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

-Saint Augustine

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Man Has Been Naturally

Saint Augustine

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

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It Is He Who Gave To This Intellectual Nature Free-will Of Such A Kind, That If He Wishes To Forsake God His Blessedness, Misery Should Forthwith Result.

To Be Under Pressure Is Inescapable. Pressure Takes Place Through All The World; War, Siege, The Worries Of State. We All Know Men Who Grumble Under These Pressures And Complain. They Are Cowards. They Lack Splendour. But There Is Another Sort Of Man Who Is Under The Same Pressure But Does Not Complain, For It Is The Friction Which Polishes Him. It Is The Pressure Which Refines And Makes Him Noble

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

The One Who Sings, Prays Twice.

The Cost Of Obedience Is Small Compared With The Cost Of Disobedience.

Custom Is Second Nature.

There Is No Salvation Outside The Church.

God Of Our Life, There Are Days When The Burdens We Carry Chafe Our Shoulders And Weigh Us Down; When The Road Seems Dreary And Endless, The Skies Gray And Threatening; When Our Lives Have No Music In Them, And Our Hearts Are Lonely, And Our Souls Have Lost Their Courage. Flood The Path With Light, Run Our Eyes To Where The Skies Are Full Of Promise; Tune Our Hearts To Brave Music; Give Us The Sense Of Comradeship With Heroes And Saints Of Every Age; And So Quicken Our Spirits That We May Be Able To Encourage The Souls Of All Who Journey With Us On The Road Of Life, To Your Honor And Glory.

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

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

Solvitur Ambulando . . . It Is Solved By Walking.

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

God Is Best Known In Not Knowing Him.

God In His Omnipotence Could Not Give More, In His Wisdom He Knew Not How To Give More, In His Riches He Had Not More To Give, Than The Eucharist.

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

Hell Was Made For The Inquisitive.

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.

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'

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

Be Always Displeased At What Thou Art, If Thou Desirest To Attain To What Thou Art Not.

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

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

Remove Justice, And What Are Kingdoms But Gangs Of Criminals On A Large Scale?... A Gang Is A Group Of Men... In Which The Plunder Is Divided According To An Agreed Convention. If This Villainy... Acquires Territory, Establishes A Base, Captures Cities And Subdues People, It Then Openly Arrogates To Itself The Title Of Kingdom.

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.

Woman Was Merely Man's Helpmate, A Function Which Pertains To Her Alone. She Is Not The Image Of God But As Far As Man Is Concerned, He Is By Himself The Image Of God.

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

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

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

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.

If Bodies Please Thee, Praise God On Occasion Of Them, And Turn Back Thy Love Upon Their Maker; Lest In These Things Which Please Thee, Thou Displease. If Souls Please Thee, Be They Loved In God: For They Too Are Mutable, But In Him They Are Firmly Established.

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.

The Desire For Fame Tempts Even Noble Minds.

Not To Give To Those In Need What Is To You Superfluous Is Akin To Fraud.

I Believe In Order To Understand

The Sky And The Earth And The Waters And The Things That Are In Them, The Fishes, And The Birds And The Trees Are Not Evil. All These Are Good; It Is Evil Men Who Make This Evil World.

Love Is The Beauty Of The Soul.

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

Every City Is A Living Body.

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.

Unhappy Is The Soul Enslaved By The Love Of Anything That Is Mortal.

Now The Apostle, Under The Inspiration Of The Holy Spirit, Says, "knowledge Inflates: But Love Edifies." The Only Correct Inerpretation Of This Saying Is That Knowledge Is Valuable When Charity Informs It. Without Charity, Knowledge Inflates; That Is, It Exalts Man To An Arrogance Which Is Nothing But A Kind Of Windy Emptiness.

If But For The Mercy Of My Lord, That My Paradise Becomes A Woman's Hell.

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

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

We Both Exist And Know That We Exist, And Rejoice In This Knowledge.

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

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

Peace In Society Depends Upon Peace In The Family.

