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It Is Due To Neither Impotence Nor Ignorance On God’s Part That Evils Occur In The World, But It Is Owing To The Order Of His Wisdom And To The Greatness Of His Goodness, Whence Come The Many And Divers Grades Of Goodness In Things, Many Of Which Would Be Lacking Were He To Allow No Evil To Exist. Thus There Would Be No Good Of Patience Without The Evil Of Persecution, Nor The Good Of The Preservation Of Its Life In A Lion, Without The Evil Of The Destruction Of The Animals On Which It Lives.

-Thomas Aquinas

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It Is Due To

Thomas Aquinas

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It Is Due To Neither Impotence Nor Ignorance On God’s Part That Evils Occur In The World, But It Is Owing To The Order Of His Wisdom And To The Greatness Of His Goodness, Whence Come The Many And Divers Grades Of Goodness In Things, Many Of Which Would Be Lacking Were He To Allow No Evil To Exist. Thus There Would Be No Good Of Patience Without The Evil Of Persecution, Nor The Good Of The Preservation Of Its Life In A Lion, Without The Evil Of The Destruction Of The Animals On Which It Lives.

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Not Everyone Who Is Enlightened By An Angel Knows That He Is Enlightened By Him.

Sorrow Can Be Alleviated By Good Sleep, A Bath And A Glass Of Wine.

I Answer That, Even, As In The Blessed In Heaven There Will Be Most Perfect Charity, So In The Damned There Will Be The Most Perfect Hate.

Inspirational Life

I Receive Thee Ransom Of My Soul. For Love Of Thee Have I Studied And Kept Vigil Toiled Preached And Taught.

Beware The Man Of A Single Book.

Believing Is An Act Of The Intellect Assenting To The Divine Truth By Command Of The Will Moved By God Through Grace.

Man Cannot Live Without Joy; Therefore When He Is Deprived Of True Spiritual Joys It Is Necessary That He Become Addicted To Carnal Pleasures.

Obedience Unites Us So Closely To God That It In A Way Transforms Us Into Him, So That We Have No Other Will But His. If Obedience Is Lacking, Even Prayer Cannot Be Pleasing To God.

Christ Was Either Liar, Lunatic, Or Lord!

Godhead Here In Hiding, Whom I Adore Masked By These Bare Shadows, Shape And Nothing More, See, Lord, At Thy Service Low Lies Here A Heart Lost, All Lost In Wonder At The God Thou Art

Charity Is The Form, Mover, Mother And Root Of All The Virtues.

Wonder Is The Desire Of Knowledge.

To Disparage The Dictate Of Reason Is Equivalent To Contemning The Command Of God.

To Teach In Order To Lead Others To Faith Is The Task Of Every Preacher And Of Each Believer.

If A Thing Can Be Done Adequately By Means Of One, It Is Superfluous To Do It By Means Of Several; For We Observe That Nature Does Not Employ Two Instruments [if] One Suffices.

An Angel Can Illumine The Thought And Mind Of Man By Strengthening The Power Of Vision And By Bringing Within His Reach Some Truth Which The Angel Himself Contemplates.

So, To Detract From The Perfection Of Creatures Is To Detract From The Perfection Of Divine Power.

Now It Seems That Everything In The World Stems From Sources Other Than God, Since The Products Of Nature Have Their Source In Nature; Deliberate Effects Can Be Traced Back To Human Reason Or Will As Their Source. There Is No Need Then To Assume That God Exists.

What Can Be Accomplished By A Few Principles Is Not Effected By Many. But It Seems That Everything We See In The World Can Be Accounted For By Other Principles, Supposing God Did Not Exist. For All Natural Things Can Be Reduced To One Principle, Which Is Nature, And All Voluntary Things Can Be Reduced To One Principle, Which Is Human Reason, Or Will. Therefore There Is No Need To Suppose God's Existence.

He Who Is Dying Of Hunger Must Be Fed Rather Than Taught.

Better To Illuminate Than Merely To Shine; To Deliver To Others Contemplated Truths Than Merely To Contemplate.

The Celebration Of Holy Mass Is As Valuable As The Death Of Jesus On The Cross.

Likewise Grace And Glory Are Referred To The Same Genus, Since Grace Is Nothing Other Than A Certain First Beginning Of Glory In Us.

The Highest Perfection Of Human Life Consists In The Mind Of Man Being Detached From Care, For The Sake Of God.

He Who Achieves Power By Violence Does Not Truly Become Lord Or Master.

The Highest Manifestation Of Life Consists In This: That A Being Governs Its Own Actions. A Thing Which Is Always Subject To The Direction Of Another Is Somewhat Of A Dead Thing.

Every Cell In Us Worships God.

But Man Is Freer Than All The Animals, On Account Of His Free-will, With Which He Is Endowed Above All Other Animals.

How Can We Live In Harmony? First We Need To Know We Are All Madly In Love With The Same God.

If You Can Live Amid Injustice Without Anger, You Are Immoral As Well As Unjust.

It Is Altogether Unlawful To Kill Oneself... Wherefore Suicide Is Contrary To The Inclination Of Nature, And To Charity Whereby Every Man Should Love Himself... Life Is God's Gift To Man, And Is Subject To His Power, Who Kills And Makes To Live. Hence Whoever Takes His Own Life, Sins Against God... For It Belongs To God Alone To Pronounce Sentence Of Death And Life.

The Celestial Bodies Are The Cause Of All That Takes Place In The Sublunar World.

It Must Be Said That Charity Can, In No Way, Exist Along With Mortal Sin.

He Who Is Drawn To Something Desirable Does Not Desire To Have It As A Thought But As A Thing.

Unbelief Is The Greatest Of Sins.

The Cross To Me Is Certain Salvation. The Cross Is That Which I Ever Adore. The Cross Of The Lord Is With Me. The Cross Is My Refuge.

Baptism Is The Sacrament Of Faith. Now, Dead Faith Does Not Suffice For Salvation .. .therefore, The Sacrament Of Baptism Cannot Give Salvation To A Man Whose Will ... Expels The Form Of Faith.

All Men Are Equal In Nature, And Also In Original Sin. It Is In The Merits And Demerits Of Their Actions That They Differ.

There Must Be Must Be A First Mover Existing Above All – And This We Call God.

Give, Expecting Nothing There Of.

One Day When Thomas Aquinas Was Preaching To The Local Populace On The Love Of God, He Saw An Old Woman Listening Attentively To His Every Word. And Inspired By Her Eagerness To Learn More About Her God Whom She Loved So Dearly, He Said To The People: It Is Better To Be This Unlearned Woman, Loving God With All Her Heart, Than The Most Learned Theologian Lacking Love.

The Magnitude Of The Punishment Matches The Magnitude Of The Sin. Now A Sin That Is Against God Is Infinite; The Higher The Person Against Whom It Is Committed, The Graver The Sin-it Is More Criminal To Strike A Head Of State Than A Private Citizen-and God Is Of Infinite Greatness. Therefore An Infinite Punishment Is Deserved For A Sin Committed Against Him.

Now, Nothing Can Be Brought From Potentiality To Actual Existence Except Through Something Actually Existing

If Anyone Without The Right Faith Receives Baptism Outside The Church, He Does Not Receive It Unto Salvation ... From The Comparison Of The Church To Paradise, We Learn That Men Can Receive Her Baptism Even Outside Her Fold, But That Out There No One Can Receive Or Keep The Salvation Of The Blessed.

Of All The Pursuits Open To Men, The Search For Wisdom Is Most Perfect, More Sublime, More Profitable, And More Full Of Joy.

Whatever Was In The Human Nature Of Christ Was Moved At The Bidding Of The Divine Will; Yet It Does Not Follow That In Christ There Was No Movement Of The Will Proper To Human Nature, For The Good Wills Of Other Saints Are Moved By God's Will... For Although The Will Cannot Be Inwardly Moved By Any Creature, Yet It Can Be Moved Inwardly By God.

We Must Love Them Both, Those Whose Opinions We Share And Those Whose Opinions We Reject, For Both Have Labored In The Search For Truth, And Both Have Helped Us In Finding It.

Love Works In A Circle, For The Beloved Moves The Lover By Stamping A Likeness, And The Lover Then Goes Out To Hold The Beloved Inreality. Who First Was The Beginning Now Becomes The End Of Motion.

Now This Relaxation Of The Mind From Work Consists On Playful Words Or Deeds. Therefore It Becomes A Wise And Virtuous Man To Have Recourse To Such Things At Times.

