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For If It Is Not Lawful To Take The Law Into Our Own Hands And Slay Even A Guilty Person, Whose Death No Public Sentence Has Warranted. Then Certainly He Who Kills Himself Is A Homicide, And So Much The Guiltier Of His Own Death As He Was More Innocent Of That Offence For Which He Doomed Himself To Die.

-Saint Augustine

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For If It Is

Saint Augustine

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For If It Is Not Lawful To Take The Law Into Our Own Hands And Slay Even A Guilty Person, Whose Death No Public Sentence Has Warranted. Then Certainly He Who Kills Himself Is A Homicide, And So Much The Guiltier Of His Own Death As He Was More Innocent Of That Offence For Which He Doomed Himself To Die.

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It Is Not With Respect To Our Convenience Or Discomfort, But With Respect To Their Own Nature That The Creatures Are Glorifying To Their Artificer.

If There Is Something More Excellent Than The Truth, Then That Is God; If Not, Then Truth Itself Is God.

Man Has Been Naturally So Created That It Is Advantageous For Him To Be Submissive, But Disastrous For Him To Follow His Own Will, And Not The Will Of His Creator.

I Acknowledge Thee, Lord Of Heaven And Earth, And Praise Thee For My First Rudiments Of Being, And My Infancy, Whereof I Remember Nothing; For Thou Hast Appointed That Man Should From Others Guess Much As To Himself; And Believe Much On The Strength Of Weak Females.

Even The Straws Under My Knees Shout To Distract Me From Prayer

He That Is Jealous Is Not In Love.

He That Loveth Little Prayeth Little, He That Loveth Much Prayeth Much.

God Does Not Give Heed To The Ambitiousness Of Our Prayers, Because He Is Always Ready To Give To Us His Light, Not A Visible Light But An Intellectual And Spiritual One; But We Are Not Always Ready To Receive It When We Turn Aside And Down To Other Things Out Of A Desire For Temporal Things.

I Do Not Comprehend All That I Am. Is The Mind, Therefore, Too Limited To Possess Itself?

Make Me A Captive Lord, Then I Shall Be Truly Free.

A Free Curiosity Is More Effective In Learning Than A Rigid Discipline.

The Mind Commands The Body And Is Instantly Obeyed. The Mind Commands Itself And Meets Resistance. The Mind Commands The Hand To Move, And It So Easy That One Hardly Distinguishes The Order From Its Execution. Yet Mind Is Mind And Hand Is Body. The Mind Orders The Mind To Will. The Recipient Of The Order Is Itself, Yet It Does Not Perform It.

Habit, If Not Resisted, Soon Becomes Necessity.

For What Is Faith Unless It Is To Believe What You Do Not See?

To Withhold Forgiveness Is To Take Poison And Expect The Unforgiven To Die.

A Man May Lose The Good Things Of This Life Against His Will; But If He Loses The Eternal Blessings, He Does So With His Own Consent.

For, As It Is Written In The Book Of The Prophets: 'and The Angel That Spoke In Me, Said To Me...' He Does Not Say, 'spoke To Me' But 'spoke In Me'.

I Once Laboured Hard For The Free Will Of Man, Until The Grace Of God At Length Overcame Me.

Do Not Say That You Have Chaste Minds If You Have Unchaste Eyes, Because An Unchaste Eye Is The Messenger Of An Unchaste Heart.

Let Us Therefore Yield Ourselves And Bow To The Authority Of The Holy Scriptures, Which Can Neither Err Nor Deceive.

Now, May Our God Be Our Hope. He Who Made All Things Is Better Than All Things. He Who Made All Beautiful Things Is More Beautiful Than All Of Them. He Who Made All Mighty Things Is More Mighty Than All Of Them. He Who Made All Great Things Is Greater Than All Of Them. Learn To Love The Creator In His Creature, And The Maker In What He Has Made.

For If God Is Man's Chief Good, Which You Cannot Deny, It Clearly Follows, Since To Seek The Chief Good Is To Live Well, That To Live Well Is Nothing Else But To Love God With All The Heart, With All The Soul, With All The Mind.

Love And Do What You Want. If You Stop Talking, You Will Stop Talking With Love; If You Shout, You Will Shout With Love; If You Correct, You Will Correct With Love.

One Generation And Another Generation; The Generation By Which We Are Made The Faithful, And Are Born Again By Baptism; The Generation By Which We Shall Rise Again From The Dead, And Shall Live With The Angels For Ever.

