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For What Am I To Myself Without You, But A Guide To My Own Downfall?

-Saint Augustine

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For What Am I

Saint Augustine

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For What Am I To Myself Without You, But A Guide To My Own Downfall?

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

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

Thou Must Be Emptied Of That Wherewith Thou Art Full, That Thou Mayest Be Filled With That Whereof Thou Art Empty.

Wonderful Is The Depth Of Thy Words, Whose Surface Is Before Us, Gently Leading On The Little Ones: And Yet A Wonderful Deepness, O My God, A Wonderful Deepness. It Is Awe To Look Into It; Even An Awfulness Of Honour, And A Trembling Of Love.

Our Life Is A Gymnasium Of Desire.... When Christians Say "god," What Do We Wish To Express? This Word Is All That We Yearn For."

For A Sentence Is Not Complete Unless Each Word, Once Its Syllables Have Been Pronounced, Gives Way To Make Room For The Next...they Are Set Up On The Course Of Their Existence, And The Faster They Climb Towards Its Zenith, The More They Hasten Towards The Point Where They Exist No More.

My Weight Is My Love.

Who Else Is It Who Calls Us Back From The Death Of Error, Except The Life That Does Not Know Death, And The Wisdom Which, Needing No Light, Enlightens Minds Which Are In Darkness, That Wisdom By Which The Whole World, Even To The Leaves Of Trees Drifting In The Wind, Is Governed?

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.

Only He Who Made Man Makes Man Happy.

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.

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.

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

Between Urine And Filth We Are Born.

No One Reaches The Kingdom Of Heaven Except By Humility

The People Who Remained Victorious Were Less Like Conquerors Than Conquered.

Every City Is A Living Body.

What Is Perfection In Love? Love Your Enemies In Such A Way That You Would Desire To Make Them Your Brothers ... For So Did He Love, Who Hanging On The Cross, Said "father, Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do." (luke 23:34)

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.

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

When God Is Our Strength, It Is Strength Indeed; When Our Strength Is Our Own, It Is Only Weakness.

Who Can Control This When Its Appetite Is Aroused? No One! In The Very Movement Of This Appetite, Then, It Has No "mode" That Responds To The Decisions Of The Will ... Yet What He Wishes He Cannot Accomplish ... In The Very Movement Of The Appetite, It Has No Mode Corresponding To The Decision Of The Will.

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I Beseech Thee, My God, I Would Fain Know, If So Thou Willest, For What Purpose My Baptism Was Then Deferred? Was It For My Good That The Rein Was Laid Loose, As It Were, Upon Me, For Me To Sin? Or Was It Not Laid Loose? If Not, Why Does It Still Echo In Our Ears On All Sides, "let Him Alone, Let Him Do As He Will, For He Is Not Yet Baptised?" But As To Bodily Health, No One Says, "let Him Be Worse Wounded, For He Is Not Yet Healed." How Much Better Then, Had I Been At Once Healed; And Then, By My Friends' Diligence And My Own, My Soul's Recovered Health Had Been Kept Safe In Thy Keeping Who Gavest It.

The Angels Surround And Help The Priest When He Is Celebrating Mass.

It Seems To Me That An Unjust Law Is No Law At All.

Moral Responsibility

Alternate Translation: Come Brethren, If You Have A Mind To Be Ingrafted In The Vine, It Is A Pity To See You Lopped Off In This Manner From The Stock. Reckon Up The Prelates In The Very See Of Peter; And In That Order Of Fathers See Which Has Succeeded Which. This Is The Rock Over Which The Proud Gates Of Hell Prevail Not.

And Yet I Do Love A Kind Of Light, Melody, Fragrance, Food, Embracement When I Love My God; For He Is The Light, The Melody, The Fragrance, The Food, The Embracement Of My Inner Self - There Where Is A Brillance That Space Cannot Contain, A Sound That Time Cannot Carry Away, A Perfume That No Breeze Disperses, A Taste Undimisnished By Eating, A Clinging Together That No Saiety Will Sunder. This Is What I Love When I Love My God.