The Soul, Which Is The First Principle Of Life, Is Not A Body, But The Act Of A Body; Just As Heat, Which Is The Principle Of Calefaction, Is Not A Body, But An Act Of A Body.

Sacred Scripture, Since It Has No Science Above Itself, Can Dispute With One Who Denies Its Principles Only If The Opponent Admits Some At Least Of The Truths Obtained Through Divine Revelation; Thus We Can Argue With Heretics From Texts In Holy Writ, And Against Those Who Deny One Article Of Faith We Can Argue From Another. If Our Opponent Believes Nothing Of Divine Revelation, There Is No Longer Any Means Of Proving The Articles Of Faith By Reasoning, But Only Of Answering His Objections - If He Has Any - Against Faith.

Sing, My Tongue, The Saviour's Glory, Of His Flesh, The Mystery Sing; Of The Blood, All Price Exceeding, Shed By Our Immortal King, Destined, For The World's Redemption, From A Noble Womb To Spring.

It Must Be Understood That Prime Matter, And Form As Well, Is Neither Generated Nor Corrupted, Because Every Generation Is From Something To Something. Now That From Which Generation Proceeds Is Matter, And That To Which It Proceeds Is Form. So That, If Matter Or Form Were Generated, There Would Be A Matter For Matter And A Form For Form, Endlessly. Whence, There Is Generation Only Of The Composite, Properly Speaking.

We Can't Have Full Knowledge All At Once. We Must Start By Believing; Then Afterwards We May Be Led On To Master The Evidence For Ourselves.

By Nature All Men Are Equal In Liberty, But Not In Other Endowments.

Without The Suitable Conditions Life Could Not Exist. But Both Life And Its Conditions Set Forth The Operations Of Inscrutable Power. We Know Not Its Origin; We Know Not Its End. And The Presumption, If Not The Degradation, Rests With Those Who Place Upon The Throne Of The Universe A Magnified Image Of Themselves, And Make Its Doings A Mere Colossal Imitation Of Their Own. Wonder Was The Motive That Led People To Philosophy ... Wonder Is A Kind Of Desire In Knowledge. It Is The Cause Of Delight Because It Carries With It The Hope Of Discovery.

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Three Things Are Necessary For The Salvation Of Man: To Know What He Ought To Believe; To Know What He Ought To Desire; And To Know What He Ought To Do.

Gods Are Called Many By The Error Of Some Who Worshipped Many Deities, Thinking As They Did The Planets And Other Stars Were Gods, And Also The Separate Parts Of The World.

Sloth Is Sluggishness Of The Mind Which Neglects To Begin Good...it Is Evil In Its Effect, If It So Oppresses Man As To Draw Him Away Entirely From Good Deeds.

We Are Like Children, Who Stand In Need Of Masters To Enlighten Us And Direct Us; God Has Provided For This, By Appointing His Angels To Be Our Teachers And Guides.

Mary Means Star Of The Sea, For As Mariners Are Guided To Port By The Ocean Star, So Christians Attain To Glory Through Mary's Maternal Intercession.

You Change People By Delight, By Pleasure.

Do Not Wish To Jump Immediately From The Streams To The Sea, Because One Has To Go Through Easier Things To The More Difficult.

It Is Unlawful To Add Anything To The Words Of Holy Scripture Regarding The Sense.

Wonder Was The Motive That Led People To Philosophy ... Wonder Is A Kind Of Desire In Knowledge. It Is The Cause Of Delight Because It Carries With It The Hope Of Discovery.

The Fire Of Hell Is Called Eternal, Only Because It Never Ends. Still, There Is Change In The Pains Of The Lost... Hence In Hell True Eternity Does Not Exist, But Rather Time.

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Reason In Man Is Rather Like God In The World.

The Church Has Ever Proved Indestructible. Her Persecutors Have Failed To Destroy Her; In Fact, It Was During Times Of Persecution That The Church Grew More And More; While The Persecutors Themselves, And Those Whom The Church Would Destroy, Are The Very Ones Who Came To Nothing. . . .again, Errors Have Assailed Her; But In Fact, The Greater The Number Of Errors That Have Arisen, The More Has The Truth Been Made Manifest. . . . Nor Has The Church Failed Before The Assaults Of Demons: For She Is Like A Tower Of Refuge To All Who Fight Against The Devil.