If You Understand, It Is Not God.

It Is Human To Err, But It Is Devilish To Remain Willfully In Error.

Men Go Forth To Wonder At The Height Of Mountains, The Huge Waves Of The Sea, The Broad Flow Of The Ocean, The Course Of The Stars-and Forget To Wonder At Themselves. Beware Of Despairing About Yourself: You Are Commanded To Put Your Trust In God, And Not In Yourself.

Free Curiosity Is Of More Value In Learning Than Harsh Discipline.

This Is The Very Perfection Of A Man, To Find Out His Own Imperfections.

We Cannot Pass Our Guardian Angel's Bounds, Resigned Or Sullen, He Will Hear Our Sighs.

Believe That You May Understand.

An Apt And True Reply Was Given To Alexander The Great By A Pirate Who Had Been Seized. For When That King Had Asked The Man What He Meant By Keeping Hostile Possession Of The Sea, He Answered With Bold Pride. "what Thou Meanest By Seizing The Whole Earth; But Because I Do It With A Petty Ship, I Am Called A Robber, Whilst Thou Who Dost It With A Great Fleet Art Styled Emperor."

Ex Malo Bounum (good Out Of Evil).

Even In Waging War, Cherish The Spirit Of Peace-maker; That, By Conquering Those Whom You Attack, You May Lead Them Back To The Advantages Of Peace.

If We Did Not Have Rational Souls, We Would Not Be Able To Believe.

It Is Love That Asks, That Seeks, That Knocks, That Finds, And That Is Faithful To What It Finds.

The Words Printed Here Are Concepts. You Must Go Through The Experiences.

I Count Myself One Of The Number Of Those Who Write As They Learn And Learn As They Write.

The Lord Says, 'whoever Has, To Him Shall Be Given' (mt. 13:12). He Will Give, Then, To Those Who Have; That Is To Say, If They Use Freely And Cheerfully What They Have Received, He Will Add To And Perfect His Gifts.

Late Have I Loved Thee, O Lord; And Behold, Thou Wast Within And I Without, And There I Sought Thee. Thou Was With Me When I Was Not With Thee. Thou Didst Call, And Cry, And Burst My Deafness. Thou Didst Gleam, And Glow, And Dispell My Blindness. Thou Didst Touch Me, And I Burned For Thy Peace. For Thyself Thou Hast Made Us, And Restless Our Hearts Until In Thee They Find Their Ease. Late Have I Loved Thee, Thou Beauty Ever Old And Ever New. Thou Hast Burst My Bonds Asunder; Unto Thee Will I Offer Up An Offering Of Praise.

Because A Thing Is Eloquently Expressed It Should Not Be Taken To Be As Necessarily True; Nor Because It Is Uttered With Stammering Lips Should It Be Supposed False.

Your Best Servant Is The Person Who Does Not Attend So Much To Hearing What He Himself Wants As To Willing What He Has Heard From You.

Seek Not Abroad, For In The Inner Man Dwells The Truth.

It Is A Sin To Judge Any Man By His Post

He Who Commends The Nature Of The Soul As The Supreme Good, And Condemns The Nature Of The Flesh As Evil, At Once Both Carnally Desires The Soul, And Carnally Flies The Flesh, Because He Feels Thus From Human Vanity, Not From Divine Truth.

Since Love Grows Within You, So Beauty Grows. For Love Is The Beauty Of The Soul.

We Must Be On Our Guard Against Giving Interpretations Which Are Hazardous Or Opposed To Science, And So Exposing The Word Of God To The Ridicule Of Unbelievers.

Moreover, From The Time When He Said, 'except A Man Be Born Of Water And Of The Spirit, He Cannot Enter Into The Kingdom Of Heaven;' And Again, 'he That Loseth His Life For My Sake Shall Find It; ' No One Becomes A Member Of Christ Except It Be Either By Baptism In Christ, Or Death For Christ.

In My Unloveliness I Plunged Into The Lovely Things Which You Created. You Were With Me, But I Was Not With You. Created Things Kept Me From You; Yet If They Had Not Been In You, They Would Have Not Been At All.

Nothing So Clearly Distinguishes A Spiritual Man As His Treatment Of An Erring Brother.

Love, And Do What You Will. If You Keep Silence, Do It Out Of Love. If You Cry Out, Do It Out Of Love. If You Refrain From Punishing, Do It Out Of Love.

