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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'

-Saint Augustine

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On The Altar You

Saint Augustine

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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'

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The Greatest Evil Is Physical Pain.

Nothing Whatever Pertaining To Godliness And Real Holiness Can Be Accomplished Without Grace .

Give What You Command And Command What You Will.

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

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

Do Not Follow Any Road, But That Which Christ Trod. This Road Seems Hard, But It Is Safe.

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.

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

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

The Truth Is Like A Lion; You Don’t Have To Defend It. Let It Loose; It Will Defend Itself.

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.

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.

For Where I Found Truth, There Found I My God, The Truth Itself; Which Since I Learnt, I Have Not Forgotten.

The Argument Is At An End.

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

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

We Are And We Know We Are And We Love To Be It And Know It.

Make Friends With Angels.

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

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.

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.

You Are What You Love.

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

The Verdict Of The World Is Conclusive.

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.

Divine Scripture Is Wont To Frame, As It Were, Allurements For Children From The Things Which Are Found In The Creature; Whereby, According To Their Measure, And As It Were By Steps, The Affections Of The Weak May Be Moved To Seek Those Things That Are Above, And To Leave Those Things That Are Below. But The Same Scripture Rarely Employs Those Things Which Are Spoken Properly Of God, And Are Not Found In Any Creature; As, For Instance, That Which Was Said To Moses, I Am That I Am; And, I Am Has Sent Me To You."

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

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.

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.

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.

God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us.

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

Unjust Laws Aren't Laws At All.

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

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

Samson Crushed Himself And His Enemies To Death Beneath The Ruins Of A Building. He Can Only Be Excused On The Grounds That The Spirit Of The Lord, Who Wrought Miracles Through Him, Had Bidden Him To Do So. But, Apart From Such Men Excepted By The Command Of A Just Law In General Or Of God, The Very Source Of Justice, In A Special Case, Any One Who Kills A Human Being, Himself Or Another, Is Guilty Of Murder.

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

A Christian Man Is On His Guard With Respect To Those Who Philosophize According To The Elements Of This World, Not According To God, By Whom The World Itself Was Made; For He Is Warned By The Precept Of The Apostle And Faithfully Hears What Has Been Said, 'beware That No One Deceive You Through Philosophy And Vain Deceit, According To The Elements Of The World'

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

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

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

I Entered (into My Inward Self) And Beheld With The Eye Of My Soul...the Light Unchangeable.

Heaven Forbid That We Should Believe In Such A Way As Not To Accept Or Seek Reasons, Since We Could Not Even Believe If We Did Not Possess Rational Souls.

Understanding Is The Reward Of Faith.

Learn To Dance, So When You Get To Heaven The Angels Know What To Do With You.

Teach Correctly... Find Delight In Contemplation.

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

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

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

He That Is Jealous Is Not In Love.

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

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

If You Understand, It Is Not God.

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'

When Large Numbers Of People Share Their Joy In Common, The Happiness Of Each Is Greater Because Each Adds Fuel To The Other's Flame.

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.

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

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

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

Only He Who Made Man Makes Man Happy.

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.

To Wisdom Belongs The Intellectual Apprehension Of Eternal Things; To Knowledge, The Rational Knowledge Of Temporal Things.

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

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

For When God Said, "let There Be Light, And There Was Light," If We Are Justified In Understanding In This Light The Creation Of The Angels, Then Certainly They Were Created Partakers Of The Eternal Light Which Is The Unchangeable Wisdom Of God, By Which All Things Were Made, And Whom We Call The Only-begotten Son Of God.

The Wicked Have Told Me Of Things That Delight Them, But Not Such Things As Your Law Has To Tell.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Our Bodies Are Shaped To Bear Children, And Our Lives Are A Working Out Of The Processes Of Creation. All Our Ambitions And Intelligence Are Beside That Great Elemental Point.

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

Your Wisdom Should Be Without Pride.

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

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

For In Our Hope We Are Saved.

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

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

Things Are Solved By Walking Around.

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.

Just As It Is Agreed That We All Wish To Be Happy, So It Is That We All Wish To Be Wise, Since No One Without Wisdom Is Happy.

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

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

Christ Was Born Of A Woman Without The Man.

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 ?

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

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.

God Is Best Known In Not Knowing Him.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Doubt Is But Another Element Of Faith.

Why Persist In Walking Difficult And Toilsome Paths? There Is No Repose Where You Are Seeking It. Search As You Like, It Is Not Where You Are Looking. You Are Seeking A Happy Life In The Realm Of Death, And It Will Not Be Found There. How Could Life Be Happy Where There Is No Life At All?

Idolatry Is Worshipping Anything That Ought To Be Used, Or Using Anything That Is Meant To Be Worshipped.

Narrow Is The Mansion Of My Soul; Enlarge Thou It, That Thou Mayest Enter In. It Is Ruinous; Repair Thou It. It Has That Within Which Must Offend Thine Eyes; I Confess And Know It. But Who Shall Cleanse It? Or To Whom Should I Cry, Save Thee? Lord, Cleanse Me From My Secret Faults, And Spare Thy Servant From The Power Of The Enemy. I Believe, And Therefore Do I Speak.

Love And Say It With Your Life.

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

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

If You Lose Your Soul, There Is A Danger Of Its Being Destroyed. Therefore, You May Not Love It, Since You Do Not Want It To Be Destroyed. But In Not Wanting It To Be Destroyed, You Love It.

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.

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.

Tolle, Lege: Take Up And Read.

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.

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.

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

Falling In Love

Peace Is Not Sought In Order To Provoke War, But War Is Waged In Order To Attain Peace.