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

The Mind Commands The Body, And It Obeys Forthwith; The Mind Commands Itself, And Is Resisted. The Mind Commands The Hand To Be Moved, And Such Readiness Is There That The Command Is Scarce To Be Distinguished From The Obedience. Yet The Mind Is Mind, And The Hand Is Body. The Mind Commands The Mind To Will, And Yet, Though It Be Itself, It Obeyeth Not. Whence This Monstrous Thing? And Why Is It?

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?

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.

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

There Is No Possible Source Of Evil Except Good.

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.

If You Are Pleased With What You Are, You Have Stopped Already. If You Say, "it Is Enough," You Are Lost. Keep On Walking, Moving Forward, Trying For The Goal.

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

The Entire Most Beautiful Order Of Things That Are Very Good, When Their Measures Have Been Accomplished, Is To Pass Away.

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.

I Want My Friend To Miss Me As Long As I Miss Him.

Seek Not To Understand That You May Believe, But Believe That You May Understand.

I Do Not Doubt That All Those Who Have Received Baptism Anywhere And From Whomever Do Have Baptism, As Long As It Was Consecrated With The Words Of The Gospel And They Received It Without Pretence On Their Part And With Some Degree Of Faith. However, It Would Not Avail Them For Their Spiritual Salvation If They Were Lacking In That Charity By Which They Might Be Implanted In The Catholic Church.

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.

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.

Really Great Things, When Discussed By Little Men, Can Usually Make Such Men Grow Big.

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

No One Indeed Believes Anything Unless He Has First Thought That It It To Be Believed.

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

Grant What Thou Commandest, And Command What Thou Wilt.

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

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

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

... At The Beginning Of The Human Race The Woman Was Made Of A Rib Taken From The Side Of The Man While He Slept; For It Seemed Fit That Even Then Christ And His Church Should Be Foreshadowed In This Event. For That Sleep Of The Man Was The Death Of Christ, Whose Side, As He Hung Lifeless Upon The Cross, Was Pierced With A Spear, And There Flowed From It Blood And Water, And These We Know To Be The Sacraments By Which The Church Is Built Up.

To Sing Is To Pray Twice.

Classical Music

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

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

Choose To Love Whomsoever Thou Wilt: All Else Will Follow.

Education Is The Food Of Youth, The Delight Of Old Age, The Ornament Of Prosperity, The Refuge And Comfort Of Adversity, And The Provocation To Grace In The Soul.

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

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

Mary Heard God's Word And Kept It, And So She Is Blessed. She Kept God's Truth In Her Mind, A Nobler Thing Than Carrying His Body In Her Womb.

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.

There Are Wolves Within, And There Are Sheep Without.

Love Has Reasons That Reason Knows Not.

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

Sin Is Energy In The Wrong Channel.

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

Other Sins Find Their Vent In The Accomplishment Of Evil Deeds, Whereas Pride Lies In Wait For Good Deeds, To Destroy Them.

Do Not Be Afraid To Throw Yourself On The Lord! He Will Not Draw Back And Let You Fall! Put Your Worries Aside And Throw Yourself On Him; He Will Welcome You And Heal 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.'

The Honors Of This World, What Are They But Puff, And Emptiness, And Peril Of Falling?

Falling In Love

Who Would Not Shudder If He Were Given The Choice Of Eternal Death Or Life Again As A Child ? Who Would Not Choose To Die ?

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

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

Consequently, If The Republic Is The Weal Of The People, And There Is No People If It Be Not Associated By A Common Acknowledgment Of Right, And If There Is No Right Where There Is No Justice, Then Most Certainly It Follows That There Is No Republic Where There Is No Justice.

I Asked The Whole Frame Of The World About My God; And He Answered, I Am Not He, But He Made Me.

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

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

The Law Detects, Grace Alone Conquers Sin.

In The House Of God There Is Never Ending Festival; The Angel Choir Makes Eternal Holiday; The Presence Of God's Face Gives Joy That Never Fails.

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.

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

Jesus Took His Flesh From The Flesh Of Mary

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

Unjust Laws Aren't Laws At All.

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.