This World's A Bubble.

You Have Enemies. For Who Can Live On This Earth Without Them? Take Heed To Yourselves: Love Them. In No Way Can Your Enemy So Hurt You By His Violence, As You Hurt Yourself If You Love Him Not.

Indifferent Acts Are Judged By Their Ends Sins Are Judged By Themselves.

We Were Ensnared By The Wisdom Of The Serpent; We Are Set Free By The Foolishness Of God .

None Save Great Men Have Been The Authors Of Great Heresies.

Things Are Solved By Walking Around.

All The Dancer's Gestures Are Signs Of Things, And The Dance Called Rational, Because It Aptly Signifies And Displays Something Over And Above The Pleasure Of The Senses.

The Bread That You See On The Altar Is The Body Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word. The Chalice, Or Better What Is Contained In The Chalice, Is The Blood Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word

Love God, And Do What You Like.

The Soul, Which Is Spirit, Can Not Dwell In Dust; It Is Carried Along To Dwell In The Blood.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

The Dove Loves When It Quarrels; The Wolf Hates When It Flatters.

Where Your Pleasure Is, There Is Your Treasure: Where Your Treasure, There Your Heart; Where Your Heart, There Your Happiness

Once For All, Then, A Short Precept Is Given Thee: Love, And Do What Thou Wilt: Whether Thou Hold Thy Peace, Through Love Hold Thy Peace; Whether Thou Cry Out, Through Love Cry Out; Whether Thou Correct, Through Love Correct; Whether Thou Spare, Through Love Do Thou Spare: Let The Root Of Love Be Within, Of This Root Can Nothing Spring But What Is Good.

The Entire Life Of A Good Christian Is In Fact An Exercise Of Holy Desire. You Do Not Yet See What You Long For, But The Very Act Of Desiring Prepares You, So That When He Comes You May See And Be Utterly Satisfied.

Love God, Then Do What You Will.

Carnal Lust Rules Where There Is No Love Of God.

My Mind Withdrew Its Thoughts From Experience, Extracting Itself From The Contradictory Throng Of Sensuous Images, That It Might Find Out What That Light Was Wherein It Was Bathed... And Thus, With The Flash Of One Hurried Glance, It Attained To The Vision Of That Which Is.

Someone Who Knows Enough To Become The Owner Of A Tree, And Gives Thanks To You For The Benefits It Brings Him, Is In A Better State, Even If Ignorant Of Its Height In Feet And The Extent Of Its Spread, Than Another Who Measures And Counts All Its Branches But Neither Owns It Nor Knows Its Creator Nor Loves Him.

The Fruits Of Charity Are Joy, Peace, And Mercy; Charity Demands Beneficence And Fraternal Correction; It Is Benevolence; It Fosters Reciprocity And Remains Disinterested And Generous; It Is Friendship And Communion: Love Is Itself The Fulfillment Of All Our Works. There Is The Goal; That Is Why We Run: We Run Toward It, And Once We Reach It, In It We Shall Find Rest.

Just Think Of The Illimitable Abundance And The Marvelous Loveliness Of Light, Or Of The Beauty Of The Sun And Moon And Stars.

Such Then In Number And Importance Are The Precious Ties Belonging To The Christian Name Which Keep A Believer In The Catholic Church, As It Is Right They Should ... With You, Where There Is None Of These Things To Attract Or Keep Me... No One Shall Move Me From The Faith Which Binds My Mind With Ties So Many And So Strong To The Christian Religion... For My Part, I Should Not Believe The Gospel Except As Moved By The Authority Of The Catholic Church.

You Are My Lord, Because You Have No Need Of My Goodness.

Grace Alone Brings About Every Good Work In Us.

Every Visible Thing In This World Is Put In The Charge Of An Angel.

So While He Made You Without You, He Doesn't Justify You Without You.

You Are What You Love.

No One Knows What He Himself Is Made Of, Except His Own Spirit Within Him, Yet There Is Still Some Part Of Him Which Remains Hidden Even From His Own Spirit; But You, Lord, Know Everything About A Human Being Because You Have Made Him...let Me, Then, Confess What I Know About Myself, And Confess Too What I Do Not Know, Because What I Know Of Myself I Know Only Because You Shed Light On Me, And What I Do Not Know I Shall Remain Ignorant About Until My Darkness Becomes Like Bright Noon Before Your Face.