Late Have I Loved You, O Beauty Ever Ancient, Ever New. Late Have I Loved You. You Have Called To Me, And Have Called Out, And Have Shattered My Deafness. You Have Blazed Forth With Light And Have Put My Blindness To Flight! You Have Sent Forth Fragrance, And I Have Drawn In My Breath, And I Pant After You. I Have Tasted You, And I Hunger And Thirst After You. You Have Touched Me, And I Have Burned For Your Peace.

Hunger And Thirst

Singing Is A Lover's Thing.

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

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

There Are Wolves Within, And There Are Sheep Without.

Every City Is A Living Body.

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

The Kingdom Of Heaven, O Man, Requires No Other Price Than Yourself. The Value Of It Is Yourself. Give Yourself For It And You Shall Have It.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

It Is Not Earthly Riches Which Make Us Or Our Sons Happy; For They Must Either Be Lost By Us In Our Lifetime, Or Be Possessed When We Are Dead, By Whom We Know Not, Or Perhaps By Whom We Would Not.

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

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.

We Are Certainly In A Common Class With The Beasts; Every Action Of Animal Life Is Concerned With Seeking Bodily Pleasure And Avoiding Pain.

Poetry Is Devil's Wine.

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

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

Repentant Tears Wash Out The Stain Of Guilt.

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

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

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

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

If You Comprehend, It Is Not God.

What Art Thou Then, My God? What, But The Lord God? For Who Is Lord But The Lord? Or Who Is God Save Our God? Most Highest, Most Good, Most Potent, Most Omnipotent; Most Merciful, Yet Most Just; Most Hidden, Yet Most Present; Most Beautiful, Yet Most Strong; Stable, Yet Incomprehensible; Unchangeable, Yet All-changing; Never New, Never Old; All-renewing, And Bringing Age Upon The Proud, And They Know It Not; Ever Working, Ever At Rest; Still Gathering, Yet Nothing Lacking; Supporting, Filling, And Overspreading; Creating, Nourishing, And Maturing; Seeking, Yet Having All Things.

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

God Provides The Wind, Man Must Raise The Sail.

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.

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

Human Law Cannot Punish Or Forbid All Evil, Since While Doing Away With Evils It Would Do Away With Many Good Things, Which Would Hinder The Advance Of The Common Good.

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

God's Faithful Servant Has No Desire For People To Say Or To Give To Him, Or What He Likes To Hear Or See, For His First And Greatest Aim Is To Hear What Is Most Pleasing To God.

Faithful Servants

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

God Judged It Better To Bring Good Out Of Evil Than To Suffer No Evil To Exist.

The Good Man, Though A Slave, Is Free; The Wicked, Though He Reigns, Is A Slave.

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.

Believe That You May Understand.

A Christian Is: A Mind Through Which Christ Thinks, A Heart Through Which Christ Loves, A Voice Through Which Christ Speaks, And A Hand Through Which Christ Helps.

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

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

The Good Christian Should Beware The Mathematician And All Those Who Make Empty Prophecies. The Danger Already Exists That The Mathematicians Have Made A Covenant With The Devil To Darken The Spirit And To Confine Man In The Bonds Of Hell.

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

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

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.

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

Sin Is Energy In The Wrong Channel.

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

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

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

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.

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

Nothing Conquers Except Truth And The Victory Of Truth Is Love.

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.

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.

It Is This One Spirit Who Makes It Possible For An Infant To Be Regenerated . . . When That Infant Is Brought To Baptism; And It Is Through This One Spirit That The Infant So Presented Is Reborn. For It Is Not Written, 'unless A Man Be Born Again By The Will Of His Parents' Or 'by The Faith Of Those Presenting Him Or Ministering To Him,' But, 'unless A Man Be Born Again Of Water And The Holy Spirit.' The Water, Therefore, Manifesting Exteriorly The Sacrament Of Grace, And The Spirit Effecting Interiorly The Benefit Of Grace, Both Regenerate In One Christ That Man Who Was Generated In Adam.

Love Can Be Angry... With A Kind Of Anger In Which There Is No Gall, Like The Dove's And Not The Ravens.

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.

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

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

What Can Be Hoped For Which Is Not Believed?

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

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.

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.

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

Consequently, Heretics And Schismatics, Separated From The Unity Of This Body, Are Able To Receive The Same Sacrament, But With No Benefit To Themselves; Indeed, More To Their Own Harm, In That They Are Judged The More Severely Rather Than Being Liberated.

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

Thou Hast Created Us For Thyself, And Our Heart Is Not Quiet Until It Rests In Thee.

Poetry Is The Devil's Wine.

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

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.

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

Don't Go Outside; Get Back To Yourself, In The Inner Man Lies The Truth.

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

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?

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

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 Whenever Unbaptized Persons Die Confessing Christ, This Confession Is Of The Same Efficacy For The Remission Of Sins As If They Were Washed In The Sacred Font Of Baptism.

What I Needed Most Was To Love And To Be Loved, Eager To Be Caught. Happily I Wrapped Those Painful Bonds Around Me; And Sure Enough, I Would Be Lashed With The Red-hot Pokers Or Jealousy, By Suspicions And Fear, By Burst Of Anger And Quarrels.

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

No One Reaches The Kingdom Of Heaven Except By Humility

Do You Who Are A Christian Desire To Be Revenged And Vindicated, And The Death Of Jesus Christ Has Not Yet Been Revenged, Nor His Innocence Vindicated?

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

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

Since God Is The Highest Good, He Would Not Allow Any Evil To Exist In His Works Unless His Omnipotence And Goodness Were Such As To Bring Good Even Out Of Evil.

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