In The Life Of The Body A Man Is Sometimes Sick, And Unless He Takes Medicine, He Will Die. Even So In The Spiritual Life A Man Is Sick On Account Of Sin. For That Reason He Needs Medicine So That He May Be Restored To Health; And This Grace Is Bestowed In The Sacrament Of Penance.

The Servants Of God...whether Provoked By Word Or Work, By Keeping Themselves Tranquil And Peaceful, Evince A Perfect Nobleness Of Soul.

Man Can Sin Against Nature In Two Ways. First, When He Sins Against His Specific Rational Nature, Acting Contrary To Reason. In This Sense, We Can Say That Every Sin Is A Sin Against Man's Nature, Because It Is Against Man's Right Reason.

Art Is Right Reason In The Doing Of Work.

For Just As The First General Precepts Of The Law Of Nature Are Self-evident To One In Possession Of Natural Reason, And Have No Need Of Promulgation, So Also That Of Believing In God Is Primary And Self-evident To One Who Has Faith: For He That Cometh To God Must Believe That He Is.

We Can Open Our Hearts To God, But Only With Divine Help.

"the Jews Should Not Be Allowed To Keep What They Have Obtained From Others By Usury; It Were Best That They Were Compelled To Worked So That They Could Earn Their Living Instead Of Doing Nothing But Becoming Avaricious."

For Creation Is Not A Change, But That Dependence Of The Created Existence On The Principle From Which It Is Instituted, And Thus Is Of The Genus Of Relation; Whence Nothing Prohibits It Being In The Created As In The Subject. Creation Is Thus Said To Be A Kind Of Change, According To The Way Of Understanding, Insofar As Our Intellect Accepts One And The Same Thing As Not Existing Before And Afterwards Existing.

Faith Will Tell Us Christ Is Present, When Our Human Senses Fail.

Moral Science Is Better Occupied When Treating Of Friendship Than Of Justice.

The Apostles And Their Successors Are God's Vicars In Governing The Church Which Is Built On Faith And The Sacraments Of Faith. Wherefore, Just As They May Not Institute Another Church, So Neither May They Deliver Another Faith, Nor Institute Other Sacraments.

Man Has Free Choice, Or Otherwise Counsels, Exhortations, Commands, Prohibitions, Rewards And Punishments Would Be In Vain.

Right Faith Is Of Necessity Required For Baptism, Since It Is Said: "the Justice Of God Is By Faith In Jesus Christ" (romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism Without Faith Avails Nothing And Thus We Must Recall That Without Faith No One Is Acceptable To God.

Whatever A Man Has In Superabundance Is Owed, Of Natural Right, To The Poor For Their Sustenance.

Jewish Community

This Blood That But One Drop Of Has The Power To Win All The World Forgiveness Of Its World Of Sin.

If, Then, You Are Looking For The Way By Which You Should Go, Take Christ, Because He Himself Is The Way.

To Love Is To Will The Good Of The Other.

The Happy Man In This Life Needs Friends.

The Truth Of Our Faith Becomes A Matter Of Ridicule Among The Infidels If Any Catholic, Not Gifted With The Necessary Scientific Learning, Presents As Dogma What Scientific Scrutiny Shows To Be False.

Mercy Without Justice Is The Mother Of Dissolution; Justice Without Mercy Is Cruelty.

Whenever God Wakes In Us, Our Thinking Becomes Clear - Nothing Is Missing.

To Bear With Patience Wrongs Done To Oneself Is A Mark Of Perfection, But To Bear With Patience Wrongs Done To Someone Else Is A Mark Of Imperfection And Even Of Actual Sin.

God Himself Would Not Permit Evil In This World If Good Did Not Come Of It For The Benefit And Harmony Of The Universe.

All My Words Are But Chaff Next To The Faith Of A Simple Man.

Devotion Is A Certain Act Of The Will By Which Man Gives Himself Promptly To Divine Service.

Every Judgement Of Conscience, Be It Right Or Wrong, Be It About Things Evil In Themselves Or Morally Indifferent, Is Obligatory, In Such Wise That He Who Acts Against His Conscience Always Sins.

The Fact That The Evil Ones, As Long As They Live, Can Be Corrected From Their Errors Does Not Prohibit That They May Be Justly Executed, For The Danger Which Threatens From Their Way Of Life Is Greater And More Certain Than The Good Which May Be Expected From Their Improvement.