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

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

Not All, Nor Even A Majority, Are Saved. . . They Are Indeed Many, If Regarded By Themselves, But They Are Few In Comparison With The Far Larger Number Of Those Who Shall Be Punished With The Devil.

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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.

It Is Better To Be Cured In The Church Than To Be Cut Off From This Body As Incurable ... For, As Long As The Member Is Still Attached To The Body, His Cure Is Not Beyond Hope, But When He Has Been Cut Off, He Can Neither Be Treated Nor Cured.

They, Then, Who Are Destined To Die, Need Not Be Careful To Inquire What Death They Are To Die, But Into What Place Death Will Usher Them.

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

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

Though Defensive Violence Will Always Be 'a Sad Necessity' In The Eyes Of Men Of Principle, It Would Be Still More Unfortunate If Wrongdoers Should Dominate Just Men.

All Truth And Understanding Is A Result Of A Divine Light Which Is God Himself.

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?

For If A Thing Is Not Diminished By Being Shared With Others, It Is Not Rightly Owned If It Is Only Owned And Not Shared.

If Faith Fails, Prayer Perishes.

Augustinethe Wounds Of A Friend Are Better Than The Kisses Of An Enemy. To Love With Sternness Is Better Than To Deceive With Gentleness.... In Luke [14:23] It Is Written: "compel People To Come In!" By Threats Of The Wrath Of God, The Father Draws Souls To His Son.

In Failing To Confess, Lord, I Would Only Hide You From Myself, Not Myself From You.

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

If You Should Ask Me What Are The Ways Of God, I Would Tell You That The First Is Humility, The Second Is Humility, And The Third Is Humility. Not That There Are No Other Precepts To Give, But If Humility Does Not Preceed All That We Do, Our Efforts Are Fruitless.

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

Whoever, Then, Thinks That He Understands The Holy Scriptures, Or Any Part Of Them, But Puts Such An Interpretation Upon Them As Does Not Tend To Build Up This Twofold Love Of God And Our Neighbor, Does Not Yet Understand Them As He Ought.

Bad Times, Hard Times, This Is What People Keep Saying; But Let Us Live Well, And Times Shall Be Good. We Are The Times: Such As We Are, Such Are The Times.

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.

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.

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

Where Love Is, What Can Be Wanting? Where It Is Not, What Can Possibly Be Profitable?

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

The Law Detects, Grace Alone Conquers Sin.

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.

Nothing, Therefore, Happens Unless The Omnipotent Wills It To Happen. He Either Permits It To Happen, Or He Brings It About Himself.

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.

No One Can Begin A New Life, Unless He Repent Of The Old.

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

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

He Who Labours, Prays.

The Good Man, Though A Slave, Is Free; The Wicked, Though He Reigns, Is A Slave, And Not The Slave Of A Single Man, But- What Is Worse - The Slave Of As Many Masters As He Has Vices.

God Is Not What You Imagine Or What You Think You Understand. If You Understand You Have Failed.

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

Blessed Is He Who Devotes His Life To Great And Noble Ends, And Who Forms His Well-considered Plans With Deliberate Wisdom.

That There Should Be Some Fire Even After This Life Is Not Incredible, And It Can Be Inquired Into And Either Be Discovered Or Left Hidden Whether Some Of The Faithful May Be Saved, Some More Slowly And Some More Quickly In The Greater Or Lesser Degree In Which They Loved The Good Things That Perish, Through A Certain Purgatorial Fire.

Two Cities Have Been Formed By Two Loves: The Earthly By The Love Of Self; The Heavenly By The Love Of God.

Modo, Et Modo, Non Habebent Modum. By-and-by Has No End.

Give What You Command And Command What You Will.

Be Always Displeased With What You Are If You Wish To Be What You Are Not. Always Add, Always Walk, Always Proceed. Neither Stand Still Nor Go Back Nor Deviate.