Though There Are Very Many Nations All Over The Earth, ...there Are No More Than Two Kinds Of Human Society, Which We May Justly Call Two Cities, ...one Consisting Of Those Who Live According To Man, The Other Of Those Who Live According To God ....to The City Of Man Belong The Enemies Of God, ...so Inflamed With Hatred Against The City Of God.

When, Therefore, Man Lives According To Man, Not According To God, He Is Like The Devil.

By Means Of Corporal And Temporal Things We May Comprehend The Eternal And The Spiritual.

One Loving Heart Sets Another On Fire.

I Am Convinced That In All History There Has Never Been A Greater Need To Pray For Our Pastors Than Exists Right Now! Pastors Are Experiencing An Unprecedented Wave Of Attacks, Stresses, Challenges. Obstacles. Pressures.

Humility Is First, Second And Third In Christianity.

And I Will Ask The Father, And He Shall Give You Another Paraclete, Seeing He Saith This Of The Holy Spirit, Whom Except We Have, We Can Neither Love God, Nor Keep His Commandments?

The Peace Of The Celestial City Is The Perfectly Ordered And Harmonious Enjoyment Of God, And Of One Another In God. (city Of God, Book 19)

He Cannot Have God For His Father Who Will Not Have The Church For His Mother.

Grant What Thou Commandest, And Command What Thou Wilt.

The Human Race Is Inquisitive About Other People's Lives, But Negligent To Correct Their Own.

When [men] Go To War, What They Want Is To Impose On Their Enemies The Victor's Will And Call It Peace.

Watch, O Lord, With Those Who Wake, Or Watch Or Weep Tonight, And Give Your Angels Charge Over Those Who Sleep. Tend Your Sick Ones, O Lord Jesus Christ; Rest Your Weary Ones; Bless Your Dying Ones; Soothe Your Suffering Ones; Pity Your Afflicted Ones; Shield Your Joyous Ones; And All For Your Love's Sake. Amen.

The Diversity Of Language Alienates Man From Man

The Law Is Not In Fault, But Our Evil And Wicked Nature; Even As A Heap Of Lime Is Still And Quiet Until Water Is Poured On It, But Then It Begins To Smoke And Burn, Not From The Fault Of The Water, But From The Nature Of The Lime, Which Will Not Endure It.

If You Would Attain To What You Are Not Yet, You Must Always Be Displeased By What You Are. For Where You Are Pleased With Yourself There You Have Remained. Keep Adding, Keep Walking, Keep Advancing.

His Knowledge Is Not Like Ours, Which Has Three Tenses; Present, Past, And Future. God's Knowledge Has No Change Or Variation.

Love, And Do What You Will. If You Are Silent, Be Silent For Love; Or If You Cry Out, Cry Out For Love. If You Chastise, Chastise For Love; If You Spare, Spare For Love.

Every Infinity... Is Made Finite To God.

You Say To Me 'show Me Your God.' I Answer You, 'everything You See In Your Heart That Might Sadden God, Remove.'

If You Don't Believe It You Won't Understand It.

The Measure Of Love Is To Love Without Measuring.

Indeed, Man Wishes To Be Happy Even When He So Lives As To Make Happiness Impossible.

Teach Correctly... Find Delight In Contemplation.

And So, Lastly, Does The Very Name Of "catholic", Which, Not Without Reason, Amid So Many Heresies, The Church Has Thus Retained; So That, Though All Heretics Wish To Be Called Catholics, Yet When A Stranger Asks Where The Catholic Church Meets, No Heretic Will Venture To Point To His Own Chapel Or House.

Salvation Is God's Way Of Making Us Real People.

Go Forth On Your Path, As It Exists Only Through Your Walking.

The One Who Is Good, Is Free Even Being A Slave; The One Who Is Bad Remains A Slave Even Being A King.

When We Read A Book, Our Most Essential Trait - Imagination - Is Given The Opportunity To Soar.

In All Your Movements, Let Nothing Be Evident That Would Offend The Eyes Of Another.

The Playthings Of Our Elders Are Called Business.

I Thought That Continence Was A Matter Of Our Own Strength, And I Knew That I Had Not The Strength: For In My Utter Foolishness I Did Not Know The Word Of Your Scripture That None Can Be Continent Unless You Give It.

This Awful Catastrophe Is Not The End But The Beginning. History Does Not End So. It Is The Way Its Chapters Open.

