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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.

-Saint Augustine

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God Bids You Not

Saint Augustine

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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.

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Christ Was Born Of A Woman Without The Man.

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

Do You Wish To Rise? Begin By Descending. You Plan A Tower That Will Pierce The Clouds? Lay First The Foundation Of Humility.

Inspirational Life

Suppress Prostitution, And Capricious Lusts Will Overthrow Society.

Every City Is A Living Body.

He Indeed Possesses The Character Imposed On Him, But He Wanders As A Renegade.

The World Being Unworthy To Receive The Son Of God Directly From The Hands Of The Father, He Gave His Son To Mary For The World To Receive Him From Her.

Our Whole Business In This Life Is To Restore To Health The Eye Of The Heart Whereby God May Be Seen.

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.

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

I Too Have Sworn Heedlessly And All The Time, I Have Had This Most Repulsive And Death-dealing Habit. I'm Telling Your Graces; From The Moment I Began To Serve God , And Saw What Evil There Is In Forswearing Oneself, I Grew Very Afraid Indeed, And Out Of Fear I Applied The Brakes To This Old, Old, Habit.

Grant What Thou Commandest, And Command What Thou Wilt.

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

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.

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.

What Is Time? If I Am Not Asked, I Know; If I Am Asked, I Don't.

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.

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.

This Very Moment I May, If I Desire, Become The Friend Of God.

If You Believe What You Like In The Gospels, And Reject What You Don't Like, It Is Not The Gospel You Believe, But Yourself.

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

What Can Be Hoped For Which Is Not Believed?

Only He Who Made Man Makes Man Happy.

No Man Has A Right To Lead Such A Life Of Contemplation As To Forget In His Own Ease The Service Due To His Neighbor.

I Was Looking For Something To Love, For I Was In Love With Loving, And I Hated Security And A Smooth Way, Free From Snares.

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

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

In The Catholic Church, There Are Many Other Things Which Most Justly Keep Me In Her Bosom. The Consent Of Peoples And Nations Keeps Me In The Church; So Does Her Authority, Inaugurated By Miracles, Nourished By Hope, Enlarged By Love, Established By Age. The Succession Of Priests Keeps Me, Beginning From The Very Seat Of The Apostle Peter, To Whom The Lord, After His Resurrection, Gave It In Charge To Feed His Sheep (jn 21:15-19), Down To The Present Episcopate.

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.

Blessedness Consists In The Accomplishment Of Our Desires, And In Our Having Only Regular Desires.

God Bestows More Consideration On The Purity Of The Intention With Which Our Actions Are Performed Than On The Actions Themselves.

Purity And Love

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

In The Usual Course Of Study I Had Come To A Book Of A Certain Cicero.

Your First Task Is To Be Dissatisfied With Yourself, Fight Sin, And Transform Yourself Into Something Better. Your Second Task Is To Put Up With The Trials And Temptations Of This World That Will Be Brought On By The Change In Your Life And To Persevere To The Very End In The Midst Of These Things.

The Heart Of Man Is Restless Until He Finds Rest In Thee.

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.

Thou Movest Us To Delight In Praising Thee; For Thou Hast Formed Us For Thyself, And Our Hearts Are Restless Till They Find Rest In Thee.

Christ Held Himself In His Hands When He Gave His Body To His Disciples Saying: 'this Is My Body.' No One Partakes Of This Flesh Before He Has Adored It.

For I Wondered That Others, Subject To Death, Did Live, Since He Whom I Loved, As If He Should Never Die, Was Dead; And I Wondered Yet More That Myself, Who Was To Him A Second Self, Could Live, He Being Dead. Well Said One Of His Friend, "thou Half Of My Soul"; For I Felt That My Soul And His Soul Were "one Soul In Two Bodies": And Therefore Was My Life A Horror To Me, Because I Would Not Live Halved. And Therefore Perchance I Feared To Die, Lest He Whom I Had Much Loved Should Die Wholly.

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.

Can Any Praise Be Worthy Of The Lord's Majesty?

