See C. S. Lewis’ essay Meditation in a Toolshed for this crucial distinction.) The
When the soul no longer conforms to the will of God, the body no longer conforms to the will of the soul.
When a subject corrects his prelate, he ought to do so in a becoming manner, not with impudence and harshness but with gentleness and respect. . . .
We are participating in His actual work.
The species or nature with which we make our choices is fallen, sinful, selfish, and stupid; and we cannot by our own power attain the deepest and final end of our desires, union with God, eternal hap...
The medieval idea that angels were required to move the heavenly bodies.
He rewards our efforts with peace and joy.
Don’t confuse scepticism as an attitude, or a method, with scepticism as a philosophy. Socrates was sceptical in temperament, and his method was to question everything. But he believed in absolute tru...
Desire will be at rest, not only our desire for God but all our desires; so that the joy of the blessed is full to perfection—indeed, over-full, since they will obtain more than they were capable of d...
You will have noticed by this time, of course, that St. Thomas almost always solves a dilemma by making a distinction. That is not a quirk of his personality or even of his method, but a reflection of...
You can be just as certain that God will give you little pieces of Heaven, little appetizers for Heaven, for the rest of your life on earth as you can be certain that He will give you the fullness of...
When the worldly toys in which we foolishly place our hopes for happiness are taken away from us, our foolishness is also taken away, and this brings us closer to true happiness, which is not in world...
When I ask my Catholic students what they would say to God if they died tonight and God asked them why He should let them into Heaven, fewer than 5% ever even mention Jesus Christ.
We all, like Frodo, carry a Quest, a Task: our daily duties. They come us, not from us. We are free only to accept or refuse our task- and, implicitly, our Taskmaster. None of us is a free creator or...
There—fore what is contrary to human nature is contrary to God’s will.
The root reason for this is the denial of the human essence, the human equality, the human family—judging people’s worth only by how efficiently or intelligently or quickly they function. This is conf...
The more you treat someone you hate as if you loved them, the more you will find yourself loving them.
The more consciously and freely we choose an evil, the more responsible we are for it and the more guilty we are of it; this is why spiritual sins like pride are greater in guilt than carnal sins.
The medievals loved to say that God wrote two books: nature and Scripture. And since he is the author of both books, and since this Teacher never contradicts himself, these two books never contradict...
The fifties were far from utopia, but we all know they were significantly happier than today. At this point someone will respond by quoting the ultimate law of life: Ah, but you can't turn back the cl...