The Soul Is Perfected By Knowledge And Virtue.

Grace Renders Us Like God And A Partaker Of The Divine Nature.

The Bread Of Angels Has Become The Bread Of Mankind; This Heavenly Bread Puts An End To All Images; O Wonderful Reality! The Poor, The Slave, And The Humble Can Eat The Lord.

It May Well Happen That What Is In Itself The More Certain On Account Of The Weakness Of Our Intelligence, Which Is Dazzled By The Clearest Objects Of Nature; As The Owl Is Dazzled By The Light Of The Sun. Hence The Fact That Some Happen To Doubt About Articles Of Faith Is Not Due To The Uncertain Nature Of The Truths, But To The Weakness Of Human Intelligence; Yet The Slenderest Knowledge That May Be Obtained Of The Highest Things Is More Desirable Than The Most Certain Knowledge Obtained Of Lesser Things.

God Destines Us For An End Beyond The Grasp Of Reason.

Beware Of The Person Of One Book.

God Has No Need For Our Worship. It Is We Who Need To Show Our Gratitude For What We Have Received.

The Test Of The Artist Does Not Lie In The Will With Which He Goes To Work, But In The Excellence Of The Work He Produces.

Sin Is A Spiritual Illness; Thus Sinners Are In Need Of Salvation.

The Things That We Love Tell Us What We Are.

Charity Brings To Life Again Those Who Are Spiritually Dead.

It Is Possible To Demonstrate God's Existence, Although Not A Priori, Yet A Posteriori From Some Work Of His More Surely Known To Us.

Reasoning Is Compared To Understanding As Movement Is To Rest, Or Acquisition To Possession.... Since Movement Always Proceeds From Something Immovable, And Ends In Something At Rest, Hence It Is That Human Reasoning, In The Order Of Inquiry And Discovery, Proceeds From Certain Things Absolutely Understood--namely, The First Principles; And, Again, In The Order Of Judgment, Returns By Analysis To First Principles, In The Light Of Which It Examines What It Has Found. Now It Is Clear That Rest And Movement Are Not To Be Referred To Different Powers, But To One And The Same.

It Is Clear That He Does Not Pray, Who, Far From Uplifting Himself To God, Requires That God Shall Lower Himself To Him, And Who Resorts To Prayer Not To Stir The Man In Us To Will What God Wills, But Only To Persuade God To Will What The Man In Us Wills.

Rarely Affirm, Seldom Deny, Always Distinguish.

Jesus Lord, Kind Pelican, Cleanse My Filth With Thy Blood, One Drop Of Which Can Save The Whole World From All Its Sin

Nothing Which Implies Contradiction Falls Under The Omnipotence Of God.

To One Who Has Faith, No Explanation Is Necessary. To One Without Faith, No Explanation Is Possible.

Human Salvation Demands The Divine Disclosure Of Truths Surpassing Reason.

In The End, We Know God As Unknown.

In A False Person, Sacraments Do Not Produce Any Effect.

First, I Say That He Draws Near To Those Who Make Peace With Him. For God Is The One Who Brings About Peace; And Where Else Should Peace Dwell Than In Peace?

Even As He Would Be Guilty Of Falsehood Who Would, In The Name Of Another Person, Proffer Things That Are Not Committed To Him, So Too Does A Man Incur The Guilt Of Falsehood Who, On The Part Of The Church, Gives Worship To God Contrary To The Manner Established By The Church Or Divine Authority, And According To Ecclesiastical Custom.

Sorrow Can Be Alleviated By Good Sleep, A Bath And A Glass Of Good Wine.

What Does It Take To Become A Saint? Will It.

Baptism Is The Door Of The Spiritual Life And The Gateway To The Sacraments.

The Perfection Of The Effect Demonstrates The Perfection Of The Cause, For A Greater Power Brings About A More Perfect Effect. But God Is The Most Perfect Agent. Therefore, Things Created By Him Obtain Perfection From Him. So, To Detract From The Perfection Of Creatures Is To Detract From The Perfection Of Divine Power.

It Seems That God Does Not Exist; Because If One Of Two Contraries Be Infinite, The Other Would Be Altogether Destroyed. But The Word "god" Means That He Is Infinite Goodness. If, Therefore, God Existed, There Would Be No Evil Discoverable; But There Is Evil In The World. Therefore God Does Not Exist.