It Is No Advantage To Be Near The Light If The Eyes Are Closed.

What Difference, If You Are Mistaken? For If I Am Mistaken, I Am. For He Who Is Not, Assuredly Cannot Be Mistaken; And Therefore I Am, If I Am Mistaken. Therefore Because I Am If I Am Mistaken, How Am I Mistaken That I Am, When It Is Sure That I Am, If I Am Mistaken.

He Was Created Of A Mother Whom He Created. He Was Carried By Hands That He Formed. He Cried In The Manger In Wordless Infancy. He, The Word, Without Whom All Human Eloquence Is Mute.

A Wanton Eye Is A Messenger Of An Unchaste Heart.

Where Was My Heart To Flee For Refuge From My Heart? Whither Was I To Fly, Where I Would Not Follow? In What Place Should I Not Be Prey To Myself?

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

In Doing What We Ought We Deserve No Praise, Because It Is Our Duty.

Although Among Heretics And Schismatics There Is The Same Baptism, Nevertheless, The Remission Of Sins Is Not Operative Among Them Because Of The Very Rottenness Of Discord And Wickedness Of Dissension ... Baptism Was In Them, But It Did Not Profit Them Outside The Church ... Outside The Church, Baptism Works Death Because Of Discord.

You Called And Shouted And Burst My Deafness. You Flashed, Shone, And Scattered My Blindness. You Breathed Odors, And I Drew In Breath And Panted For You. I Tasted, And I Hunger And Thirst. You Touched Me, And I Burned For Your Peace.

Hunger And Thirst

The Church Even Now Is The Kingdom Of Christ And The Kingdom Of Heaven. Accordingly, Even Now His Saints Reign With Him, Though Otherwise Than As They Shall Reign Hereafter; And Yet, Though The Tares Grow In The Church Along With The Wheat, They Do Not Reign With Him. For They Reign With Him Who Do What The Apostle Says, 'if You Are Risen With Christ, Mind The Things Which Are Above, Where Christ Sits At The Right Hand Of God. Seek Those Things Which Are Above, Not The Things Which Are On The Earth'.

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

Peace In Society Depends Upon Peace In The Family.

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

In No Passage Of The Holy Canonical Books There Can Be Found Either Divine Precept Or Permission To Take Away Our Own Life, Whether For The Sake Of Entering On The Enjoyment Of Immortality, Or Of Shunning, Or Ridding Ourselves Of Anything Whatever. Nay, The Law, Rightly Interpreted, Even Prohibits Suicide, Where It Says, 'thou Shalt Not Kill.' This Is Proved Especially By The Omission Of The Words "thy Neighbor," Which Are Inserted When False Witness Is Forbidden.

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."

The Customs Of God's People And The Institutions Of Our Ancestors Are To Be Considered As Laws. And Those Who Throw Contempt On The Customs Of The Church Ought To Be Punished As Those Who Disobey The Law Of God.

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

When I Come To Be United To Thee With All My Being, Then There Will Be No More Pain And Toil For Me, And My Life Shall Be A Real Life, Being Wholly Filled By Thee.

To Touch God A Little With Our Mind Is A Great Blessing, To Grasp Him Is Impossible.

For Why, My Brothers And Sisters, Would You Rejoice In Silver? Either Your Silver Will Perish, Or You Will, And No One Knows Which Will Perish First. For Neither Can You Remain Here Always, Nor Can Silver Remain Here Always; So Also With Gold, Wardrobes, Houses, Money, Real Estate-and In The End, Even The Light By Which We Enjoy All These Things. So Do Not Be Willing Then To Rejoice In Such Things As These. Rejoice Instead In The Light That Has No Setting; Rejoice In The Dawn Which No Yesterday Precedes, And No Tomorrow Follows.

The One Who Sings, Prays Twice.

