2011.08.17 16:20
Voices of the Saints "He who enters into the secret space --- St. Albert the Great(1206 - 1280) *Of note, 200 years before Columbus, Thomas Aquinas explains how an unchangeable God can answer prayer without changing "The immutability of providence does not mean that prayer is unprofitable, any more than it means that there is no room for contingency within the domain of providence. --- Thomas Aquinas(1225 -1275) .... from the book, "Voices of the Saints" |
2011.08.18 02:36
2011.08.19 11:31
"On Vanity"
"A person desires nothing more than to be praised,
nor is there a single thing that he would consider it more agreeable
to receive than someone's admiration for him as a person of renown.....
Hence arises that sacrilege of the blasphemous, which is
the most wicked deed possible,
that since we seize everything pertaining to praise,
all that is left to offer God is blame.
The human race has exceeded its limit
when you cannot find a person who does not want to be
admired as God...
For those who have usurped the things above,
all that is left, so it seems to me, is the things below.
They have no higher place to which to ascend,
for the result of their constant ascending is that
all they have left is to descend...
Everyone everywhere strives to spread his own fame,
and therefore the cure for such vanity is most difficult,
because it mingles not only with vices, but also with virtues.
It does not allow a person to be recognized by himself
for what he is.
For when he rejoices in other people's praises,
his joy is followed by exalted triumph,
and his triumph, in turn, by pretentiousness and overestimation of himself...
This is that deadly vice of which the Lord spoke in the gospel
thus to the Jews: 'How can you believe, who receive glory
from one another and do not seek the glory
which is from the only God?'(John 5:44)"
-----St Martin of Braga( --- 579)
"Christ made love the stairway that would enable
all Christians to climb to heaven.
Hold fast to love, therefore, in all sincerity,
and give one another practical proof of it."
....St. Fulgentius of Ruspe(468? - 533)