The Soul Is Known By It's Acts.

Perfection Of Moral Virtue Does Not Wholly Take Away The Passions, But Regulates Them.

Prostitution In The Towns Is Like The Cesspool In The Palace; Take Away The Cesspool And The Palace Will Become An Unclean And Evil Smelling-place.

The Blessed Eucharist Is The Perfect Sacrament Of The Lord's Passion, Since It Contains Christ Himself And His Passion.

Grace Does Not Destroy Nature, It Perfects It.

He Who Is Not Angry When There Is Just Cause For Anger Is Immoral. Why? Because Anger Looks To The Good Of Justice. And If You Can Live Amid Injustice Without Anger, You Are Immoral As Well As Unjust.

It Would Seem That The Ingratitude, Whereby A Subsequent Sin Causes The Return Of Sins Previously Forgiven, Is A Special Sin. For, The Giving Of Thanks Belongs To Counter Passion, Which Is A Necessary Condition Of Justice. But Justice Is A Special Virtue. Therefore This Ingratitude Is A Special Sin. Thanksgiving Is A Special Virtue. But Ingratitude Is Opposed To Thanksgiving. Therefore Ingratitude Is A Special Sin.

The Greater The Charity Of The Saints In Their Heavenly Home, The More They Intercede For Those Who Are Still On Their Journey And The More They Can Help Them By Their Prayers; The More They Are United With God, The More Effective Those Prayers Are. This Is In Accordance With Divine Order, Which Makes Higher Things React Upon Lower Things, Like The Brightness Of The Sun Filling The Atmosphere.

It Would Be Superfluous To Receive By Faith, Things That Can Be Known By Natural Reason

...[sacred] Doctrine Is Especially Based Upon Arguments From Authority, Inasmuch As Its Principles Are Obtained By Revelation: Thus We Ought To Believe On The Authority Of Those To Whom The Revelation Has Been Made. Nor Does This Take Away From The Dignity Of This Doctrine, For Although The Argument From Authority Based On Human Reason Is The Weakest, Yet The Argument From Authority Based On Divine Revelation Is The Strongest.

Man Is Closer To God According To His Existence In Grace Than He Is According To His Existence In Nature.

He Suddenly Announced That He Could Not Write Any More Since "all That I Have Written Seems Like Straw To Me."

That The Saints May Enjoy Their Beatitude And The Grace Of God More Abundantly They Are Permitted To See The Punishment Of The Damned In Hell.

Because Philosophy Arises From Awe, A Philosopher Is Bound In His Way To Be A Lover Of Myths And Poetic Fables. Poets And Philosophers Are Alike In Being Big With Wonder.

Even As In The Blessed In Heaven There Will Be Most Perfect Charity, So In The Damned There Will Be The Most Perfect Hate. Wherefore As The Saints Will Rejoice In All Goods, So Will The Damned Grieve For All Goods. Consequently The Sight Of The Happiness Of The Saints Will Give Them Very Great Pain.

By The Divine Providence [animals] Are Intended For Man's Use... Hence It Is Not Wrong For Man To Make Use Of Them, Either By Killing Or In Any Other Way Whatsoever.

Man Should Not Consider His Material Possession His Own, But As Common To All, So As To Share Them Without Hesitation When Others Are In Need.

It Is A Sin Directly Against One's Neighbour, Since One Man Cannot Over-abound In External Riches, Without Another Man Lacking Them.

There Is Nothing In Your Mind Which Wasn't Experienced Before Hand.

I Cannot Understand How Anyone Conscious Of Mortal Sin Can Laugh Or Be Merry.

For Although The Will Cannot Be Inwardly Moved By Any Creature, Yet It Can Be Moved Inwardly By God.

I Would Rather Feel Compassion Than Know The Meaning Of It. I Would Hope To Act With Compassion Without Thinking Of Personal Gain.

Angels Transcend Every Religion, Every Philosophy, Every Creed. In Fact Angels Have No Religion As We Know It... Their Existence Precedes Every Religious System That Has Ever Existed On Earth.

The Minister To Whom Confession Is Made Is The Delegate Of Christ, Who Is The Judge Of The Living And The Dead.

Concerning Perfect Blessedness Which Consists In A Vision Of God.