In All Trouble You Should Seek God. You Should Not Set Him Over Against Your Troubles, But Within Them. God Can Only Relieve Your Troubles If You In Your Anxiety Cling To Him. Trouble Should Not Really Be Thought Of As This Thing Or That In Particular, For Our Whole Life On Earth Involves Trouble; And Through The Troubles Of Our Earthly Pilgrimage We Find God.

I Learned Most, Not From Those Who Taught Me But From Those Who Talked With Me.

It Is The Function Of Perfection To Make One Know One's Imperfection.

The Purpose Of All Wars, Is Peace.

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.

If You Excuse Yourself In Confession, You Shut Up Sin Within Your Soul, And Shut Out Pardon.

There Never Can Have Been, And Never Can Be, And There Never Shall Be Any Sin Without Pride.

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

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.

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

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

Come Unto Me, All Ye That Labor And Are Heavy Laden.

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

Why Then Be Perverted And Follow Thy Flesh? Be It Converted And Follow Thee.

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.

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.

A Temptation Arises: It Is The Wind. It Disturbs You: It Is The Surging Of The Seas. This Is The Time To Awaken Christ And Let Him Remind You Of These Words

Lord, Thou Madest Us For Thyself, And We Can Find No Rest Till We Find Rest In Thee.

We Enjoy Some Gratification When Our Good Friends Die; For Though Their Death Leaves Us In Sorrow, We Have The Consolatory Assurance That They Are Beyond The Ills By Which In This Life Even The Best Of People Are Broken Down Or Corrupted.

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

The Gods Occupy The Loftiest Regions, Men The Lowest, The Demons The Middle Region...they Have Immortality Of Body, But Passions Of The Mind In Common With Men.

Then Assuredly The World Was Made, Not In Time, But Simultaneously With Time.

Better To Have Fewer Wants Than Greater Riches To Supply Increasing Wants.

Will Is To Grace As The Horse Is To The Rider.

Every Good And True Christian Should Understand That Wherever He May Find The Truth It Is His Lord's.

I Became Evil For No Reason. I Had No Motive For My Wickedness Except Wickedness Itself. It Was Foul, And I Loved It. I Loved The Self-destruction, I Loved My Fall, Not The Object For Which I Had Fallen But My Fall Itself. My Depraved Soul Leaped Down From Your Firmament To Ruin. I Was Seeking Not To Gain Anything By Shameful Means, But Shame For Its Own Sake.

For, Were It Not Good That Evil Things Should Also Exist, The Omnipotent God Would Almost Certainly Not Allow Evil To Be, Since Beyond Doubt It Is Just As Easy For Him Not To Allow What He Does Not Will, As For Him To Do What He Will.

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

Let Us Leave A Little Room For Reflection In Our Lives, Room Too For Silence. Let Us Look Within Ourselves And See Whether There Is Some Delightful Hidden Place Inside Where We Can Be Free Of Noise And Argument. Let Us Hear The Word Of God In Stillness And Perhaps We Will Then Come To Understand It.

You Have Found That You Were More Secure Before You Accumulated So Much. See What Greed Has Imposed On You: You Have Filled Your House And Now You Fear Burglars. You Have Hoarded Money And Lost Sleep. See What Greed Has Commanded You: "do This!" And You Did It.

The Fellow Who Eggs You On To Avenge Yourself Will Rob You Of What You Were Going To Say - As We Forgive Our Debtors . When You Have Forfeited That, All Your Sins Will Be Held Against You; Absolutely Nothing Is Forgiven.

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.

There Is Nothing More Serious Than The Sacrilege Of Schism Because There Is No Just Cause For Severing The Unity Of The Church.

What You Are Must Always Displease You, If You Would Attain To That Which You Are Not.

Understanding Is The Reward Of Faith.

The Desire Is Thy Prayers; And If Thy Desire Is Without Ceasing, Thy Prayer Will Also Be Without Ceasing. The Continuance Of Your Longing Is The Continuance Of Your Prayer.

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.

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 True Religion Has Always Been One From The Beginning, And Will Always Be The Same.

