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We Ought To Cherish The Body. Our Body's Substance Is Not From An Evil Principle, As The Manicheans Imagine, But From God. And Therefore, We Ought To Cherish The Body By The Friendship Of Love, By Which We Love God.

-Thomas Aquinas

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We Ought To Cherish

Thomas Aquinas

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We Ought To Cherish The Body. Our Body's Substance Is Not From An Evil Principle, As The Manicheans Imagine, But From God. And Therefore, We Ought To Cherish The Body By The Friendship Of Love, By Which We Love God.

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

The Truth Of The Christian Faith Surpasses The Capacity Of Reason.

The Image Of God Always Abides In The Soul, Whether This Image Be Obsolete And Clouded Over As To Amount To Almost Nothing; Or Whether It Be Obscured Or Disfigured, As Is The Case With Sinners; Or Whether It Be Clear And Beautiful As Is The Case With The Just.

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

Future Contingents Cannot Be Certain To Us, Because We Know Them As Such. They Can Be Certain Only To God Whose Understanding Is In Eternity Above Time. Just As A Man Going Along A Road Does Not See Those Who Come After Him; But The Man Who Sees The Whole Road From A Height Sees All Those Who Are Going Along The Road At The Same Time.

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

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

They Also Have At That Critical Point Of Death The Opportunity To Be Converted To God Through Repentance. And If They Are So Obstinate That Even At The Point Of Death Their Heart Does Not Draw Back From Malice, It Is Possible To Make A Quite Probable Judgment That They Would Never Come Away From Evil.

Secondly, Man Sins Against Nature When He Goes Against His Generic Nature, That Is To Say, His Animal Nature. Now, It Is Evident That, In Accord With Natural Order, The Union Of The Sexes Among Animals Is Ordered Towards Conception. From This It Follows That Every Sexual Intercourse That Cannot Lead To Conception Is Opposed To Man's Animal Nature.

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

Pray Thee, Spare, Thyself At Times: For It Becomes A Wise Man Sometimes To Relax The High Pressure Of His Attention To Work.

Whatever Is Received Is Received According To The Nature Of The Recipient.

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

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

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

You Change People By Delight, By Pleasure.

Anger And The Like Are Attributed To God On Account Of A Similitude Of Effect. Thus, Because To Punish Is Properly The Act Of An Angry Man, God's Punishment Is Metaphorically Spoken Of As His Anger.

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

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

Human Salvation Demands The Divine Disclosure Of Truths Surpassing Reason.

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

Wonder Is The Desire Of Knowledge.

A Man Does Not Always Choose What His Guardian Angel Intends.

To The Everlasting Father, And The Son Who Made Us Free And The Spirit, God Proceeding From Them Each Eternally, Be Salvation, Honour, Blessing, Might And Endless Majesty.

In Order For A War To Be Just, Three Things Are Necessary. First, The Authority Of The Sovereign... Secondly, A Just Cause... Thirdly... A Rightful Intention.

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

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

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

The Soul Is Known By It's Acts.

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

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

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

Charity Brings To Life Again Those Who Are Spiritually Dead.

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

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

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

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

Because We Cannot Know What God Is, But Only What He Is Not, We Cannot Consider How He Is But Only How He Is Not.

Most Men Seem To Live According To Sense Rather Than Reason.

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

The World Of Pure Spirits Stretches Between The Divine Nature And The World Of Human Beings; Because Divine Wisdom Has Ordained That The Higher Should Look After The Lower, Angels Execute The Divine Plan For Human Salvation: They Are Our Guardians, Who Free Us When Hindered And Help To Bring Us Home.

The Study Of Philosophy Is Not That We May Know What Men Have Thought, But What The Truth Of Things Is.

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

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

Any Error About Creation Also Leads To An Error About God.

Charity Is Love; Not All Love Is Charity.

The Human Race Was In Need Of Salvation Because Of The Perversity Of Sin. For When People Who Are Ill Are Cured From Their Illness, They Are Called "saved." Therefore, The Lord Says: "your Faith Has Saved You.

To Pretend Angels Do Not Exist Because They Are Invisible Is To Believe We Never Sleep Because We Don't See Ourselves Sleeping.

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

Good And Evil Are Essential Differences Of The Act Of The Will. For Good And Evil Pertain Essentially To The Will; Just As Truth And Falsehood Pertain To The Reason, The Act Of Which Is Distinguished Essentially By The Difference Of Truth And Falsehood (according As We Say That An Opinion Is True Or False.) Consequently, Good And Evil Volition Are Acts Differing In Species.

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

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

Venial Sin Becomes Mortal Sin When One Approves It As An End. . .

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

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

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

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

Jewish Community

The Only-begotten Son Of God, Wanting To Make Us Sharers In His Divinity, Assumed Our Nature, So That He, Made Man, Might Make Men Gods.

Love Takes Up Where Knowledge Leaves Off.

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

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

Art Is Right Reason In The Doing Of Work.