As To Those Other Things Which We Hold On The Authority, Not Of Scripture, But Of Tradition, And Which Are Observed Throughout The Whole World, It May Be Understood That They Are Held As Approved And Instituted Either By The Apostles Themselves, Or By Plenary Councils, Whose Authority In The Church Is Most Useful, E.g. The Annual Commemoration, By Special Solemnities, Of The Lord's Passion, Resurrection, And Ascension, And Of The Descent Of The Holy Spirit From Heaven, And Whatever Else Is In Like Manner Observed By The Whole Church Wherever It Has Been Established.

We Make Ourselves A Ladder Out Of Our Vices If We Trample The Vices Themselves Underfoot.

He Who Made Thee Is Made In Thee. He Is Made In Thee Through Whom You Were Made.... Give Milk, O Mother, To Him Who Is Our Food; Give Milk To The Bread That Comes Down From Heaven.

Love And Do As You Will.

Doubt Is But Another Element Of Faith.

The Confession Of Evil Works Is The First Beginning Of Good Works.

Near Our Vineyard There Was A Pear Tree Laden With Fruit That Was Not Attractive In Either Flavor Or Form. One Night, When I [at The Age Of Sixteen] Had Played Until Dark On The Sandlot With Some Other Juvenile Delinquents, We Went To Shake That Tree And Carry Off Its Fruit. From It We Carried Off Huge Loads, Not To Feast On, But To Throw To The Pigs, Although We Did Eat A Few Ourselves. We Did It Just Because It Was Forbidden.

And How Shall I Call Upon My God, My God And Lord, Since, When I Call For Him, I Shall Be Calling Him To Myself? And What Room Is There Within Me, Whither My God Can Come Into Me? Whither Can God Come Into Me, God Who Made Heaven And Earth? Is There, Indeed, O Lord My God, Aught In Me That Can Contain Thee?

Whatever Skills I Have Acquired, Whatever Gifts I Have Been Given, I Place Them At Your Service.

Humility Must Accompany All Our Actions, Must Be With Us Everywhere; For As Soon As We Glory In Our Good Works They Are Of No Further Value To Our Advancement In Virtue.

This Entire Most Beautiful Order Of Good Things Is Going To Pass Away After Its Measure Has Been Exhausted; For Both Morning And Evening Were Made In Them.

God Bids You Not To Commit Lechery, That Is, Not To Have Sex With Any Woman Except Your Wife. You Ask Of Her That She Should Not Have Sex With Anyone Except You -- Yet You Are Not Willing To Observe The Same Restraint In Return.

We Take For Granted The Slow Miracle Whereby Water In The Irrigation Of A Vineyard Becomes Wine. It Is Only When Christ Turns Water Into Wine, In A Quick Motion, As It Were, That We Stand Amazed.

Although God Is All Powerful, He Is Unable To Give More; Though Supremely Wise, He Knows Not How To Give More; Though Vastly Rich, He Has Not More To Give.

Try As They May To Savor The Taste Of Eternity, Their Thoughts Still Twist And Turn Upon The Ebb And Flow Of Things In Past And Future Time. But If Only Their Minds Could Be Seized And Held Steady, They Would Be Still For A While And, For That Short Moment, They Would Glimse The Splendor Of Eternity, Which Is Forever Still.

Truth Is Not Private Property.

Private Property

I Was In Misery, And Misery Is The State Of Every Soul Overcome By Friendship With Mortal Things And Lacerated When They Are Lost. Then The Soul Becomes Aware Of The Misery Which Is Its Actual Condition Even Before It Loses Them.

There Is No Remedy So Powerful Against The Heat Of Concupiscence As The Remembrance Of Our Savior's Passion. In All My Difficulties I Never Found Anything So Efficacious As The Wounds Of Christ: In Them I Sleep Secure; From Them I Derive New Life.

It Is Not Often That We Use Language Correctly; Usually We Use It Incorrectly, Though We Understand Each Others Meaning.

In What Is Necessary, Unity; In What Is Not Necessary, Liberty And In All Things Charity.

Only He Who Made Man Makes Man Happy.

God Is More Truly Imagined Than Expressed, And He Exists More Truly Than He Is Imagined.

Singing Is A Lover's Thing.

All Diseases Of Christians Are To Be Ascribed To Demons; Chiefly Do They Torment Freshly-baptized Christians, Yea, Even The Guiltless New-born Infants.

The Love Of Our Neighbor Hath Its Bounds In Each Man's Love Of Himself.