One Faith, St. Paul Writes (eph. 4:5). Hold Most Firmly That Our Faith Is Identical With That Of The Ancients. Deny This, And You Dissolve The Unity Of The Church ... We Must Hold This For Certain, Namely: That The Faith Of The People At The Present Day Is One With The Faith Of The People In Past Centuries. Were This Not True, Then We Would Be In A Different Church Than They Were In And, Literally, The Church Would Not Be One.

It Is Only God Who Creates. Man Merely Rearranges.

There Being An Imminent Danger For The Faith, Prelates Must Be Questioned, Even Publicly, By Their Subjects.

It [covetousness] Is A Sin Against God, Just As All Mortal Sins, In As Much As Man Condemns Things Eternal For The Sake Of Temporal Things.

Nothing Created Has Ever Been Able To Fill The Heart Of Man. God Alone Can Fill It Infinitely.

Fear Is Such A Powerful Emotion For Humans That When We Allow It To Take Us Over, It Drives Compassion Right Out Of Our Hearts.

Faith Has To Do With Things That Are Not Seen And Hope With Things That Are Not At Hand.

Pain Itself Can Be Pleasurable Accidentally In So Far As It Is Accompanied By Wonder, As In Stage-plays; Or In So Far As It Recalls A Beloved Object To One's Memory, And Makes One Feel One's Love For The Thing, Whose Absence Gives Us Pain. Consequently, Since Love Is Pleasant, Both Pain And Whatever Else Results From Love, In So Far As They Remind Us Of Our Love, Are Pleasant.

God Is Never Angry For His Sake, Only For Ours.

It Is Necessary To Posit Something Which Is Necessary Of Itself, And Has No Cause Of Its Necessity Outside Of Itself But Is The Cause Of Necessity In Other Things. And All People Call This Thing God.

If A Man Deliberately Abstains From Wine To Such An Extent That He Does Serious Harm To His Nature, He Will Not Be Free From Blame.

Peace Is The Work Of Justice Indirectly, In So Far As Justice Removes The Obstacles To Peace; But It Is The Work Of Charity (love) Directly, Since Charity, According To Its Very Notion, Causes Peace.

If Forgers And Malefactors Are Put To Death By The Secular Power, There Is Much More Reason For Excommunicating And Even Putting To Death One Convicted Of Heresy.

When The Devil Is Called The God Of This World, It Is Not Because He Made It, But Because We Serve Him With Our Worldliness.

The Eucharist Is The Sacrament Of Love; It Signifies Love, It Produces Love. The Eucharist Is The Consummation Of The Whole Spiritual Life.

As Regards The Individual Nature, Woman Is Defective And Misbegotten, For The Active Power Of The Male Seed Tends To The Production Of A Perfect Likeness In The Masculine Sex; While The Production Of A Woman Comes From Defect In The Active Power.

A Song Is The Exultation Of The Mind Dwelling On Eternal Things, Bursting Forth In The Voice.

A Man Has Free Choice To The Extent That He Is Rational.

For It Is Necessary In Every Practical Science To Proceed In A Composite (i.e. Deductive) Manner. On The Contrary In Speculative Science, It Is Necessary To Proceed In An Analytical Manner By Breaking Down The Complex Into Elementary Principles.

Scientific Method

Love Is A Binding Force, By Which Another Is Joined To Me And Cherished By Myself.

Because The Divine Goodness Could Not Be Adequately Represented By One Creature Alone, God Produced Many And Diverse Creatures, That What Was Wanting In One In The Representation Of The Divine Goodness Might Be Supplied By Another. For Goodness, Which In God Is Simple And Uniform, In Creatures Is Manifold And Divided. Thus The Whole Universe Together Participates In The Divine Goodness More Perfectly And Represents It Better Than Any Single Creature.

He Who Does Not Embrace The Teaching Of The Church Does Not Have The Habit Of Faith.

Humility Is The Mark Of A Genuine Disciple.

For Those With Faith, No Evidence Is Necessary; For Those Without It, No Evidence Will Suffice.

Whatever Is In Motion Must Be Put In Motion By Another. If That By Which It Is Put In Motion Be Itself Put In Motion, Then This Also Must Needs Be Put In Motion By Another, And That By Another Again. But This Cannot Go On To Infinity, Because Then There Would Be No First Mover, And, Consequently, No Other Mover; Seeing That Subsequent Movers Move Only Inasmuch As They Are Put In Motion By The First Mover; As The Staff Moves Only Because It Is Put In Motion By The Hand. Therefore It Is Necessary To Arrive At A First Mover, Put In Motion By No Other; And This Everyone Understands To Be God.

