Coins

What is man? A messenger who begs for a Word from God,
and groans under the weight of the One he's received.

One cannot look upon goodness or the sun;
the conscience burns from shame and turns away,
or is blinded by pride, if it stares too long.

The Sun would be God, if not for the Night.

Sinners are busy with many things,
but the work of the saints is rest.

Even the peace of a wicked man is labor;
even the labor of a righteous man is peace.

Loving God begins with loving what is good.
Consider the simple, wholesome life of the saints.
Dwell on holy influences, and become as they are.

We could not love God if he had not shown himself to us,
and he could not show himself to us but by loving us.

God is a great mystery because of the world,
and the world is a great mystery because of God.

That you have permitted me to share in the wonder of contemplating you, O Lord, -- this is the grace which I am given. To read your word, and rend my heart. Not to covet an abundance of gifts for myself, but to reflect, and reflect upon, the gifts which already abound in your elect. Not to speak, but to become a worthy audience for those whom you, in your wisdom, have caused to speak. That the prayers of the devout might serve as answers to my own.

Lord, I am desolate amid your treasures! How deep is my ingratitude? You have opened your vaults and still I beg of you. You have given so much! The utterances of just and noble souls fill the world with your bounty. A bookcase, a single book, or even the Word, "Jesus!", is enough to purchase more wisdom than the world can spend; if one but knew how to redeem that coin. For the name of Christ is the gold which meets my hand, like magic, each time I reach for it; so that I become richest when I think myself poor. Lord, teach me to make use of this treasure!

Libraries are monuments of charity, where anyone may go and find gold enough to fill his pockets; that the soul, at least, if not the body of man, may never need to beg.

Nothing we do for God is entirely evil. Including evil.

That love exists -- that even the notion of love exists, is proof that God exists, and that he loves us.

Love is more precious than all the souls and objects it dotes on or upholds. Nothing is more to be loved than love.

Karma is the Law of Moses and Grace is the Law of Christ. Karma is comforting to the just and fearful to the wicked. It is the mercy of justice. Grace is comforting to the wicked and fearful to the just. It is the justice of mercy. Grace really means this: That goodness is always God's. No act of virtue can make that more secure, nor can any act of vice take it away. God has triumphed, once and for all, because goodness is superior to evil by definition. Any supposed advance on the part of evil is only a lie. No matter how persistently it exists, it can never surpass good. The Law of Karma depends upon some reckoning, to make straight what is crooked. But the Law of Grace depends upon nothing, and declares that evil can never win, even when it goes unpunished. Appearances aside, evil is its own punishment, -- its own hell; and good is its own reward, -- its own heaven.

It is innocent to be suspicious among the angels,
and suspicious to be innocent among the ghouls.

The virtuous contemplate virtue, not themselves. They are partakers of the eternal, and magnifiers of the present, because they give themselves over to what is greater than themselves.

At first, I believed, or tried to believe, because it was romantic. A good story. More than anything else, the story of Christ enthralled me. Later, I believed because it was my own.