It Is Salutary For Us To Learn To Hold Cheap Such Things, Be They Good Or Evil, As Attach Indifferently To Good Men And Bad, And To Covet Those Good Things Which Belong Only To Good Men, And Flee Those Evils Which Belong Only To Evil Men.

Within The Church, Sins Are Forgiven In Three Ways: By Baptism, By Prayer, And By The Greater Humility Of Penance; Yet God Does Not Forgive Sins Except To The Baptized.

If You Understood Him, It Would Not Be God.

Christian Inspirational

God Had One Son On Earth Without Sin, But Never One Without Suffering.

While The Best Men Are Guided By Love, Most Mean Are Still Goaded By Fear.

Hell Was Made For The Inquisitive.

You Can Live, Provided You Live; That Is, You Can Live For Ever, Provided You Live A Good Life.

You Aspire To Great Things? Begin With The Little Ones.

Since You Cannot Do Good To All, You Are To Pay Special Attention To Those Who, By The Accidents Of Time, Or Place, Or Circumstances, Are Brought Into Closer Connection With You.

What Then, Is Correctness Of Speech But The Maintenance Of The Practice Of Others, As Established By The Authority Of Ancient Speakers? But The Weaker Men Are, The More They Are Troubled By Such Matters. Their Weakness Stems From A Desire To Appear Learned, Not With A Knowledge Of Things, By Which We Are Edified, But With A Knowledge Of Signs, By Which It Is Difficult Not To Be Puffed Up In Some Way; Even A Knowledge Of Things Often Makes People Boastful, Unless Their Necks Are Held Down By The Lord's Yoke.

Late Have I Loved You, O Beauty Ever Ancient And Ever New! Late Have I Loved You! And, Behold, You Were Within Me, And I Out Of Myself, And There I Searched For You.

What You See Is The Bread And The Chalice; That Is What Your Own Eyes Report To You. But What Your Faith Obliges You To Accept Is That The Bread Is The Body Of Christ And The Chalice Is The Blood Of Christ. This Has Been Said Very Briefly, Which May Perhaps Be Sufficient For Faith; Yet Faith Does Not Desire Instruction

O Eternal Truth And True Love And Beloved Eternity! You Are My God; To You I Sigh By Day And By Night. And When I First Knew You, You Raised Me Up So That I Could See That There Was Something To See And That I Still Lacked The Ability To See It. And You Beat Back The Weakness Of My Sight, Blazing Upon Me With Your Rays, And I Trembled In Love And In Dread.

It Is Indeed Better (as No One Ever Could Deny) That Men Should Be Led To Worship God By Teaching, Than That They Should Be Driven To It By Fear Of Punishment Or Pain; But It Does Not Follow That Because The Former Course Produces The Better Men, Therefore Those Who Do Not Yield To It Should Be Neglected. For Many Have Found Advantage (as We Have Proved, And Are Daily Proving By Actual Experiment), In Being First Compelled By Fear Or Pain, So That They Might Afterwards Be Influenced By Teaching, Or Might Follow Out In Act What They Had Already Learned In Word.

Angels Are Spirits, But It Is Not Because They Are Spirits That They Are Angels. They Become Angels When They Are Sent. For The Name Angel Refers To Their Office, Not Their Nature. You Ask The Name Of This Nature, It Is Spirit; You Ask Its Office, It Is That Of An Angel, Which Is A Messenger.

The Will Is Truly Free, When It Is Not The Slave Of Vices And Sins.

Suppress Prostitution, And Capricious Lusts Will Overthrow Society.

If I Am Given A Formula, And I Am Ignorant Of Its Meaning, It Cannot Teach Me Anything, But If I Already Know It What Does The Formula Teach Me?

Why Is It That Man Desires To Be Made Sad, Beholding Doleful And Tragical Things, Which Yet Himself Would By No Means Suffer?

It Is Not That We Keep His Commandments First And That Then He Loves But That He Loves Us And Then We Keep His Commandments. This Is That Grace Which Is Revealed To The Humble But Hidden From The Proud.

If A Parricide Is More Wicked Than Anyone Who Commits Homicide-because He Kills Not Merely A Man But A Near Relative-without Doubt Worse Still Is He Who Kills Himself, Because There Is None Nearer To A Man Than Himself.

You Wish To Be Great, Begin From The Least. You Are Thinking To Construct Some Mighty Fabric In Height; First Think Of The Foundation Of Humility. And How Great Soever A Mass Of Building One May Wish And Design To Place Above It, The Greater The Building Is To Be, The Deeper Does He Dig His Foundation.