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.

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

On The Altar You Are Looking At The Same Thing As You Saw There Last Night. You Have Not Heard, However, What This Is, What It Signifies, Or About The Greatness Of The Reality Of Which It Is A Sacrament. Your Eyes Are Looking At Bread And Cup. This Is The Evidence Before Your Physical Sight. But Your Faith Must Be Instructed Concerning It- This Bread Being Christ 's Body And The Cup Containing His Blood. Though Perhaps These Words May Be Enough To Initiate Faith, Faith Must Be Further Instructed In Accordance With The Prophet's Words: 'believe That You May Understand'

Whoever, Therefore, Thinks That He Understands The Divine Scriptures Or Any Part Of Them So That It Does Not Build On The Double Love Of God And Of Our Neighbor Does Not Understand It At All. Thus A Man Supported By Faith, Hope, And Charity, With An Unshaken Hold Upon Them Does Not Need The Scriptures. . . And Many Live By These Three Things In Solitude Without Books.

O Holy Spirit, Descend Plentifully Into My Heart. Enlighten The Dark Corners Of This Neglected Dwelling And Scatter There Thy Cheerful Beams.

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

It Is Said That There Is No Salvation Outside The Church. Who Denies This? And Therefore Whatever Things Of The Church Are Had Outside The Church Do Not Avail Unto Salvation.

The Devil Invented Gambling.

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

If God Seems Slow In Responding, It Is Because He Is Preparing A Better Gift. He Will Not Deny Us. God Withholds What You Are Not Yet Ready For. He Wants You To Have A Lively Desire For His Greatest Gifts. All Of Which Is To Say, Pray Always And Do Not Lose Heart.

There Can Only Be Two Basic Loves... The Love Of God Unto The Forgetfulness Of Self, Or The Love Of Self Unto The Forgetfulness And Denial Of God.

I Will Not Live An Instant That I Do Not Live In Love. Whoever Loves Does All Things Without Suffering, Or, Suffering, Loves His Suffering.

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

Oh, Beauty, Ever Ancient And Ever New.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

Do You Wish To Be Great? Then Begin By Being. Do You Desire To Construct A Vast And Lofty Fabric? Think First About The Foundations Of Humility. The Higher Your Structure Is To Be, The Deeper Must Be Its Foundation.

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.

Did My Infancy Succeed Another Age Of Mine That Dies Before It? Was It That Which I Spent Within My Mother's Womb?... And What Before That Life Again, O God Of My Joy, Was I Anywhere Or In Any Body?

If We Tread Our Vices Under Our Feet, We Make Of Them A Ladder By Which To Rise To Higher Things.

Ex Malo Bounum (good Out Of Evil).

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

When The King Asked Him What He Meant By Infesting The Sea, The Pirate Defiantly Replied: The Same As You Do When You Infest The Whole World; But Because I Do It With A Little Ship I Am Called A Robber, And Because You Do It With A Great Fleet, You Are An Emperor.

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.

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.

By Faithfulness We Are Collected And Wound Up Into Unity Within Ourselves, Whereas We Had Been Scattered Abroad In Multiplicity.

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

Cursed Is Everyone Who Places His Hope In Changing The Nature Of Man

You Never Go Away From Us, Yet We Have Difficulty In Returning To You. Come, Lord, Stir Us Up And Call Us Back. Kindle And Seize Us. Be Our Fire And Our Sweetness. Let Us Love. Let Us Run.

Thy Word Remaineth For Ever, Which Word Now Appeareth Unto Us In The Riddle Of The Clouds, And Through The Mirror Of The Heavens, Not As It Is: Because That Even We, Though The Well Beloved Of Thy Son, Yet It Hath Not Yet Appeared What We Shall Be. He Looked Through The Lattice Of Our Flesh And He Spake Us Fair, Yea, He Set Us On Fire, And We Hasten On His Scent. But When He Shall Appear, Then Shall We Be Like Him, For We Shall See Him As He Is: As He Is, Lord, Will Our Sight Be, Though The Time Be Not Yet.