Free Curiosity Has Greater Power To Stimulate Learning Than Rigorous Coercion. Nevertheless, The Free Ranging Flux Of Curiosity Is Channeled By Discipline Under Your Law.

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.

Your Persistent Longing Is Your Persistent Voice. But When Love Grows Cold, The Heart Grows Silent. Burning Love Is The Outcry Of The Heart! If You Are Filled With Longing All The Time, You Will Keep Crying Out, And If Your Love Perseveres, Your Cry Will Be Heard Without Fail.

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

Beauty Is The Brilliance Of Truth.

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.

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

Two Loves Have Made Two Different Cities: Self-love Hath Made A Terrestrial City, Which Rises In Contempt Of God; And Divine Love Hath Made A Celestial One, Which Rises In Contempt Of Self. The Former Glories In Itself - The Latter In God.

He Who Thinks He Lives Without Sin Puts Aside Not Sin, But Pardon.

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.

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

Humility Is The Foundation Of All The Other Virtues Hence, In The Soul In Which This Virtue Does Not Exist There Cannot Be Any Other Virtue Except In Mere Appearance.

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

To Abstain From Sin When One Can No Longer Sin Is To Be Forsaken By Sin, Not To Forsake It.

Poetry Is The Devil's Wine.

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

Sin Is Looking For The Right Thing In The Wrong Place.

In Our Own Times, You See, An Emperor Came To The City Of Rome, Where There's The Temple Of An Emperor, Where There's A Fisherman's Tomb. And So That Pious And Christian Emperor, Wishing To Beg For Health, For Salvation From The Lord, Did Not Proceed To The Temple Of A Proud Emperor, But To The Tomb Of A Fisherman, Where He Could Imitate That Fisherman In Humility, So That He, Being Thus Approached, Might Then Obtain Something From The Lord, Which A Haughty Emperor Would Be Quite Unable To Earn.

The Custom Of Mother Church In Baptizing Infants Is Certainly Not To Be Scorned, Nor Is It To Be Regarded In Any Way As Superfluous, Nor Is It To Be Believed That Its Tradition Is Anything Except Apostolic.

Because God Has Made Us For Himself, Our Hearts Are Restless Until They Rest In Him.

We Judge All Things According To The Divine Truth.

Eternity Is The Now That Does Not Pass Away.

We Can Know What God Is Not, But We Cannot Know What He Is.

For I Did Not Know That The Soul Needs To Be Enlightened By Light From Outside Itself, So That It Can Participate In Truth, Because It Is Not Itself The Nature Of Truth.

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.

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.

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

Everyone Who Observes Himself Doubting Observes A Truth, And About That Which He Observes He Is Certain; Therefore He Is Certain About A Truth. Everyone Therefore Who Doubts Whether Truth Exists Has In Himself A Truth On Which Not To Doubt.... Hence One Who Can Doubt At All Ought Not To Doubt The Existence Of Truth.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I Did Not Find You Outside, O Lord, Because I Made The Mistake Of Seeking Outside You Who Were Within

Don't Hold Yourselves Cheap, Seeing That The Creator Of All Things And Of You Estimates Your Value So High, So Dear, That He Pours Out For You Every Day The Most Precious Blood Of His Only-begotten Son.

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

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.

Six Is A Number Perfect In Itself, And Not Because God Created The World In Six Days; Rather The Contrary Is True. God Created The World In Six Days Because This Number Is Perfect, And It Would Remain Perfect, Even If The Work Of The Six Days Did Not Exist.

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.

War Should We Waged Without Love Of Violence, Cruelty, Or Enmity.

Beauty Grows In You To The Extent That Love Grows, Because Charity Itself Is The Soul's Beauty.

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

Dilige Et Quod Vis Fac. (love And Then What You Will, Do.)

What Is Reprehensible Is That While Leading Good Lives Themselves And Abhorring Those Of Wicked Men, Some, Fearing To Offend, Shut Their Eyes To Evil Deeds Instead Of Condemning Them And Pointing Out Their Malice.

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.

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.

I Have Learnt To Love You Late, Beauty At Once So Ancient And So New!