Oh, God, To Know You Is Life. To Serve You Is Freedom. To Praise You Is The Soul's Joy And Delight. Guard Me With The Power Of Your Grace Here And In All Places. Now And At All Times, Forever. Amen.

How Can The Past And Future Be, When The Past No Longer Is, And The Future Is Not Yet? As For The Present, If It Were Always Present And Never Moved On To Become The Past, It Would Not Be Time, But Eternity.

Should You Ask Me What Is The First Thing In Religion, I Should Reply That The First, Second, And Third Thing Therein Is Humility.

Believe In Order To Understand And Understand In Order To Believe

Man's Maker Was Made Man That He, Ruler Of The Stars, Might Nurse At His Mother's Breast; That The Bread Might Hunger, The Fountain Thirst, The Light Sleep, The Way Be Tired On Its Journey; That Truth Might Be Accused Of False Witnesses, The Teacher Be Beaten With Whips, The Foundation Be Suspended On Wood; That Strength Might Grow Weak; That The Healer Might Be Wounded; That Life Might Die.

As To The Fable That There Are Antipodes, That Is To Say, Men On The Opposite Side Of The Earth Where The Sun Rises When It Sets To Us, Men Who Walk With Their Feet Opposite Ours, That Is On No Ground Credible. Even If Some Unknown Landmass Is There, And Not Just Ocean, There Was Only One Pair Of Original Ancestors, And It Is Inconceivable That Such Distant Regions Should Have Been Peopled By Adam's Descendants.

He Who Is Filled With Love Is Filled With God Himself.

The Old (testament) Is In The New (testament) Revealed, The New Is In The Old Concealed.

If We Are Perplexed By An Apparent Contradiction In Scripture, It Is Not Allowable To Say, 'the Author Of This Book Is Mistaken'; But Either The Manuscript Is Faulty, Or The Translation Is Wrong, Or You Have Not Understood.

O Sacrament Of Love! O Sign Of Unity! O Bond Of Charity! He Who Would Have Life Finds Here Indeed A Life To Live In And A Life To Live By.

Now, Justification In This Life Is Given To Us According To These Three Things: First By The Laver Of Regeneration By Which All Sins Are Forgiven; Then, By A Struggle With The Faults From Whose Guilt We Have Been Absolved; The Third, When Our Prayer Is Heard, In Which We Say: 'forgive Us Our Debts,' Because However Bravely We Fight Against Our Faults, We Are Men; But The Grace Of God So Aids As We Fight In This Corruptible Body That There Is Reason For His Hearing Us As We Ask Forgiveness.

Find Out How Much God Has Given You And From It Take What You Need; The Remainder Is Needed By Others.

The Arrogance Is Not Greatness But Swelling; And The Swelling Seems Big But It's Not Healthy.

Do What You Can And Pray For What You Cannot Yet Do.

Poltinus The Platonist Proves By Means Of The Blossoms And Leaves That From The Supreme God, Whose Beauty Is Invisible And Ineffable, Providence Reaches Down To The Things Of Earth Here Below. He Points Out That These Frail And Mortal Objects Could Not Be Endowed With A Beauty So Immaculate And So Exquisitely Wrought, Did They Not Issue From The Divinity Which Endlessly Prevades With Its Invisible And Unchanging Beauty All Things.

A Very Weighty Argument Is This Namely, That Neither Does The Light Which Descends From Thence, Chiefly Upon The World , Mix Itself With Anything, Nor Admit Of Dirtiness Or Pollution, But Remains Entirely, And In All Things That Are, Free From Defilement, Admixture, And Suffering.

There Is No Health In Those Who Are Displeased By An Element In Your Creation, Just As There Was None In Me When I Was Displeased By Many Things You Had Made. Because My Soul Didn't Dare To Say That My God Displeased Me, It Refused To Attribute To You Whatever Was Displeasing.

God Provides The Wind, Man Must Raise The Sail.

...if Humility Does Not Precede All That We Do, Our Efforts Are Fruitless.

If They Find A Christian Mistaken In A Field Which They Themselves Know Well And Hear Him Maintaining His Foolish Opinions About Our Books, How Are They Going To Believe Those Books In Matters Concerning The Resurrection Of The Dead, The Hope Of Eternal Life, And The Kingdom Of Heaven.

