September 27, 2008 – 4:27 pm
Although to know [God] be life, and joy to make mention of his name yet our soundest knowledge is to know him as indeed he is, neither can know him: and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence
Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, I.2.2
August 10, 2008 – 5:56 pm
It is better to be silent and be real, than to talk and not be real. It is good to teach, if one does what one says. Now there is one such teacher, who “spoke and it happened;” indeed, even the things which he has done in silence are worthy of the Father. The one [...]
No barrel can hold two different drinks. If it is to contain wine, then the water must be poured out so that the barrel is quite empty. Therefore, if you wish to be filled with God and divine joy, then you must pour the creatures out of yourself. St Augustine says: ‘Pour out, [...]
Too late I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Too late I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions X, 27
God seeks us, not what belongs to us
Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Sermon 42:1
I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’
St Anthony of Egypt (c251-356)
He who loves God prefers knowledge of God to all things created by him, and ever strives for it with desire.
St Maximus the Confessor (c580–662), Four Centuries on Love, 1:4
Do not corrupt your flesh with shameful deeds; do not pollute your soul with evil thoughts: and the peace of God will descend upon you, bringing with it love.
St Maximus the Confessor (c580–662), Four Centuries on Love, 1:44
The Old Testament proclaimed the Father openly, and the Son more obscurely. The New manifested the Son, and suggested the Deity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit Himself dwells among us, and supplies us with a clearer demonstration of Himself….
For this reason it was, I think, that He gradually came to dwell in the Disciples, [...]
Therefore, although it is true that perfection consists in imitating Christ and reproducing him in our own lives, it is not enough merely to imitate the Christ we have in our imaginations.
We read the Gospels not merely to get a picture or an idea of Christ but to enter in an pass through the words [...]