In The Mass The Blood Of Christ Flows Anew For Sinners.

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

Take Care Of Your Body As If You Were Going To Live Forever; And Take Care Of Your Soul As If You Were Going To Die Tomorrow.

Things Are Solved By Walking Around.

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.

Teach Correctly... Find Delight In Contemplation.

It Is Impossible That There Should Be Inhabitants On The Opposite Side Of The Earth, Since No Such Race Is Recorded By Scripture Among The Descendants Of Adam.

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

Fasting Cleanses The Soul, Raises The Mind, Subjects One’s Flesh To The Spirit, Renders The Heart Contrite And Humble, Scatters The Clouds Of Concupiscence, Quenches The Fire Of Lust, And Kindles The True Light Of Chastity.

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

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

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

I Fell Away From You, My God, And I Went Astray, Too Far Astray From You, The Support Of My Youth, And I Became To Myself A Land Of Want.

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

The Sacraments Are The Salvation Of Those Who Use Them Rightly, And The Damnation Of Those Who Misuse Them.

My Weight Is My Love.

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.

What Matters It To Me If Someone Does Not Understand This? Let Him Too Rejoice And Say, “what Is This?” Let Him Rejoice Even At This, And Let Him Love To Find You While Not Finding It Out, Rather Than, While Finding It Out, Not To Find You.

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.

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.

By And By Never Comes.

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

If You Understand, It Is Not God.

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.

Men Are Always Ready To Nose Around And Find Out About Other's Lives, But They Feel Lazy To Know Themselves And Correct Their Own Life.

He Who Labours, Prays.

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

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

The Same Divine Authority That Forbids The Killing Of A Human Being Establishes Certain Exceptions, As When God Authorizes Killing By A General Law Or When He Gives An Explicit Commission To An Individual For A Limited Time.

Woman Does Not Possess The Image Of God In Herself But Only When Taken Together With The Male Who Is Her Head, So That The Whole Substance Is One Image. But When She Is Assigned The Role As Helpmate, A Function That Pertains To Her Alone, Then She Is Not The Image Of God. But As Far As The Man Is Concerned, He Is By Himself Alone The Image Of God Just As Fully And Completely As When He And The Woman Are Joined Together Into One.

Love Is A Temporary Madness. It Erupts Like An Earthquake And Then Subsides. And When It Subsides You Have To Make A Decision. You Have To Work Out Whether Your Roots Have Become So Entwined Together That It Is Inconceivable That You Should Ever Part. Because This Is What Love Is. Love Is Not Breathlessness, It Is Not Excitement, It Is Not The Promulgation Of Promises Of Eternal Passion. That Is Just Being In Love Which Any Of Us Can Convince Ourselves We Are. Love Itself Is What Is Left Over When Being In Love Has Burned Away, And This Is Both An Art And A Fortunate Accident.

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.

"give Us This Day Our Daily Bread," By "this Day" We Mean "at This Time," When We Either Ask For That Sufficiency, Signifying The Whole Of Our Need Under The Name Of Bread, Which Is The Outstanding Part Of It, Or For The Sacrament Of The Faithful, Which Is Necessary At This Time For Attaining Not So Much This Temporal As That Eternal Happiness.

There Is A Joy Which Is Not Given To The Ungodly, But To Those Who Love Thee For Thine Own Sake, Whose Joy Thou Thyself Art. And This Is The Happy Life, To Rejoice To Thee, Of Thee, For Thee; This It Is, And There Is No Other.

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

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

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.

So Give To The Poor; I'm Begging You, I'm Warning You, I'm Commanding You, I'm Ordering You.

Therefore, Give To The Poor. I Beg You, I Admonish You, I Charge You, I Command You To Give.

One Can't Reach The Truth But Through Love.

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

Faith Is To Believe What You Do Not See; The Reward Of This Faith Is To See What You Believe.

Cyprian Was Not Issuing A New Decree But Was Keeping To The Most Solid Belief Of The Church In Order To Correct Some Who Thought That Infants Ought Not Be Baptized Before The Eighth Day After Their Birth. . . . He Agreed With Certain Of His Fellow Bishops That A Child Is Able To Be Duly Baptized As Soon As He Is Born.