And He Departed From Our Sight That We Might Return To Our Hearts And Find Him There. For He Left Us, And Behold, He Is Here.

Nothing So Casts Down The Manly Mind From It's Height As The Fondling Of Women And Those Bodily Contacts Which Belong To The Married State.

They Who Shall Enter Into [the] Joy [of The Lord] Shall Know What Is Going On Outside In The Outer Darkness. . .the Saints'. . . Knowledge, Which Shall Be Great, Shall Keep Them Acquainted. . .with The Eternal Sufferings Of The Lost.

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.

God Is Always Trying To Give Good Things To Us, But Our Hands Are Too Full To Receive Them.

Far Be It From Us To Doubt That All Number Is Known To Him 'whose Understanding Is Infinite' (ps. 147:5). The Infinity Of Number, Though There Be No Numbering Of Infinite Numbers, Is Yet Not Incomprehensible By Him Whose Understanding Is Infinite. And Thus, If Everything Which Is Comprehended Is Defined Or Made Finite By The Comprehension Of Him Who Knows It, Then All Infinity Is In Some Ineffable Way Made Finite To God, For It Is Comprehensible By His Knowledge.

Furthermore, What Profit Was It To Me That I, Rascally Slave Of Selfish Ambitions That I Was, Read And Understood By Myself As Many Books As I Could Get Concerning The So-called Liberal Arts?...i Had Turned My Back To The Light And My Face To The Things It Illuminated, And So No Light Played Upon My Own Face, Or On The Eyes That Perceived Them.

The World Is A Great Book, Of Which They That Never Stir From Home Read Only A Page.

Without God, Man Cannot, And Without Man, God Will Not.

What Can Be More Excellent Than Prayer; What Is More Profitable To Our Life; What Sweeter To Our Souls; What More Sublime, In The Course Of Our Whole Life, Than The Practice Of Prayer!

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.

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.'

O Lord, Help Me To Be Pure, But Not Yet.

Beauty Is Indeed A Good Gift Of God; But That The Good May Not Think It A Great Good, God Dispenses It Even To The Wicked.

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

Doubt Is But Another Element Of Faith.

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.

What Then Is Time? If No One Asks Me, I Know What It Is. If I Wish To Explain It To Him Who Asks, I Do Not Know.

So If You Can Manage It, You Shouldn't Touch Your Partner, Except For The Sake Of Having Children.

God Is Not A Deceiver, That He Should Offer To Support Us, And Then, When We Lean Upon Him, Should Slip Away From Us.

Believe That Others Are Better Than You In The Debths Of Their Soul, Although Outwardly You May Appear Better Than They.

Let Us, On Both Sides, Lay Aside All Arrogance. Let Us Not, On Either Side, Claim That We Have Already Discovered The Truth. Let Us Seek It Together As Something Which Is Known To Neither Of Us. For Then Only May We Seek It, Lovingly And Tranquilly, If There Be No Bold Presumption That It Is Already Discovered And Possessed.

God Has Promised Forgiveness To Your Repentance, But He Has Not Promised Tomorrow To Your Procrastination.

Procrastination

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.

The Flesh Does Not By Its Own Virtue Purify, But Is Purified By Virtue Of The Word By Which It Was Assumed, When 'the Word Became Flesh And Dwelt Among Us' (jn. 1:14).

Often A Non-christian Knows Something About The Earth, The Heavens, And The Other Parts Of The World, About The Motions And Orbits Of The Stars And Even Their Sizes And Distances... And This Knowledge He Holds With Certainty From Reason And Experience. It Is Thus Offensive And Disgraceful For An Unbeliever To Hear A Christian Talk Nonsense About Such Things, Claiming That What He Is Saying Is Based In Scripture. We Should Do All That We Can To Avoid Such An Embarrassing Situation, Which People See As Ignorance In The Christian And Laugh To Scorn.

