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Wonder [admiratio Astonishment, Marvel] Is A Kind Of Desire For Knowledge. The Situation Arises When One Sees An Effect And Does Not Know Its Cause, Or When The Cause Of The Particular Effect Is One That Exceeds His Power Of Understanding. Hence, Wonder Is A Cause Of Pleasure Insofar As There Is Annexed The Hope Of Attaining Understanding Of That Which One Wants To Know. ... For Desire Is Especially Aroused By The Awareness Of Ignorance, And Consequently A Man Takes The Greatest Pleasure In Those Things Which He Discovers For Himself Or Learns From The Ground Up.

-Thomas Aquinas

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Wonder [admiratio Astonishment, Marvel]

Thomas Aquinas

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Wonder [admiratio Astonishment, Marvel] Is A Kind Of Desire For Knowledge. The Situation Arises When One Sees An Effect And Does Not Know Its Cause, Or When The Cause Of The Particular Effect Is One That Exceeds His Power Of Understanding. Hence, Wonder Is A Cause Of Pleasure Insofar As There Is Annexed The Hope Of Attaining Understanding Of That Which One Wants To Know. ... For Desire Is Especially Aroused By The Awareness Of Ignorance, And Consequently A Man Takes The Greatest Pleasure In Those Things Which He Discovers For Himself Or Learns From The Ground Up.

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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.

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

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

The Splendor Of A Soul In Grace Is So Seductive That It Surpasses The Beauty Of All Created Things.

Happiness Is Secured Through Virtue; It Is A Good Attained By Man's Own Will.

The Existence Of A Prime Mover- Nothing Can Move Itself; There Must Be A First Mover. The First Mover Is Called God.

Just As In One Man There Is One Soul And One Body, Yet Many Members; Even So The Catholic Church Is One Body, Having Many Members. The Soul That Quickens This Body Is The Holy Spirit; And Therefore In The Creed After Confessing Our Belief In The Holy Spirit, We Are Bid To Believe In The Holy Catholic Church.

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 Only God Who Creates. Man Merely Rearranges.

Just As In A Physical Body The Operation Of One Member Contributes To The Good Of The Whole Body, So It Is In A Spiritual Body Such As The Church. And Since All The Faithful Are One Body, The Good Of One Member Is Communicated To Another; Everyone Members, As The Apostle Says, Of One Another [eph 4:25]. For That Reason, Among The Points Of Faith Handed Down By The Apostles, Is That There Is A Community Of Goods In The Church, And This Is Expressed In The Words Communion Of Saints.

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 Soul Is Known By It's Acts.

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

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.

Eternity Is Called Whole, Not Because It Has Parts, But Because It Is Lacking In Nothing.

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.

Well-ordered Self-love Is Right And Natural.

To Live Well Is To Work Well, To Show A Good Activity.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

If You Seek Patience, You Will Find No Better Example Than The Cross. Great Patience Occurs In Two Ways: Either When One Patiently Suffers Much, Or When One Suffers Things Which One Is Able To Avoid And Yet Does Not Avoid. Christ Endured Much On The Cross, And Did So Patiently, Because When He Suffered He Did Not Threaten; He Was Led Like A Sheep To The Slaughter And He Did Not Open His Mouth.

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.

The Blessed In The Kingdom Of Heaven Will See The Punishments Of The Damned, In Order That Their Bliss Be More Delightful For Them.

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.

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.

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

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

Beware The Man Of A Single Book.

Practical Sciences Proceed By Building Up; Theoretical Science By Resolving Into Components.

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.

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

How Is It They Live In Such Harmony The Billions Of Stars - When Most Men Can Barely Go A Minute Without Declaring War In Their Minds About Someone They Know.

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.

In The Realm Of Evil Thoughts None Induces To Sin As Much As Do Thoughts That Concern The Pleasure Of The Flesh.

Purity And Love

It Is Necessary For The Perfection Of Human Society That There Should Be Men Who Devote Their Lives To Contemplation.

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

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.

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.

Mistakes Are Made On Two Counts: An Argument Is Either Based On Error Or Incorrectly Developed.

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

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

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

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.

Reason In Man Is Rather Like God In The World.

Bestow Upon Me, O Lord My God, Understanding To Know Thee, Diligence To Seek Thee, Wisdom To Find Thee, And A Faithfulness That May Finally Embrace Thee.

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

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

Not Everything That Is More Difficult Is More Meritorious.

Wonder [admiratio Astonishment, Marvel] Is A Kind Of Desire For Knowledge. The Situation Arises When One Sees An Effect And Does Not Know Its Cause, Or When The Cause Of The Particular Effect Is One That Exceeds His Power Of Understanding. Hence, Wonder Is A Cause Of Pleasure Insofar As There Is Annexed The Hope Of Attaining Understanding Of That Which One Wants To Know. ... For Desire Is Especially Aroused By The Awareness Of Ignorance, And Consequently A Man Takes The Greatest Pleasure In Those Things Which He Discovers For Himself Or Learns From The Ground Up.

Grace Does Not Destroy Nature, It Perfects It.

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.

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

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

The Soul Is Perfected By Knowledge And Virtue.

