Background Image

...

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

-Saint Augustine

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Our Lord Reserved To

Saint Augustine

...

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

Views: 67769

Topic

More From Saint Augustine

Do You Wish To Rise? Begin By Descending.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Singing Is A Lover's Thing.

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

Believe That You May Understand.

Purity Of Soul Cannot Be Lost Without Consent.

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.

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.

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

There Is No Greater Invitation To Love Than Loving First.

We Should Never Use The Truth To Wound.

Let Us Understand That God Is A Physician, And That Suffering Is A Medicine For Salvation, Not A Punishment For Damnation.

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.

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

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

When We Read A Book, Our Most Essential Trait - Imagination - Is Given The Opportunity To Soar.

Find Out How Much God Has Given You And From It Take What You Need; The Remainder Is Needed By Others.

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

The Desire For Fame Tempts Even Noble Minds.

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

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.

The Soul Is "torn Apart In A Painful Condition As Long As It Prefers The Eternal Because Of Its Truth But Does Not Discard The Temporal Because Of Familiarity.

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

The Measure Of Charity May Be Taken From The Want Of Desires. As Desires Diminish In The Soul, Charity Increases In It; And When It No Longer Feels Any Desire, Then It Possesses Perfect Charity.

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.

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

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

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.

Once For All, Then, A Short Precept Is Given Thee: Love, And Do What Thou Wilt: Whether Thou Hold Thy Peace, Through Love Hold Thy Peace; Whether Thou Cry Out, Through Love Cry Out; Whether Thou Correct, Through Love Correct; Whether Thou Spare, Through Love Do Thou Spare: Let The Root Of Love Be Within, Of This Root Can Nothing Spring But What Is Good.

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

God Has No Need Of Your Money, But The Poor Have. You Give It To The Poor, And God Receives It.

It Was In His Flesh That Christ Walked Among Us And It Is His Flesh That He Has Given Us To Eat For Our Salvation; But No One Eats Of This Flesh Without Having First Adored It . . . And Not Only Do We Not Sin In Thus Adoring It, But We Would Be Sinning If We Did Not Do So.

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.

Whoever Seems To Himself To Have Understood The Scriptures In Such A Way That He Does Not Build Up That Double Love Of God And Neighbor Has Not Yet Understood.

What Is Grace? I Know Until You Ask Me; When You Ask Me, I Do Not Know.

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

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.

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

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.

I Had A Clear Idea About What Time Is Till I Was Asked To Explain It And Ceased To Understand It Altogether As Soon As I Began Explaining It.

Da Mihi Castitatem Et Continentiam, Sed Noli Modo (give Me Chastity And Continence, But Not Just Yet)!

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.

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

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.

Wicked Sons Do Not Have The Holy Ghost In The Same Way As Do Beloved Sons, And Yet They Do Have Baptism. So, Too, Heretics Do Not Have The Church As Catholics Have, Even Though They Have Baptism.

We Take For Granted The Slow Miracle Whereby Water In The Irrigation Of A Vineyard Becomes Wine. It Is Only When Christ Turns Water Into Wine, In A Quick Motion, As It Were, That We Stand Amazed.

People Travel To Marvel At The Mountains, Seas, Rivers And Stars And They Pass Right By Themselves Without Astonishment.

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

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

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

It Will Not Be Held Against You That You Are Ignorant Against Your Will, But That You Neglect To Seek Out What It Is That Makes You Ignorant; Not That You Cannot Bring Together Your Wounded Limbs, But That You Reject Him That Would Heal Them.

God Without Us Will Not As We Without God Cannot.

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.

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.

I Held My Heart Back From Positively Accepting Anything, Since I Was Afraid Of Another Fall, And In This Condition Of Suspense I Was Being All The More Killed.

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

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.

Angels Are Spirits, But It Is Not Because They Are Spirits That They Are Angels. They Become Angels When They Are Sent. For The Name Angel Refers To Their Office, Not Their Nature. You Ask The Name Of This Nature, It Is Spirit; You Ask Its Office, It Is That Of An Angel, Which Is A Messenger.

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

Christ Is Not Valued At All, Unless He Is Valued Above All.

Christian Inspirational

My Weight Is My Love.

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

If You Don't Believe It You Won't Understand It.

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.

Suppress Prostitution, And Capricious Lusts Will Overthrow Society.

Give Me Chastity And Continence, But Not Yet.

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.

You Cannot Attain To Charity Except Through 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?

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

I Will Plant My Feet On That Step Where My Parents Put Me As A Child, Until Self-evident Truth Comes To Light.

For What Is Time? ... Who Can Even In Thought Comprehend It, So As To Utter A Word About It? ... If No One Asks Me, I Know: If I Wish To Explain It To One That Asketh, I Know Not.

Desire Only God, And Your Heart Will Be Satisfied.

The Playthings Of Our Elders Are Called Business.

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

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.

He Pleaseth God Whom God Pleaseth.

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

O Eternal Truth And True Love And Beloved Eternity! You Are My God; To You I Sigh By Day And By Night. And When I First Knew You, You Raised Me Up So That I Could See That There Was Something To See And That I Still Lacked The Ability To See It. And You Beat Back The Weakness Of My Sight, Blazing Upon Me With Your Rays, And I Trembled In Love And In Dread.

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

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

Love And Say It With Your Life.

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

Habit, If Not Resisted, Soon Becomes Necessity.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

For It Is Better To Suffer A Little Want Than To Have Too Much.

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

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.

Truth Is Not Private Property.

Private Property

If You Are Silent, Be Silent Out Of Love. If You Speak, Speak Out Of Love.

O Master, Make Me Chaste, But Not Yet!

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.

