of you, love you, dance for joy when they see you. Because everybody in their life, in their home, in their body, and in their soul, has pain, illness, difficulties, torments, and everybody hides them within the secret purse of his heart and home, so that others won't know about it. I don't know what sort of pain you're in, and you don't know what pain I'm in. I may laugh, shout, and appear happy, but deep down, I'm in pain, and I laugh to cover up my sorrow. And so before anything else, greet the other person with a smile." (Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, The Church at Prayer)
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