There Is, Therefore, A More Perfect Intellectual Life In The Angels. In Them The Intellect Does Not Proceed To Self-knowledge From Anything Exterior, But Knows Itself Through Itself.

The Last End Of Every Maker, As Such, Is Himself, For What We Make We Use For Our Own Sake; And If At Any Time A Man Make A Thing For The Sake Of Something Else, It Is Referred To His Own Good, Whether His Use, His Pleasure, Or His Virtue.

An Act Of Love Always Tends Towards Two Things; To The Good That One Wills, And To The Person For Whom One Wills It.

There Can Be No Joy In Living Without Joy In Work.

For Loving Draws Us More To Things Than Knowing Does, Since Good Is Found By Going To The Thing, Whereas The True Is Found When The Thing Comes To Us.

To Restore Man, Who Had Been Laid Low By Sin, To The Heights Of Divine Glory, The Word Of The Eternal Father, Though Containing All Things Within His Immensity, Willed To Become Small. This He Did Not By Putting Aside His Greatness But By Taking To Himself Our Littleness.

The Proper Effect Of The Eucharist Is The Transformation Of Man Into God.

God Answered The Prayers Of Animals.

A Person Is Disposed To An Act Of Choice By An Angel ... In Two Ways. Sometimes, A Man's Understanding Is Enlightened By An Angel To Know What Is Good, But It Is Not Instructed As To The Reason Why ... But Sometimes He Is Instructed By Angelic Illumination, Both That This Act Is Good And As To The Reason Why It Is Good.

The Light Of Faith Makes Us See What We Believe.

I Cannot Go On.... All That I Have Written Seems To Me Like So Much Straw Compared To What I Have Seen And What Has Been Revealed To Me.

O How Unspeakable Is This Sacrament Which Sets Our Affections Ablaze With Charity. ... It Is The Fulfillment Of Christ's Mystical Body.

Those Who Are More Adapted To The Active Life Can Prepare Themselves For Contemplation In The Practice Of The Active Life, While Those Who Are More Adapted To The Contemplative Life Can Take Upon Themselves The Works Of The Active Life So As To Become Yet.

Contemplative Life

Baptism Is Not To Be Conferred On A Man Who Is Unwilling To Give Up His Other Sins, So Neither Should Baptism Be Given To One Who Is Unwilling To Renounce His Unbelief. Nevertheless, Each Of Them Receives The Sacrament If It Is Conferred On Him, Although Not Unto Salvation.

The Theologian Considers Sin Mainly As An Offence Against God; The Moral Philosopher As Contrary To Reasonableness.

Charity Is Not A Potency Of The Soul, Because If It Were It Would Be Natural. Nor Is It A Passion, Because It Is Not In A Sensitive Potency In Which Are All Passions. Nor Is It A Habit, Because A Habit Is Removed With Difficulty; Charity, However, Is Easily Lost Through One Act Of Mortal Sin. Therefore Charity Is Not Something Created In The Soul.

For In Order That Man May Do Well, Whether In The Works Of The Active Life, Or In Those Of The Contemplative Life, He Needs The Fellowship Of Friends.

Contemplative Life

There Is Nothing On This Earth More To Be Prized Than True Friendship.

Charity, By Which God And Neighbor Are Loved, Is The Most Perfect Friendship.

Down In Adoration Falling, Lo! The Sacred Host We Hail; Lo! O'er Ancient Forms Departing, Newer Rites Of Grace Prevail; Faith For All Defects Supplying, Where The Feeble Senses Fail.

Justice Is In Subjects As Well As In Rulers.

If Someone Knows From Experience That Daily Communion Increases Fervor Without Lessening Reverence, Then Let Him Go Every Day. But If Someone Finds That Reverence Is Lessened And Devotion Not Much Increased, Then Let Him Sometimes Abstain, So As To Draw Near Afterwards With Better Dispositions.

Arrive At Knowledge Over Small Streamlets, And Do Not Plunge Immediately Into The Ocean, Since Progress Must Go From The Easier To The More Difficult.

Love Follows Knowledge.

A Man's Heart Is Right When He Wills What God Wills.

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Shel Silverstein

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