It Is Not The Being Seen Of Men That Is Wrong, But Doing These Things For The Purpose Of Being Seen Of Men. The Problem With The Hypocrite Is His Motivation.

He Who Made Thee Is Made In Thee. He Is Made In Thee Through Whom You Were Made.... Give Milk, O Mother, To Him Who Is Our Food; Give Milk To The Bread That Comes Down From Heaven.

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.

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.

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.

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

There Is No Possible Source Of Evil Except Good.

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.

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

Eternity Is The Now That Does Not Pass Away.

God Does Not Give Heed To The Ambitiousness Of Our Prayers, Because He Is Always Ready To Give To Us His Light, Not A Visible Light But An Intellectual And Spiritual One; But We Are Not Always Ready To Receive It When We Turn Aside And Down To Other Things Out Of A Desire For Temporal Things.

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.

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

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

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

The Bread That You See On The Altar Is The Body Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word. The Chalice, Or Better What Is Contained In The Chalice, Is The Blood Of Christ As Soon As It Is Sanctified By God's Word

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

If Faith Fails, Prayer Perishes.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

If You Comprehend, It Is Not God.

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.

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

We Come To God By Love And Not By Navigation.

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

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

Cantare Amantis Est ... Singing Belongs To One Who Loves." (s. 336, 1 – Pl 38, 1472).

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

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.

That One Woman Is Both Mother And Virgin, Not In Spirit Only But Even In Body. In Spirit She Is Mother, Not Of Our Head, Who Is Our Savior Himself-of Whom All, Even She Herself, Are Rightly Called Children Of The Bridegroom-but Plainly She Is The Mother Of Us Who Are His Members, Because By Love She Has Cooperated So That The Faithful, Who Are The Members Of That Head, Might Be Born In The Church. In Body, Indeed, She Is The Mother Of That Very Head.

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

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.

Whoever Possesses God Is Happy.

He Who Commends The Nature Of The Soul As The Supreme Good, And Condemns The Nature Of The Flesh As Evil, At Once Both Carnally Desires The Soul, And Carnally Flies The Flesh, Because He Feels Thus From Human Vanity, Not From Divine Truth.

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

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.

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

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.

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

The Purpose Of All Wars, Is Peace.

It Is A Sin To Judge Any Man By His Post

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

God Is Not Greater If You Reverence Him, But You Are Greater If You Serve Him.

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.

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.

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

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

Because A Thing Is Eloquently Expressed It Should Not Be Taken To Be As Necessarily True; Nor Because It Is Uttered With Stammering Lips Should It Be Supposed False.

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

I Have Said Before, And I Shall Say Again, That I Write This Book For Love Of Your Love.

Who Can Map Out The Various Forces At Play In One Soul? Man Is A Great Depth, O Lord. The Hairs Of His Head Are Easier By Far To Count Than His Feeling, The Movements Of His Heart.

... 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.

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

Every City Is A Living Body.

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.

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.

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

I Inquired What Wickedness Is, And I Didn't Find A Substance, But A Perversity Of Will Twisted Away From The Highest Substance - You, O God - Towards Inferior Things, Rejecting Its Own Inner Life And Swelling With External Matters.

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.

The Most Venerable, Clearly Understood, Enlightened, And Reliable Constant In The World Is Not Only That We Want To Be Happy, But That We Want Only To Be So. Our Very Nature Requires It Of Us.

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

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

Indifferent Acts Are Judged By Their Ends Sins Are Judged By Themselves.

Oh, God, To Know You Is Life. To Serve You Is Freedom. To Praise You Is The Soul's Joy And Delight. Guard Me With The Power Of Your Grace Here And In All Places. Now And At All Times, Forever. Amen.

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.

He That Is Jealous Is Not In 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.

There Is No Remedy So Powerful Against The Heat Of Concupiscence As The Remembrance Of Our Savior's Passion. In All My Difficulties I Never Found Anything So Efficacious As The Wounds Of Christ: In Them I Sleep Secure; From Them I Derive New Life.

Make Friends With Angels.

For If God Is Man's Chief Good, Which You Cannot Deny, It Clearly Follows, Since To Seek The Chief Good Is To Live Well, That To Live Well Is Nothing Else But To Love God With All The Heart, With All The Soul, With All The Mind.

Is Any Man Skillful Enough To Have Fashioned Himself?

Man's Maker Was Made Man That He, Ruler Of The Stars, Might Nurse At His Mother's Breast; That The Bread Might Hunger, The Fountain Thirst, The Light Sleep, The Way Be Tired On Its Journey; That Truth Might Be Accused Of False Witnesses, The Teacher Be Beaten With Whips, The Foundation Be Suspended On Wood; That Strength Might Grow Weak; That The Healer Might Be Wounded; That Life Might Die.

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

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

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

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.

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

Your Wisdom Should Be Without Pride.

Even In Waging War, Cherish The Spirit Of Peace-maker; That, By Conquering Those Whom You Attack, You May Lead Them Back To The Advantages Of Peace.

You Can Live, Provided You Live; That Is, You Can Live For Ever, Provided You Live A Good Life.

The Reward Of Patience Is Patience.

To Sing Is To Pray Twice.

Classical Music

There Is No Salvation Outside The Church.

Complete Abstinence Is Easier Than Perfect Moderation.

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.

How Can The Past And Future Be, When The Past No Longer Is, And The Future Is Not Yet? As For The Present, If It Were Always Present And Never Moved On To Become The Past, It Would Not Be Time, But Eternity.

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

Pray As Though Everything Depended On God. Work As Though Everything Depended On You.

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.

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

There Is Something In Humility Which, Strangely Enough, Exalts The Heart, And Something In Pride Which Debases It.

Trending Author

Elizabeth Blackwell

Esa-Pekka Salonen

George Saunders

Category