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

God Will Cleanse Your Sins If You Yourself Are Dissatisfied With Yourself And Will Keep On Changing Until You Are Perfect.

Temperance Is A Disposition That Restrains Our Desires For Things Which It Is Base To Desire.

Whoever Possesses God Is Happy.

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

Love And Do As You Will.

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.

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.

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

Love God, Then Do What You Will.

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

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.

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

Often The Contempt Of Vainglory Becomes A Source Of Even More Vainglory, For It Is Not Being Scorned When The Contempt Is Something One Is Proud Of.

Doubt Is But Another Element Of Faith.

In Order To Discover The Character Of People We Have Only To Observe What They Love.

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!

If God Is, Why Is There Evil? But If God Is Not, Why Is There Good?

Two Works Of Mercy Set A Person Free: Forgive And You Will Be Forgiven, And Give And You Will Receive.

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

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.

By The Fall A Poison Was Handed To Mankind Through A Woman [eve], By The Redemption Man Was Given Salvation Also Through A Woman [mary].

Hope Has Two Beautiful Daughters; Their Names Are Anger And Courage. Anger At The Way Things Are, And Courage To See That They Do Not Remain As They Are.

God Provides The Wind, Man Must Raise The Sail.

Sin Is To A Nature What Blindness Is To An Eye. The Blindness Of An Evil Or Defect Which Is A Witness To The Fact That The Eye Was Created To See The Light And, Hence, The Very Lack Of Sight Is The Proof That The Eye Was Meant... To Be The One Particularly Capable Of Seeing The Light. Were It Not For This Capacity, There Would Be No Reason To Think Of Blindness As A Misforture.

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.

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

Believe That You May Understand.

Do You Desire Security? Here You Have It. The Lord Says To You, "i Will Never Abandon You, I Will Always Be With You." If A Good Man Made You Such A Promise, You Would Trust Him. God Makes It, And Do You Doubt? Do You Seek A Support More Sure Than The Word Of God, Which Is Infallible? Surely, He Has Made The Promise, He Has Written It, He Has Pledged His Word For It, It Is Most Certain.

A Wanton Eye Is A Messenger Of An Unchaste Heart.

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

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.

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

He Who Devoutly Hears Holy Mass Will Receive A Great Vigor To Enable Him To Resist Mortal Sin, And There Shall Be Pardoned To Him All Venial Sins Which He May Have Committed Up To That Hour.

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

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

He Who Has God Has Everything; He Who Has Everything But God Has Nothing.

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.

We Made Bad Use Of Immortality, And So Ended Up Dying; Christ Made Good Use Of Mortality, So That We Might End Up Living.

The Heavenly City Outshines Rome Beyond Comparison. There, Instead Of Victory, Is Truth; Instead Of High Rank, Holiness; Instead Of Peace, Felicity; Instead Of Life, Eternity.

Hear, O God. Alas, For Man's Sin! So Saith Man, And Thou Pitiest Him; For Thou Madest Him, But Sin Is In Him Thou Madest Not. Who Remindeth Me Of The Sins Of My Infancy? For In Thy Sight None Is Pure From Sin, Not Even The Infant Whose Life Is But A Day Upon The Earth.

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.

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

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

If A Shameless Woman Expects To Be Defiled And Then Dies Of Her Fierce Love Because You Do Not Consent, Will Chastity Also Be Homicide?

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.

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

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

Of This I Am Certain, That No One Has Ever Died Who Was Not Destined To Die Some Time. Now The End Of Life Puts The Longest Life On A Par With The Shortest... And Of What Consequence Is It What Kind Of Death Puts An End To Life, Since He Who Has Died Once Is Not Forced To Go Through The Same Ordeal A Second Time? 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.

Let Your Old Age Be Childlike, And Your Childhood Like Old Age; That Is, So That Neither May Your Wisdom Be With Pride, Nor Your Humility Without Wisdom.

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