Worldliness Quotes by the Saints
When you find your intellect occupied pleasurably with material things and becoming fondly attached to its conceptual images of them, you may be sure that you love these things more than God. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6:21) - St. Maximos the Confessor
Let us be humble and keep ourselves down: -
Obedience! Humility! Detachment! - St. Philip Neri
The contemplation of sensible things is shared by the intellect and the
senses; but the knowledge of intelligible realities pertains to the intellect
alone. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
Let us abandon everything to the merciful
providence of God. -- St. Albert the Great
Who could count all those who have had
wealth, power, honor? But their glory, their riches were only lent to them, and
they wore themselves out in preserving and increasing that which they were
forced to abandon one day. - St. Ignatius of Loyola
The intellect will go on looking for
sensual pleasure until you subjugate the flesh and devote yourself to
contemplation. - St. Thalassios the Libyan
For desires for present things cannot be
repressed or plucked out unless salutary dispositions have been introduced to
replace the harmful ones that we want to cut off. - St. John Cassian
For we have learnt not to "have
thought for the flesh to fulfil its desires." We are to "walk
honourably as in the way", that is in Christ and in the enlightened
conduct of the Lord's way, "not in revelling and drunkenness, not in
debauchery and lasciviousness, not in strife and envy." - St. Clement of
Alexandria
To throw yourself before God, not to
measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments
for the work of the soul. - St. Poemen
Example makes it clear that man is
destroyed by his own free choice: for out of love for some worldly thing he
throws himself into fire, is drowned in the sea and gives himself into
captivity. Let us suppose that someone's house or field has caught fire. The
person who wanted to save himself fled without anything as soon as he noticed
the fire, leaving everything in it and concerned only with his own life. But
someone else thought he would take some of the goods with him, so he stayed
behind to collect them; and as he was taking them the fire, which had already
overwhelmed the house, caught him as well and burnt him. In this way, through
his attachment to some transient thing, he was destroyed in the fire by his own
free choice. Again, two men were shipwrecked. One of them, wanting to save
himself, stripped off his clothes and threw himself into the water; and in this
way he was able to save his life. The other, wanting to save his clothes as
well, was drowned, destroying himself for the sake of a slight gain. Or again,
let us suppose that news of an attack by an enemy was announced. One man, as
soon as he heard the news, fled as fast as his feet would carry him, without a
thought for his possessions. Another, either because he distrusted the news, or
because he wanted to take with him some of his goods, waited until later, and
when the enemy arrived he was caught. Thus, through his lack of alertness and
his attachment to worldly things, he lost body and soul by his own free
choice. - St. Symeon Metaphrastis
Earthly riches are like the reed. Its roots
are sunk in the swamp, and its exterior is fair to behold; but inside it is
hollow. If a man leans on such a reed, it will snap off and pierce his soul. --
St. Anthony of Padua
The love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird line, which entangles
the soul, and prevents it flying to God. - Saint Augustine
You see plainly that I do not mean to
advise you to perform great austerities, but rather generously to mortify your
passions and inclinations, detaching your heart and emptying it of all that is
earthly, and exercising charity towards your neighbor and liberality towards
the poor. - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
By "the poor in spirit" is meant
those who are poor in earthly desires, and desire nothing but God. These are
poor in desires, but not without affection, because they live contented even in
this life; and, therefore, the Lord does not say, "Theirs will be the
kingdom of heaven," but "theirs is," because even in this life
they are rich in spiritual blessings which they receive from God; and thus,
however poor they are in temporal goods, they live content with their condition.
They are different from the rich in earthly
desires, who, in the present life, whatever riches they possess, are always
poor, and live discontented; for the good things of this life do not satisfy
our thirst, however much they are increased; wherefore, these persons are never
contented, never attaining to the acquisition of what they desire. - St.
Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
No passion is worse than an uncontrolled
tongue, because it is the mother of all the passions. - St. Agathon
Fly from the world, and commence by
trampling under your feet all human respect. Do not blush to be a servant of
Christ. Regard this world with the same horror that the sight of a criminal
suspended from a gibbet would awaken in you. Know that the atmosphere of the
world is polluted with the foul odor of thousands of sins that are constantly
committed, and which can be washed away only by tears of blood. - St. Paul of
the Cross
This world and the world to come are two
enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we
will forsake and which we will enjoy. - Pope St. Clement I
One may understand by the nourishment of
the swine the false philosophy of the world, the vain eloquence of oratory.
Their cadence and harmony, in flattering the ear, possess the mind, and enchant
the heart; but after one has read works of this kind with great attention,
nothing is left but vacancy and confusion. Let us not delude ourselves by
saying we do not put any faith in the fable, with which these authors have
filled their writings. This reason does not justify us, since we scandalize
others who think we approve of what they see us read. - St. Jerome, to Pope
Damasus
They
who have been exercised in the service of God for a long time, may in their
prayers imagine all sorts of insults offered to them, such as blows, wounds,
and the like, and so in order to imitate Christ by their charity, may accustom
their hearts beforehand to forgive real injuries when they come. - St. Philip
Neri
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in our blog! Your comment will be viewed shortly to be added to our blog. :)