God Almighty Would In No Way Permit Evil In His Works Were He Not So Omnipotent And Good That Even Out Of Evil He Could Work Good.

O That Men Would Know Themselves To Be Men; And That He That Glorieth Would Glory In The Lord.

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

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

There Is No Love Without Hope, No Hope Without Love, And Neither Hope Nor Love Without Faith.

One Loving Heart Sets Another On Fire.

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.

Give Me Chastity And Continence, But Not Yet.

For So It Is, O Lord My God, I Measure It! But What It Is I Measure, I Do Not Know.

Order Your Soul; Reduce Your Wants; Live In Charity; Associate In Christian Community; Obey The Laws; Trust In Providence.

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

Where Scripture Speaks Of The World's Creation, It Is Not Plainly Said Whether Or When The Angels Were Created; But If Mention Is Made, It Is Implicit Under The Name Of "heaven," When It Is Said, "in The Beginning God Created The Heavens And The Earth."

God Without Us Will Not As We Without God Cannot.

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

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.

My Mother Spoke Of Christ To My Father, By Her Feminine And Childlike Virtues, And, After Having Borne His Violence Without A Murmur Or Complaint, Gained Him At The Close Of His Life To Christ.

If By Fate Anyone Means The Will Or Power Of God, Let Him Keep His Meaning But Mend His Language; For Fate Commonly Means A Necessary Process Which Will Have Its Way Apart From The Will Of God And Men.

He Pleaseth God Whom God Pleaseth.

There Is No Saint Without A Past, No Sinner Without A Future.

O Lord, Grant That I May Do Thy Will As If It Were My Will, So That Thou Mayest Do My Will As If It Were Thy Will.

God Grants Us Not Always What We Ask So As To Bestow Something Preferable.

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.

One Never Errs More Safely Than When One Errs By Too Much Loving The Truth.

You Don't Love In Your Enemies What They Are, But What You Would Have Them Become By Your Prayers.

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

What Does Love Look Like? It Has The Hands To Help Others. It Has The Feet To Hasten To The Poor And Needy. It Has Eyes To See Misery And Want. It Has The Ears To Hear The Sighs And Sorrows Of Men. That Is What Love Looks Like.

Every Day My Conscience Makes Confession Relying On The Hope Of Your Mercy As More To Be Trusted Than Its Own Innocence.

Poetry Is The Devil's Wine.

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

For In Our Hope We Are Saved.

What Are Kingdoms Without Justice? They're Just Gangs Of Bandits.

He Who Loves The Coming Of The Lord Is Not He Who Affirms That It Is Far Off, Nor Is It He Who Says It Is Near, But Rather He Who, Whether It Be Far Off Or Near, Awaits It With Sincere Faith, Steadfast Hope, And Fervent Love.

Tolle, Lege: Take Up And Read.

Is Any Man Skillful Enough To Have Fashioned Himself?

Jesus Took His Flesh From The Flesh Of Mary

Virginity Is Not Honored Simply Because It Is Virginity, But Because It Is Consecrated Of God.

Lord Jesus, Don't Let Me Lie When I Say That I Love You.....and Protect Me, For Today I Could Betray You.

I Would Not Believe In The Gospel, If The Authority Of The Catholic Church Did Not Bid Me To Do So.

Do You Know Who The Upright Of Heart Are? They Are Those Who Wish What God Wishes. Therefore, Do Not Try To Twist God's Will To You Own But Correct Your Will To That Of God. The Will Of God Is A Rule Of Conduct. By It You Have The Means Of Being Converted And Of Correcting Your Evil Ways.

The Greatest Kindness One Can Render To Any Man Is Leading Him To Truth.

When I Am Completely United To You, There Will Be No More Sorrow Or Trials; Entirely Full Of You, My Life Will Be Complete.

Love Is Ever New Because It Never Groweth Old.

A Marriage Without Children Is The World Without The Sun.