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

The Best Minds Are Not In Government. If Any Were, Business Would Steal Them Away. -ronald Reagan In The Absence Of Justice, What Is Sovereignty But Organized Robbery?

It Is Easy To Want Things From The Lord And Yet Not Want The Lord Himself, As Though The Gift Could Ever Be Preferable To The Giver.

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

He That Is Jealous Is Not In Love.

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.

And I Entered And Beheld With The Eye Of My Soul... The Light Unchangeable... He That Knows The Truth, Knows What That Light Is; And He That Knows It, Knows Eternity.

One Can't Reach The Truth But Through Love.

Humility Is First, Second And Third In Christianity.

Make Friends With Angels.

The Desire For Fame Tempts Even Noble Minds.

You (god) Have Not Only Commanded Continence, That Is, From What Things We Are To Restrain Our Love, But Also Justice, That Is, On What We Are To Bestow Our Love.

Our Lord Reserved To Himself Certain Things Which He Would Do In Due Time In A Manner Outside The Course And Order Of Nature, So That They Would Wonder And Be Astonished At Seeing Not Great But Unusual Things, Who Are Unmoved By Things Daily Seen. For The Government Of The World Is A Greater Miracle Than Feeding Five Thousand Men From Five Loaves; Yet At The Former No One Wonders, The Latter Astonishes All Men: Not As A Greater Wonder, But As A Rarer.

You Cannot Attain To Charity Except Through Humility.

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

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

...but We Enjoyed Playing Games And Were Punished For Them By Men Who Played Games Themselves. However, Grown-up Games Are Known As 'business' And Even Though Boys' Games Are Much The Same, They Are Punished For Them By Their Elders. No One Pities Either The Boys Or The Men, Though Surely We Deserve Pity, For I Cannot Believe That A Good Judge Would Approve Of The Beatings I Received As A Boy On The Ground That My Games Delayed My Progress In Studying Subjects Which Would Enable Me To Play A Less Creditable Game Later In Life.

Beware Of Despairing About Yourself: You Are Commanded To Put Your Trust In God, And Not In Yourself.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

You Are What You Love.

There Is No Salvation Outside The Church.

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

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

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

Between Urine And Filth We Are Born.

Thus The Good Christian Should Beware Of Mathematicians And All Those Who Make False Prophecies, However Much They May In Fact Speak The Truth; Lest, Being In League With The Devil, They May Deceive Errant Souls Into Making Common Cause.

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

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

Oh, Beauty, Ever Ancient And Ever New.

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

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.

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

Believe That You May Understand.

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

Let Necessity, And Not Your Will, Slay The Enemy Who Fights Against You.

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

There Are Wolves Within, And There Are Sheep Without.

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.

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

Fortitude Is The Disposition Of Soul Which Enables Us To Despise All Inconveniences And The Loss Of Things Not In Our Power.

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.

You Have Been Professing Yourself Reluctant To Throw Off Your Load Of Illusion Because Truth Was Uncertain. Well, It Is Certain Now, Yet The Burden Still Weighs You Down, While Other People Are Given Wings On Freer Shoulders, People Who Have Not Worn Themselves Out With Research, Nor Spent A Decade And More Reflecting On These Questions.

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

Disturbers Are To Be Rebuked, The Low Spirited To Be Encouraged, The Infirm To Be Supported, Objectors Confuted, The Treacherous Guarded Against, The Unskilled Taught, The Lazy Aroused, The Contentious Restrained, The Haughty Repressed, The Poor Relieved, The Oppressed Liberated, The Good Approved, The Evil Borne With, And All Are To Be Loved!

Love, And He Will Draw Near; Love, And He Will Dwell Within You.

Does God Proclaim Himself In The Wonders Of Creation? No. All Things Proclaim Him, All Things Speak. Their Beauty Is The Voice By Which They Announce God, By Which They Sing, "it Is You Who Made Me Beautiful, Not Me Myself But You.

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.

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.

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Geoffrey Boycott

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