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.

If All The Sins Of The Flesh Are Worthy Of Condemnation Because By Them Man Allows Himself To Be Dominated By That Which He Has Of The Animal Nature, Much More Deserving Of Condemnation Are The Sins Against Nature By Which Man Degrades His Own Animal Nature.

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

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

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

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

Friendship Is The Source Of The Greatest Pleasures, And Without Friends Even The Most Agreeable Pursuits Become Tedious.

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.

Love Follows Knowledge.

To Love God Is Something Greater Than To Know Him.

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

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.

God Is Not Related To Creatures As Though Belonging To A Different "genus," But As Transcending Every "genus," And As The Principle Of All "genera.

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

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

Faith Does Not Quench Desire, But Inflames It.

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

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

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.

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

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

Contemplative Life

The Human Mind May Perceive Truth Only Through Thinking, As Is Clear From Augustine.

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

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

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

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

To Convert Somebody Go And Take Them By The Hand And Guide Them.

Affirmative Precepts Are Distinguished From Negative Whenever One Is Not Comprised In The Other; Thus, That Of Honoring Parents Does Not Comprise That Of Not Killing, And Vice Versa.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Commemoration Of Gilbert Of Sempringham, Founder Of The Gilbertine Order, 1189 Some There Are Who Presume So Far On Their Wits That They Think Themselves Capable Of Measuring The Whole Nature Of Things By Their Intellect, In That They Esteem All Things True Which They See, And False Which They See Not. Accordingly, In Order That Man's Mind Might Be Freed From This Presumption, And Seek The Truth Humbly, It Was Necessary That Certain Things Far Surpassing His Intellect Should Be Proposed To Man By God.

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

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

Behold Our Refutation Of The Error. It Is Not Based On Documents Of Faith, But On The Reasons And Statements Of The Philosophers Themselves. If Then Anyone There Be Who, Boastfully Taking Pride In His Supposed Wisdom, Wishes To Challenge What We Have Written, Let Him Not Do It In Some Corner Nor Before Children Who Are Powerless To Decide On Such Difficult Matters. Let Him Reply Openly If He Dare. He Shall Find Me There Confronting Him, And Not Only My Negligible Self, But Many Another Whose Study Is Truth.

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)

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

Anything Done Against Faith Or Conscience Is Sinful.

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

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

Good Can Exist Without Evil, Whereas Evil Cannot Exist Without Good.

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

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.

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

Art Is Right Reason In The Doing Of Work.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Nothing Which Implies Contradiction Falls Under The Omnipotence Of God.

You Change People By Delight, By Pleasure.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

Three Conditions Are Necessary For Penance: Contrition, Which Is Sorrow For Sin, Together With A Purpose Of Amendment; Confession Of Sins Without Any Omission; And Satisfaction By Means Of Good Works.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Here 'neath Veils, My Saviour Darkly I Behold; To My Thirsting Spirit All Thy Light Unfold; Face To Face In Heaven Let Me Come To Thee, And The Blessed Vision Of Thy Glory See.

Love Takes Up Where Knowledge Leaves Off.

The Knowledge Of God Is The Cause Of Things. For The Knowledge Of God Is To All Creatures What The Knowledge Of The Artificer Is To Things Made By His Art.

Knowledge Of God

The Happy Man In This Life Needs Friends.

Distinctions Drawn By The Mind Are Not Necessarily Equivalent To Distinctions In Reality.

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

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

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

We 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.

To Be United To God In Unity Of Person Was Not Fitting To Human Flesh, According To Its Natural Endowments, Since It Was Above His Dignity; Nevertheless, It Was Fitting That God, By Reason Of His Infinite Goodness, Should Unite It To Himself For Human Salvation.

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.

Faith Is God's Work Within Us.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Better To Illuminate Than Merely To Shine.

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

Humility Is The Mark Of A Genuine Disciple.

The Things That We Love Tell Us What We Are.

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

The Same Fire" (which He Decides To Be Material) " Torments The Damned In Hell And The Just In Purgatory...the Least Pain In Purgatory Exceeds The Greatest In This Life.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Love Is To Will The Good Of The Other.

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

Unbelief Is The Greatest Of Sins.

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

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.

Every Cell In Us Worships God.

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

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

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

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.

Justice Is In Subjects As Well As In Rulers.

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

Beware Of The Person Of One Book.

Christ Was Either Liar, Lunatic, Or Lord!

All That Is True, By Whomsoever It Has Been Said Has Its Origin In The Spirit.

The Soul Is Like An Uninhabited World That Comes To Life Only When God Lays His Head Against Us.

[it Is Appropriate That The Body And Blood Of Christ Be Truly Present In This Sacrament] Because Of The Perfection Of The New Covenant. The Sacrifices Of The Old Covenant Contained The True Sacrifice Of Christ's Passion Only In Symbol....therefore It Was Necessary That The Sacrifice Of The New Covenant, Instituted By Christ, Have Something More, Namely, That It Contain Christ Himself Who Has Suffered And Contain Him Not Only In Symbol But In Reality.

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

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

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.

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

Charity Brings To Life Again Those Who Are Spiritually Dead.

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