It’s Not In The Book Or In The Writer That Readers Discern The Truth Of What They Read; They See It In Themselves, If The Light Of Truth Has Penetrated Their Minds.

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.

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

He That Is Kind Is Free, Though He Is A Slave; He That Is Evil Is A Slave, Though He Be A King.

The Playthings Of Our Elders Are Called Business.

When People Truly Open Their Minds, And Contemplate The Way In Which The Universe Is Ordered And Governed, They Are Amazed-overwhelmed By A Sense Of The Miraculous. When People Contemplate With Open Minds The Germination Of A Single Seed, They Are Equally Overwhelmed-yet Numerous Babies Are Born Every Day, And No-one Marvels. If Only People Opened Their Minds, They Would See That The Birth Of A Baby, In Which A New Life Is Created, Is A Greater Miracle Than Restoring Life.

Give Me Yourself, O My God, Give Yourself Back To Me. Lo, I Love You, But If My Love Is Too Mean, Let Me Love More Passionately. I Cannot Gauge My Love, Nor Know How Far It Fails, How Much More Love I Need For My Life To Set Its Course Straight Into Your Arms, Never Swerving Until Hidden In The Covert Of Your Face.

When All Is Said And Done, Is There Any More Wonderful Sight, Any Moment When Man's Reason Is Nearer To Some Sort Of Contact With The Nature Of The World Than The Sowing Of Seeds, The Planting Of Cuttings, The Transplanting Of Shrubs Or The Grafting Of Slips?

Patience Is The Companion Of Wisdom.

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.

The Sole Purpose Of Life Is To Gain Merit For Life In Eternity.

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

Great Are Those Two Gifts, Wisdom And Continence: Wisdom, Forsooth, Whereby We Are Formed In The Knowledge Of God; Continence Whereby We Are Not Conformed To This World.

Knowledge Of God

Let No One Flatter Himself; Of Himself He Is Satan. Let Man Take Sin, Which Is His Own, And Leave Righteousness With God.

That Your Enemies Have Been Created Is God's Doing; That They Hate You And Wish To Ruin You Is Their Own Doing. What Should You Say About Them In Your Mind? "lord Be Merciful To Them, Forgive Them Their Sins, Put The Fear Of God In Them, Change Them!" You Are Loving In Them Not What They Are, But What You Would Have Them To Become.

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

The Same Thing Which Is Now Called Christian Religion Existed Among The Ancients. They Have Begun To Call 'christian' The True Religion Which Existed Before.

To My God A Heart Of Flame; To My Fellow Man A Heart Of Love; To Myself A Heart Of Steel.

I Was Unhappy And So Is Every Soul Unhappy Which Is Tied To Its Love For Mortal Things; When It Loses Them, It Is Torn In Pieces, And It Is Then That It Comes To Realize The Unhappiness Which Was There Even Before It Lost Them.

Love God And Do Whatever You Please: For The Soul Trained In Love To God Will Do Nothing To Offend The One Who Is Beloved.

What Am I Then, My God? What Is My Nature? A Life Varied, Multifaceted And Truly Immense.

True Happiness Is To Rejoice In The Truth, For To Rejoice In The Truth Is To Rejoice In You, O God, Who Are The Truth... Those Who Think That There Is Another Kind Of Happiness Look For Joy Elsewhere, But Theirs Is Not True Joy.

Love Begins With A Smile, Grows With A Kiss, And Ends With A Teardrop.

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

The Spiritual Virtue Of A Sacrament Is Like Light; Although It Passes Among The Impure, It Is Not Polluted.

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

The Devil Often Transforms Himself Into An Angel To Tempt Men, Some For Their Instruction, Some For Their Ruin.

He Who Created Us Without Our Help Will Not Save Us Without Our Consent.

Such Is The Strength Of The Burden Of Habit. Here I Have The Power To Be But Do Not Wish It. There I Wish To Be But Lacks The Power. On Both Grounds, I'm In Misery.

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