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

Miracles Are Signs Not To Them That Believe, But To Them That Believe Not.

Speaking In Tongues

Suppose A Person Entering A House Were To Feel Heat On The Porch, And Going Further, Were To Feel The Heat Increasing, The More They Penetrated Within. Doubtless, Such A Person Would Believe There Was A Fire In The House, Even Though They Did Not See The Fire That Must Be Causing All This Heat. A Similar Thing Will Happen To Anyone Who Considers This World In Detail: One Will Observe That All Things Are Arranged According To Their Degrees Of Beauty And Excellence, And That The Nearer They Are To God, The More Beautiful And Better They Are.

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

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

Justice Is A Certain Rectitude Of Mind Whereby A Man Does What He Ought To Do In The Circumstances Confronting Him.

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

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

God Should Not Be Called An Individual Substance, Since The Principle Of Individuation Is Matter.

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

Beauty Adds To Goodness A Relation To The Cognitive Faculty: So That "good" Means That Which Simply Pleases The Appetite; While The "beautiful" Is Something Pleasant To Apprehend.

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

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

Temperance Is Simply A Disposition Of The Mind Which Binds The Passion.

Clearly The Person Who Accepts The Church As An Infallible Guide Will Believe Whatever The Church Teaches.

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

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

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

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

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

It Is Requisite For The Relaxation Of The Mind That We Make Use, From Time To Time, Of Playful Deeds And Jokes.

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

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

One Aspect Of Neighbourly Love Is That We Must Not Merely Will Our Neighbours Good, But Actually Work To Bring It About.

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

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

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

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

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

It Is Not Possible To Be Ignorant Of The End Of Things If We Know Their Beginning.

The Proper Task Of The Savior Is That He Is A Savior; Indeed, For This He Came Into The World: To Seek And Save What Was Lost.

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

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

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

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

There Would Not Be A Perfect Likeness Of God In The Universe If All Things Were Of One Grade Of Being.

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

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

The Things We Love Tell Us Who We Are.

Every Truth Without Exception- And Whoever May Utter It- Is From The Holy Spirit.

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

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

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

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

He That Obstinately Denieth The Truth Before Men Upon Earth, Wilfully Refuseth His Soul's Health In Heaven.

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

Hold Firmly That Our Faith Is Identical With That Of The Ancients. Deny This, And You Dissolve The Unity Of The Church.

Beware Of The Person Of One Book.

It Would Seem That Zeal Is Not An Effect Of Love. For Zeal Is A Beginning Of Contention.

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

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

Law Has The Power To Compel: Indeed, The Ability To Enforce Is A Condition Of The Ability To Command.

Grant Me, O Lord My God, A Mind To Know You, A Heart To Seek You, Wisdom To Find You, Conduct Pleasing To You, Faithful Perseverance In Waiting For You, And A Hope Of Finally Embracing You. Amen.

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

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

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

It Is A Sin To Regard The Fact That God Cannot Do The Impossible As A Limitation On His Powers.

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

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

Whatever A Man Has In Superabundance Is Owed, Of Natural Right, To The Poor For Their Sustenance. So Ambrosius Says, And It Is Also To Be Found In The Decretum Gratiani: The Bread Which You Withhold Belongs To The Hungry: The Clothing You Shut Away, To The Naked: And The Money You Bury In The Earth Is The Redemption And Freedom Of The Penniless.

Just As A Man Cannot Live In The Flesh Unless He Is Born In The Flesh, Even So A Man Cannot Have The Spiritual Life Of Grace Unless He Is Born Again Spiritually. This Regeneration Is Effected By Baptism: "unless A Man Is Born Again Of Water And The Holy Spirit, He Cannot Enter Into The Kingdom Of God" (jn 3:5)

Anything Done Against Faith Or Conscience Is Sinful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faith Is God's Work Within Us.

Far Graver Is It To Corrupt The Faith That Is The Life Of The Soul Than To Counterfeit The Money That Sustains Temporal Life.

The Greatest Kindness One Can Render To Any Man Consists In Leading Him From Error To Truth.

The Light Of Faith Makes Us See What We Believe.

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

The Greatness Of The Human Being Consists In This: That It Is Capable Of The Universe.

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

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

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

True Peace Consists In Not Separating Ourselves From The Will Of God.

There Is Within Every Soul A Thirst For Happiness And Meaning.

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

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

Beware The Man Of A Single Book.

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

Inspirational Life

Because Of The Diverse Conditions Of Humans, It Happens That Some Acts Are Virtuous To Some People, As Appropriate And Suitable To Them, While The Same Acts Are Immoral For Others, As Inappropriate To Them.

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

As The Saints Will Rejoice In All Goods, So Will The Damned Grieve For All Goods.

Thus Angels' Bread Is Made The Bread Of Man Today: The Living Bread From Heaven With Figures Doth Away: O Wondrous Gift Indeed! The Poor And Lowly May Upon Their Lord And Master Feed.