It Is Not In Virtue Of Its Liberty That The Human Will Attains To Grace, It Is Much Rather By Grace That It Attains To Liberty.

Therefore Once For All This Short Command Is Given To You. 'love And Do What You Will.' If You Keep Silent, Keep Silent By Love; If You Speak, Speak By Love; If You Correct, Correct By Love; If You Pardon, Pardon By Love: Let Love Be Rooted In You, And From The Root Nothing But Good Can Grow.

Justice Being Taken Away, Then, What Are Kingdoms But Great Robberies? For What Are Robberies Themselves, But Little Kingdoms.

In The Absence Of Justice, What Is Sovereignty But Organized Robbery?

We Should Never Use The Truth To Wound.

Men Go Forth To Marvel At The Height Of Mountains, And The Huge Waves Of The Sea, The Broad Flow Of The Rivers, The Vastness Of The Ocean, The Orbits Of The Stars, And Yet They Neglect To Marvel At Themselves. Variant: Men Go Abroad To Admire The Heights Of Mountains, The Mighty Billows Of The Sea, The Broad Tides Of Rivers, The Compass Of The Ocean, And The Circuits Of The Stars, And Pass Themselves By.

A Brotherly Person Rejoices On My Account When He Approves Me, But When He Disapproves, He Is Loving Me. To Such People I Will Reveal Myself. They Will Take Heart From My Good Traits, And Sigh With Sadness At My Bad Ones. My Good Points Are Instilled By You And Are Your Gifts. My Bad Points Are My Faults And Your Judgements On Them. Let Them Take Heart From The One And Regret The Other. Let Both Praise And Tears Ascend In Your Sight From Brotherly Hearts, Your Censers. ...but You Lord...make Perfect My Imperfections.

To Sing Is To Pray Twice.

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Drunkenness Is A Flattering Devil, A Sweet Poison, A Pleasant Sin, Which Whosoever Hath, Hath Not Himself, Which Whosoever Doth Commit, Doth Not Commit Sin, But He Himself Is Wholly Sin.

I Was Not Yet In Love, Yet I Loved To Love...i Sought What I Might Love, In Love With Loving.

Chastity, Or Cleanness Of Heart, Holds A Glorious And Distinguished Place Among The Virtues, Because She, Alone, Enables Man To See God; Hence Truth Itself Said, 'blessed Are The Clean Of Heart, For They Shall See God.'

Though In The Order Of Nature Angels Rank Above Men, Yet, By Scale Of Justice, Good Men Are Of Greater Value Than Bad Angels.

Between Urine And Filth We Are Born.

If You Are Suffering From A Bad Man's Injustice, Forgive Him Lest There Be Two Bad Men.

Why Is It That We Remember With Difficulty And Without Difficulty Forget? Learn With Difficulty And Without Difficulty Remain Ignorant?

We Who Preach And Write, Do So In A Manner Different From Which The Scriptures Have Been Written. We Write While We Make Progress.we Learn Something New Every Day. We Speak As We Still Knock For Understanding...if Anyone Criticizes Me When I Have Said What Is Right, He Does Me An Injustice. But I Would Be More Angry With The One Who Praises Me And Takes What I Have Written For Gospel Truth Than I Would Be With The One Who Criticizes Me Unfairly.

What The Universal Church Holds, Not As Instituted [invented] By Councils But As Something Always Held, Is Most Correctly Believed To Have Been Handed Down By Apostolic Authority. Since Others Respond For Children, So That The Celebration Of The Sacrament May Be Complete For Them, It Is Certainly Availing To Them For Their Consecration, Because They Themselves Are Not Able To Respond.

Let Him Who Desires To Be Harsh In Making Demands Upon His Debtors Consider That He Is God’s Debtor.

Father, I Am Seeking: I Am Hesitant And Uncertain, But Will You, O God, Watch Over Each Step Of Mine And Guide Me.

Without God, We Cannot. Without Us, God Will Not.

Christian Inspirational

Baptism Does Not Profit A Man Outside Unity With The Church ... For Many Heretics Also Possess This Sacrament But Not The Fruits Of Salvation ... The Benefits Which Flow From Baptism Are Necessarily Fruits Which Belong To The True Church Alone. Children Baptized In Other Communions Cease To Be Members Of The Church When, After Reaching The Age Of Reason, They Make Formal Profession Of Heresy, As, For Example, By Receiving Communion In A Non-catholic Church.

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