Quotes

"You have put salt in our mouths that we may thirst for you"

 

"Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, "Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head." In the one, the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one another in love, the latter obeying, while the former take thought for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.""

 

"This is what comes, he says, of giving one's heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away."

 

"Thou hast made us for thyself,"

 

"The cause, not the suffering, makes a genuine martyr"

 

"God who does not deprive us of sanity, nor permit another to do so:"

 

"The divine scriptures then are in the habit of making something like children's toys out of things that occur in creation, by which to entice our sickly gaze and get us step by step to seek as best we can the things that are above and forsake the things that are below."

 

"The more cleansed we are from the swelling of pride, the more we are filled with love; and is not whoever is filled with love filled with God?"

 

"O Lord my God, my one hope, hearken to me, lest through weariness I be unwilling to seek Thee, "but that I may always ardently seek Thy face." Do Thou give strength to seek, who hast made me find Thee, and hast given the hope of finding Thee more and more. My strength and my infirmity are in Thy sight: preserve the one, and heal the other. My knowledge and my ignorance are in Thy sight; where Thou hast opened to me, receive me as I enter; where Thou hast closed, open to me as I knock. May I remember Thee, understand Thee, love Thee. Increase these things in me, until Thou renewest me wholly."

 

"since no man is wicked by nature but is wicked only by some defect, a man who lives according to God owes it to wicked men that his hatred be perfect, so that, neither hating the man because of his corruption nor loving the corruption because of the man, he should hate the sin but love the sinner."

 

"There is no reason to doubt that the contrary dispositions which have developed among these good and bad angels are due, not to different natures and origins, for God the Author and Creator of all substances has created them both, but to the dissimilar choices and desires of these angels themselves. Some, remaining faithful to God, the common good of all, have lived in the enjoyment of His eternity, truth, and love, while others, preferring the enjoyment of their own power, as though they were their own good, departed from the higher good and common blessedness for all and turned to goods of their own choosing. Preferring the pomp of pride to this sublimity of eternity, the craftiness of vanity to the certainty of truth, and the turmoil of dissension to the union of love, they became proud, deceitful and envious. Since the happiness of all angels consists in union with God, it follows that their unhappiness must be found in the very contrary, that is, in not adhering to God. The question: "Why are the good angels happy?" the right answer is: "because they adhere to God." To the Question: "Why are others unhappy?" the answer is: "Because they do not adhere to God." In fact, there is no other good which can make any rational or intellectual creature happy except God."

 

"But now, by a greater and more wonderful grace of the Saviour, the punishment of sin serves the purposes of sanctity. In the beginning, the first man was warned: "If you sin, you shall die"; now, the martyr is admonished; "Die that you may not sin" The first man was told: "If you transgress, you shall die the death"; now, the martyr is reminded: "If you refuse death, you transgress the commandment." What before was to be feared, if a man were to keep himself from sin, is now to be faced, if he is not to sin. Thus, by the indeffible mercy of God, the penalty of sin is transformed into the panoply of virtue and the punishment of the sinner into the testing of a saint. This does not mean that death, which before was an evil, has now become something good. But it means that God has rewarded faith with so much grace that death, which seems to be the enemy of life, becomes an ally that helps man enter into life."

 

"It breaks the heart of any good man to hear this, for, even if he be brave enough to bear, or vigilant enough to beware of the ruses of faithless friends, he, must suffer greatly just the same when he discovers how treacherous they are. And it makes no difference whether they were genuine friends who have turned traitors, or traitorous men who had been trading on pretended affection all along." 

 

"But who is the bishop who is called a bishop and is not one? He who rejoices in that honor rather than the salvation of God's flock, who in that high office seeks his own ends, not those of Jesus Christ. He is called a bishop but is not a bishop; the name is of no use to him, but no one calls him anything else." 

 

"This, then, in this world, is the life of virtue. When God commands, man obeys; when the soul commands, the body obeys; when reason rules, our passions, even when they fight back, must be conquered or resisted; man must beg God's grace to win merit and the remission of his sins and must thank God for the blessing he receives.

 

"And what will make the second death so hard to bear is that there will be no death to end it."

 

"I mean the sparrow husband doesn't say. "I will feed my children, so that when I grow old they may feed me." No such thoughts as that; he loves them freely, feeds them freely for nothing; he shows the affection of a parent, he doesn't expect any reward."

 

"The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave,"

 

"Jacob saw a ladder, and on this ladder he saw some ascending, others descending(Genesis 28:12); he saw both. In those who ascended we can recognize those that progressed in piety: and in those who descended those who lagged behind."

 

"What does it mean, let him take up his own cross? It means he must endure many things that are painful; that is the way he must follow Me. When he begins to follow Me in My life and My teachings, many will contradict him, try to stop him, or dissuade him, even those who call themselves Christ disciples. It was they who walked with Christ that tried to stop the blind men from calling out to Him. So if you wish to follow Christ, you will take these threats or flattery or any kind of obstacle and fashion them into the cross; you must endure it, carry it, and not give way under it."

 

"Thus whatever choice you make, the Almighty will not be at a loss to fulfill His will concerning you."

 

"I pray and order what you will, but heal open my ears that I may hear your commands, heal open my eyes that I may see your nod; cast all unsoundness from me that I may recognize you? Tell me whither to direct my gaze that I may look upon you, and I hope that I shall do all things which you command."

 

"What art Thou then, my God? what, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong, stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things."