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

A Man Should Remind Himself That An Object Of Faith Is Not Scientifically Demonstrable, Lest Presuming To Demonstrate What Is Of Faith, He Should Produce Inconclusive Reasons And Offer Occasion For Unbelievers To Scoff At A Faith Based On Such Ground.

As Mariners Are Guided Into Port By The Shining Of A Star, So Christians Are Guided To Heaven By Mary.

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

Justice Is In Subjects As Well As In Rulers.

The Meaning Of What Is Said Is According To The Motive For Saying It: Because Things Are Not Subject To Speech, But Speech To Things. Therefore We Should Take Account Of The Motive Of The Lawgiver, Rather Than Of His Very Words.

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

All The Efforts Of The Human Mind Cannot Exhaust The Essence Of A Single Fly.

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

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

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

O Saving Victim, Opening Wide The Gate Of Heaven To Man Below, Our Foes Press On From Every Side, Thine Aid Supply, Thy Strength Bestow.

Don't Ask Who Said It? Ask What They Said.

Rarely Affirm, Seldom Deny, Always Distinguish.

The Sacrament Of The Body Of The Lord Puts The Demons To Flight, Defends Us Against The Incentives To Vice And To Concupiscence, Cleanses The Soul From Sin, Quiets The Anger Of God, Enlightens The Understanding To Know God, Inflames The Will And The Affections With The Love Of God, Fills The Memory With Spiritual Sweetness, Confirms The Entire Man In Good, Frees Us From Eternal Death, Multiplies The Merits Of A Good Life, Leads Us To Our Everlasting Home, And Re-animates The Body To Eternal Life

Being Born He Have Himself As Our Companion, Eating With Us He Gave Himself As Food, Dying He Became Our Ransom, Reigning He Gives Himself As Our Reward

God's Precepts Are Light To The Loving, Heavy To The Fearful.

Without Doubt One Is Allowed To Resist Against The Unjust Aggressor To One's Life, One's Goods Or One's Physical Integrity; Sometimes, Even 'til The Aggressor's Death... In Fact, This Act Is Aimed At Preserving One's Life Or One's Goods And To Make The Aggressor Powerless. Thus, It Is A Good Act, Which Is The Right Of The Victim.

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

Christ Was Either Liar, Lunatic, Or Lord!

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

In Questions Of This Sort There Are Two Things To Be Observed. First, That The Truth Of The Scriptures Be Inviolably Maintained. Secondly, Since Scripture Doth Admit Of Diverse Interpretations, That No One Cling To Any Particular Exposition With Such Pertinacity That, If What He Supposed To Be The Teaching Of Scripture Should Afterward Turn Out To Be Clearly False, He Should Nevertheless Still Presume To Put It Forward, Lest Thereby The Sacred Scriptures Should Be Exposed To The Derision Of Unbelievers And The Way Of Salvation Should Be Closed To Them.

Sacred Scripture

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

One Will Observe That All Things Are Arranged According To Their Degrees Of Beauty And Excellence, And That The Nearer They Are To God, The More Beautiful And Better They Are.

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

Without Sanctifying Grace It Is Not Possible To Refrain Long From Mortal Sin.

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

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

The Custom Of The Church Has Very Great Authority And Ought To Be Jealously Observed In All Things.

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

A Scrap Of Knowledge About Sublime Things Is Worth More Than Any Amount About Trivialities.

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

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

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

If There Were Some Solitary Or Feral Man, The Passions Of The Soul Would Be Sufficient For Him; By Them He Would Be Conformed To Things In Order That He Might Have Knowledge Of Them. But Because Man Is Naturally Political And Social, There Is Need For One Man To Make His Conceptions Known To Others, Which Is Done With Speech. So Significant Speech Was Needed If Men Were To Live Together. Which Is Why Those Of Different Tongues Do Not Easily Live Together.

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

We Ought To Cherish The Body. Our Body's Substance Is Not From An Evil Principle, As The Manicheans Imagine, But From God. And Therefore, We Ought To Cherish The Body By The Friendship Of Love, By Which We Love God.

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

Love Must Precede Hatred, And Nothing Is Hated Save Through Being Contrary To A Suitable Thing Which Is Loved. And Hence It Is That Every Hatred Is Caused By Love.

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

If The Highest Aim Of A Captain Were To Preserve His Ship, He Would Keep It In Port Forever.

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

In The End, We Know God As Unknown.

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

Scientific Method

The Things That We Love Tell Us What We Are.

We Set Forth Our Petitions Before God, Not In Order To Make Known To Him Our Needs And Desires, But Rather So That We Ourselves May Realize That In These Things It Is Necessary To Turn To God For Help.

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

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

Better To Illuminate Than Merely To Shine.

Since Faith Rests Upon Infallible Truth, And Since The Contrary Of A Truth Can Never Be Demonstrated, It Is Clear That The Arguments Brought Against Faith Cannot Be Demonstrations, But Are Difficulties That Can Be Answered.

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