Augustine

ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem

[Thomas a Kempis @TomKempis]

If you say that you cannot suffer much, how will you endure the fire of purgatory? Of two evils, the lesser is always to be chosen. Therefore, in order that you may escape the everlasting punishments to come, try to bear present evils patiently for the sake of God.

[St. Thomas Aquinas @Aquinas_Quotes]

Just as the sun illuminates the world and dries up mud, so tribulation illuminates the intellect and dries up sin (Hugh of Saint-Cher).

[Thomas a Kempis @TomKempis]

Sometimes, however, you must use force and resist your sensual appetite bravely. You must pay no attention to what the flesh does or does not desire, taking pains that it be subjected, even by force, to the spirit.

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"A suggestive word was made use of by the evangelist, in not saying pierced, or wounded His side, or anything else, but ‘opened;’ that thereby, in a sense, the gate of life might be thrown open, from whence have flowed forth the Sacraments of the Church, without which there is no entrance into the life which is the true life. That blood was shed for the remission of sins; that water it is that makes up the health‑giving cup, and supplies at once the laver of baptism and water for drinking. This was announced beforehand, when Noah was commanded to make a door in the side of the ark (Gen. vi.), whereby the animals might enter which were not destined to perish in the flood, and by which the Church was prefigured. Because of this, the first woman was formed from the side of the man when asleep (Gen. ii.) and was called Life, and the mother of all living (Gen. iii.). Truly it pointed to a great good, prior to the great evil of the transgression (in the guise of one thus lying asleep). This second Adam bowed His head and fell asleep on the cross, that a spouse might be formed for Him from that which flowed from the sleeper’s side." - St. Augustine

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"My son, give me thy heart" - Prov. xxiii. 26

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"The more fully we abandon ourselves to the care of Providence, the more attentive God is not to let us want for anything." - St. John Baptist de La Salle

[♰ @eisvci]

“A dissolução dos costumes é a fonte donde nascem e saem todos os dias tantos livros e sistemas materialistas, indiferentistas, deístas e naturalistas. Uns negam a existência de Deus; outros negam a Providência Divina, dizendo que Deus, depois de criar os homens, não se importa mais com eles, sendo-lhes indiferente se o amam ou se o ofendem, se os homens se salvam ou se perdem. Outros negam a bondade divina afirmando que Deus criou muitas almas para o inferno, forçando-as ele mesmo a pecarem para que assim se condenem e o amaldiçoem para sempre no fogo eterno.

Tudo isso é ingratidão e maldade dos homens! Deus os criou por sua misericórdia para os fazer eternamente felizes no céu. Encheu-os de tantas luzes, benefícios e graças, para que alcançássemos a vida eterna. Para esse mesmo fim ele os remiu com tantas dores e com tanto amor. E os homens se esforçam por não acreditar em nada, para se entregarem aos vícios e viverem à vontade.

Mas, não adianta! Por mais esforços que façam, nunca esses infelizes poderão libertar-se do remorso da má consciência e do temor da justiça divina. Certamente não poriam em dúvida as verdades de fé e acreditariam firmemente em todas as verdades reveladas por Deus, se deixassem os vícios e se dedicassem a amar a Jesus Cristo.”

— Santo Afonso Maria de Ligório. A Prática do Amor a Jesus Cristo. Cap. XV.

[♰ @eisvci]

“O erro está em alguns quererem tornar-se santos, mas a seu modo. Querem amar a Jesus Cristo, mas conforme sua inclinação, sem deixar certos divertimentos, certas vaidades no vestir, certos alimentos apetitosos. Amam a Deus, mas se não conseguem tal emprego, vivem inquietos. Se alguém lhes toca na fama, logo se irritam. Se não saram de uma doença, perdem a paciência. Amam a Deus, mas não abandonam o apego às riquezas, às honras do mundo, à vaidade de serem tidos por pessoas de classe, sábios, melhores que os outros. Essas pessoas rezam, comungam; mas porque tem o coração cheio de coisas terrenas, pouco proveito tiram. A eles o Senhor não fala, porque vê que perde tempo: ‘Eu falaria a muitas almas, mas o mundo faz muito barulho nos seus ouvidos, de modo que a minha voz não pode ser percebida por eles. Oh! Se eles se afastassem um pouco do mundo!’.

Quem está, portanto, cheio de apegos terrenos não é capaz de ouvir a voz de Deus que lhe fala. Infeliz daquele que tem apego às coisas sensíveis deste mundo! Não será difícil que, cego por eles, deixe um dia de amar a jesus Cristo; para não perder estes bens passageiros, poderá vir a perder para sempre a Deus, felicidade infinita.”

— S. Afonso Maria de Ligório, A Prática do Amor a Jesus Cristo, cap. XI.

[Via Sanctorum @ViaSanctorum]

“Quem possui o amor de Deus, nEle encontra tanta alegria que cada amargura se transforma em doçura, e cada grande peso se torna leve. E isto não nos deve surpreender porque, vivendo na caridade, vive-se em Deus.”

— Santa Catarina de Sena (rogai por nós)

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Thou mercifully strewest
bitterness over everything that is not Thyself, to the end that our
hearts, formed to love Thee and to exist upon Thy love, may be, as it were, constrained to return to Thee by a want of satisfaction in everything else." - Fénelon

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Nothing comes to pass either in the material or in the spiritual world, but God has foreseen it from all eternity; because with Him there is no passing from ignorance to knowledge as with us, and He has nothing to learn from events as they occur." - Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

Remove grace, and you have nothing whereby to be saved. Remove free will and you have nothing that could be saved." - St. Anselm

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"The present age is completely absorbed in speculations of every kind - political, commercial, literary, scientific, and even religious; so that the source whence the rising generation ought to derive more knowledge of their moral and religious duties is contaminated by invincible pride, immoderate luxury, ridiculous fashion, self-interest, and general ignorance of the doctrine of salvation. Hence the predominant tendency of the present generation is to enjoy material life, indulge the passions, gratify the sensitive and appetitive powers, and neglect the religious cultivation of the intellect, heart, and soul." - Fr. Michael Müller

[Saint Quotes @GloryBeeGod4evr]

Look at Him as risen. Just imagining how He rose from the tomb will bring you joy!

- St. Teresa of Avila

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Self-love or egoism is manifestly the source of all sins." - St. Thomas Aquinas

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Perpetua, of course, and Felicity are the names of the two of them, but the reward of them all. The only reason, I mean, why all the martyrs toiled bravely for a time by suffering and confessing the faith in the struggle, was in order to enjoy perpetual felicity" - St. Augustine

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"The Angel did not promise everyone peace on earth. "Peace to men of good will" - the only person who has a right to expect peace is the one whose will is good. Meaning whose will is conformed to the will of God. All other claims to providing peace are deceit" - Fr. John Hardon

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Death and hell combine to distract man with a thousand useless cares, and to engage his thoughts with a multitude of imaginary wants." - St. Cecilia

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

“Suffering is a trustworthy guide to the secrets of a man's heart. That is why false friends never stand the test of adversity. (Eccles. vi. 8). Suffering is the furnace, so to speak, in which God puts his chosen ones to the test: 'The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.' (Eccles. xxvii. 6). 'Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.' (Wisdom iii. 5-7). But for this suffering was necessary - 'many are the afflictions of the just' (Psalm xxxiii. 20) - in order to prove their forbearance, humility, gentleness, and perseverance to the end." - Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange