Patience is an indispensable virtue... THE virtue of Patience is so great a gift of God, that we even preach the patience of Him who bestows it upon us. - Saint Augustine of Hippo  ( 354 - 430 ) -

PATIENCE is the root and guardian of all the virtues. - Saint Gregory the Great (d. 604 ) -

ONLY one thing is necessary in your anguish: bear everything with resignation to the Divine Will; for this will help you to attain your eternal salvation. Hope with a lively faith and you will receive everything from Almighty God. - Saint Gerard Majella (1726 - 1755 ) -

HE / SHE who bears his/her sufferings with patience for God's sake, will soon arrive at high perfection. He/She will be master of the world, and will already have one foot in the other world. - Blessed Giles of Assisi (d. 1262 ) -

PATIENCE is a perfect sacrifice that we can offer to God, because in our trials we do nothing but accept from His hands the cross that He sends us. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori ( 1696 - 1787 ) - 

IT is suffering that makes us like to Him. - Saint Therese of Lisieux ( 1873 - 1897 ) - 

You will have no difficulty in loving the Cross if you think often of the words: "He loved me and delivered Himself up for me"  ( Galatians 2. 20 ) - Saint Therese of Lisieux ( 1873 - 1897 ) -

CALVARY is the spot on earth which is nearest to Heaven. - Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat ( 1779 - 1865 ) -

IF GOD causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a Saint. And if you wish to become a great Saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ Jesus used for His own sacrifice of boundless charity. - Saint Ignatius Loyola - (1491 - 1556 ) -

AS in Heaven nothing will be sweeter than to resemble Him in His glory, so here on earth, nothing is more to our advantage than to be like Him in His Passion. - Saint Robert Bellarmine ( 1542 - 1621 ) -

THOSE are patient who would rather bear evils without inflicting them, than inflict them without bearing them. - Saint Augustine of Hippo  ( 354 - 430 ) -

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. 

- Page 13 -  Where I found truth, there I found my God, the Truth itself. And since I learned this I have not forgotten it. Thus, since the time I learned of you, you have resided in my memory. There I find you when I call you to remembrance, and delight in you. These are my holy delights which you have given me in your mercy, being mindful of my poverty. 

But where do you abide in my memory. O Lord? Where do you abide there? What kind of dwelling place have you made for yourself there? What kind of sanctuary have you built there for yourself? You have given this honour to my memory, to abide in it; but in what of it you dwell - that I am pondering. For in thinking about you, I passed beyond such parts of it as the animals have, for I did find you there among corporeal things. And I came to those areas in which I stored the affections of my mind, and did not find you there. Then I entered into the inner-most seat of my mind - which the mind has in my memory, since the mind remembers itself - but you were not there. For as you are not a corporeal image, nor the affection of a living being (as when we rejoice, sympathize with, desire, fear, remember, forget or the like) so neither are you the mind itself. because you are the Lord God of the mind, and all these things change, but you remain unchangeable over them all - and yet you have vouchsafe to dwell in my memory ever since - ever since I  learned of you. So why do I now seek to know the part of my memory in which you dwell, as if there were places in the mind? Assuredly, you dwell in it since I have remembered you since I learned of you, and since I find you there when I call you to remembrance.

Where then did I find that I might learn of you? You were not in my memory before I learned of you. Where did I find you, that I might learn of you, nut in yourself, above myself. Place there is none; we go backward and forward, and there is no 'place' [location]. Everywhere, O Truth, you hear those who ask counsel of you, and answer all of them at once, though they ask your counsel on many different things. You answer them clearly, though they do not all hear clearly. All consult you on whatever they wish, though they do not always hear back what they wish, He is your best servant who looks not so much to hear what he desires from you, as to desire that which he hears from you.

Too late have I loved you, O Beauty, ancient yet ever new. Too late have I loved you! And behold, you were within, but I was outside, searching for you there - plunging, deformed amid those fair forms which you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you, which, unless they were in you did not exist at all. You called and shouted and burst my deafness. You gleamed and shone upon me, and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrant odours on me, and I held back my breath, but now I pant for you. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst for you. You touched me and now I yearn for your peace.

When I come to be united with you with my whole self, I shall have no more sorrow or labour, and my life shall be wholly alive, being wholly full of you! You lift up the one you fill, but I am still a burden to myself, because I am not full of you. Lamentable joys strive with joyous sorrows: and on which side the victory will be I do not know. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy on me. My evil sorrows strive with my good joys; and I do not know on which side the victory may be. Woe to me! Lord, have mercy on me! Woe is me! See! I do not hide my wounds; you are the Physician, I the sick. You are the merciful, I the miserable one. Is not the life of man upon earth all trail? Who wishes for troubles and difficulties? You command them to be endured, not to be loved. No man loves what he endures, though he may love to endure. For though he rejoices that he endures, he would rather there were nothing for him to endure. In adversity, I long for prosperity; in prosperity I fear adversity. What middle ground is there between these two - where the life of man is not all trail? Woe to the prosperities of the world, twice woe-woe from fear of adversity and woe from corruption of joy! Woe to the adversities of this world, twice woe, and triple woe: woe from longing for prosperity, woe because adversity itself is a hard thing, and woe for fear that it may make a shipwreck of our endurance! Is not the life of man upon earth all trail without intermission?

And all my hope is only in your exceeding great mercy. Give what you command, and command what you will. You command self-restraint and "When I knew," said one, "that no man can be continent unless God gave it, that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift it is." For self-restraint, verily, we are bound up and brought back together into wholeness, whereas we had been splintered in many ways. For he loves you too little who loves anything else with you which he does not love for you. O love, whoever burns and is never quenched! O Charity, my God! Enkindle me. You command continence; give me what you command and command what you will.

Truly you command that I should be continent from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You have commanded self-restraint from fornication and as for wedlock itself, you have counselled something better than what you have permitted. And since you gave it, it was done, even before I became a minister of your Sacrament. But there yet lives in my memory (of which I have spoken at length) the images of such things as my bad habits had fixed there, These rush into my thoughts when I am awake, but in my sleep they not only seem pleasurable, but even to obtain my consent in what very closely resembles reality. Yes, the illusion of the image so far prevails in my soul and in my flesh, that when I am asleep, false vision persuade me to what the true ones cannot when I am awake. Am I not myself at such times. O Lord my God? There is yet so much difference between myself and myself in that instant in which I pass from waking to sleeping, or return from sleeping to waking! Where is reason, then, which resists such suggestions when awake and remains unmoved when such suggestions are urged on it? Is it closed up when my eyes are closed? Is it a lulled asleep with the senses of the body? But whence is it that often, even in sleep, we resist and mindful of our purpose and continuing most chastely in it, give no assent to such enticements? And there is yet so much difference that, when it happens otherwise, upon waking we return to peace of conscience, and by this very difference in the two states, discover that it was not we who did it, while we feel sorry that in some way it was done in us.

Is not your hand able, O Almighty God, to heal all the diseases of my soul and by your more abundant grace able to quench even the lascivious motions of my sleep? You will increase your gifts in me more and more, lord, that my soul may follow me to you, disengaged from the bird-lime of lust; that it may not be in rebellion against itself, and may not commit in dreams through these sensual images those debasing corruptions, even to pollution of the flesh, nor give consent to them. For it is not too hard for the Almighty to work this - that nothing of this sort should have the very least influence over the pure affections of a sleeper, not even so slight a one as a thought might hold back - not just sometime during this life, but even at my present age, for you are able to do more than we ask or think. But what I still am in this kind of evil, I have confessed to my good Lord, rejoicing with trembling in that which you have given me, and bemoaning that in which I am still imperfect; trusting that you will perfect your mercy in me, even to fullness of peace, which my outward and inward man shall have with you, when death is swallowed up in victory.

There is another evil of the day, which I wish were sufficient unto it. For by eating and drinking we repair the daily decays of the body, until you destroy both food and belly, when you shall slay by emptiness with a wonderful fullness, and clothe this corruptible with an eternal incorruption.............   -  Page 13  -

BY  SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO  

 -   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.    

 

Nothing God commands is impossible. He expects us to go as far as we can and to pray for the rest, which He will give us.

God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes you to do what you can and to pray for what you cannot and aids you that you may be able. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

Jesus Christ is the only Mediator of justice and that by His merits He obtains for us graces and salvation; but Mary is the mediatrix of grace, because she prays and asks for it in the name of Jesus Christ. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori - ( 1696 - 1787 )

IT was through most holy Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that He has to reign in the world. - Saint Louis de Montfort - ( 1673 - 1716 )

LET the soul of Mary be in each of us to magnify the Lord and the spirit of Mary be in each of us to rejoice in God. - Saint Ambrose - ( 340 - 397 )

The Saints then, were human like ourselves. But they rose manfully to fight their temptations with a determination which we can well make our own.

A MAN / WOMAN who governs his/her passions is master of the world. We must either command them, or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil. - Saint Dominic ( 1170 - 1221 ) 

When thy passions, rebel, do thou rebel against them. When they fight, do thou fight them. When they attack thee, do thou attack them. Only beware lest they conquer thee. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. 

-  Page 12  - But is it the same as when one who has seen Carthage remembers it? No. For a happy life is not seen with the eye, because it is not a body. Is it the same as when we remember numbers? No. For the one who has these in his knowledge does not have to look further to reach them. But a happy life we have in our knowledge and therefore love it, and yet we still desire to attain it, so that we may be happy. Is it the same as when we remember eloquence, then? No. For upon hearing this name, some who are not yet eloquent and desire to be so, call it to mind. Through their bodily senses they have observed others to be eloquent, and were delighted by it and wanted to be like them, through actually they would not have been delighted without some inward knowledge of eloquence, nor want to be like them unless they were delighted by it. But in the case of the happy life, we do not experience it in others through any bodily sense.

Do we remember happiness then in the same way we remember joy? Possibly. For I remember my joy even when I am sad, as I remember a happy life even when I am unhappy. Nor did I ever see, hear, smell, taste, or touch my joy with my bodily senses, but I experienced it in my mind when I rejoiced and the knowledge of it stuck in my memory, so that I can recall it - at times with disgust, at other times with longing, according to the nature of the things which I remember having enjoyed. For I have been immersed in a sort of joy even from foul things which I now abhor and utterly detest when I recall them. At other times I rejoiced in good and honest things which I recall with longing, although they may no longer be present. In that case I recall former joy with sorrow.

When then, and when, did I experience my happy life that I should remember and love and long for it? Mine is not an isolated case, nor is it that of some few besides me, but all of us desire to be happy. Unless by some certain knowledge we knew what  happy life is, we could not desire it with such certainty. But how is this, that if two men asked whether they would go to the wars, one might answer that he would and the other that he would not? But if they were asked they wanted to be happy, they would instantly, without any hesitation, say they would; and for no other reason would the one choose to go to the wars and the other not, but to be happy. Is it possible that as one looks for his joy in one thing, another in another, all agree in their desire to be happy? In the same way, if they were asked, they would agree that they wished to have joy, and would they call this joy a happy life? Then, although one obtains joy by one means, another by another, both have the same goal they try to reach - joy. Since joy is a thing which all must say they have experienced, it is therefore found in the memory and recognized whenever the name of a happy life is mentioned.

Far be it, Lord, far be it from the heart of your servant who is confessing here to you, far be it from me to think that I am happy, be the joy what it may. For there is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love you for your own sake, whose joy is you yourself. And this is the happy life: to rejoice in you, of you, for you. This is true joy and there is no other. They who think there is another seek some other, and not the true joy. Yet their will is not turned except by some semblance of joy.

Is it, then, not certain that all wish to be happy, inasmuch as they who do not wish to joy in you (which is the only happy life) do not truly desire the happy life? Or do all men desire this, but the flesh strive against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that they cannot do what they wish to do? Do they then settle on that which they can do, and are content with that, because they do not desire strongly enough what they cannot do to make them able to do it? For if I ask anyone if he would rather rejoice un truth or in falsehood, he will hesitate as little to say "In the truth," as he would to say that he desires to be happy. But a happy life is joy in the truth, for this is rejoicing in you, who are the Truth, O God, my Light, the Health of mu countenance and my God. This happy life all desire; all desire this life which is the only happy life, for all desire to rejoice in the truth. I have met in many who would deceive others; none who want to be deceived. And when they love a happy life, which is nothing else than rejoicing in the truth, then they also love the truth - which they could not love if there were not some knowledge of it in their memory. Why then, do they not rejoice in it? Why are they not happy? Because they are more strongly occupied with other things which have more power to make them miserable than that which they so dimly remember has to make them happy. For there is yet a little light in men; let them walk, let them walk, lest the darkness overtake them.

But why does truth generate hatred, and why does your servant, preaching the truth, become their enemy, since a happy life is loved, which is nothing else but rejoicing in the truth? How is this so unless the truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else want what they love to be the truth? And because they do not want to be deceived, they do not want to be convinced that they are. Therefore they hate the truth, for the sake of the thing they love instead of the truth.

They love the truth when it enlightens, they hate it when it reproves. Since they would not be deceived, yet would deceive, they love it when it reveals itself to them, but hate it when it reveals them to themselves. Thus, the truth shall repay them, by exposing those who do not wish to be exposed by it, and yet not revealing itself to them. Thus, thus, yes, thus does the mind of ma - blind, sick, foul and ill-behaved - wish to be hidden, but does not want anything hidden from it. But the very opposite happens, The mind is not hidden from it. But the very opposite happens. The mind is not hidden from the truth, while the truth remains hidden from it. Happy then will it be, when without any other distraction, it shall rejoice in that sole Truth by which all things are true.

See what a space I have covered in my memory in seeking you, O Lord! And I have not found you outside it, nor have I found anything concerning you but what I retained in my memory ever since I learned of you. Since I learned of you I have not forgotten you. Where I found truth, there I found my God, the Truth itself. And since I learned this I have not forgotten it. Thus, since the time I learned of you, you have resided in my memory. There I find you when I call you to remembrance, and delight in you. These are my holy delights which you have given me in your mercy, being mindful of my poverty. -  Page 12  -

BY  SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO  

 -   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 - 

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

   

                            -       Moses and the People: Intercession vs. Murmuring       -

WE HAVE SEEN how our flesh in exile feels nostalgia for the homeland, a nostalgia that at times becomes blighted as our longing for "the onions and the garlic" of Egypt ( Numbers 11:5-6 ) makes us look back and lose hope. How do we become aware that we have changed our forward direction ( like "those who shrink back" in Hebrews 10:39 )? How do we distinguish good nostalgia from bad, the nostalgia by which we are "saved in hope" from that which seeks salvation by romantically transforming memory into mere memento? The signs of unhealthy nostalgia are resentful murmuring and the triumphalist striving that creates for itself false gods: "Make us gods that will go before us," the people tell Aaron. "As for this fellow Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him" ( Exodus 32:1 ). All triumphalism simply cloaks our desire to possess an idol we can adore. The God of memory gets transformed into the token of a god made to our measure.

Moses is the prototype of the person who prays in solitude before God, mediating and receiving the law of God for a people who has already sought another god. Sometimes when we pray, we feel that we are "arriving late," as is our message of salvation is being heard by people who have already been saved by another god - and they are in their own way, having traded in the gift for the negotiated deal.

What is interesting in this passage from Exodus is that God himself proposes a trade to Moses; he offers to exchange this stiff-necked crowd of Israelites for a better, more faithful people. God seems to be anticipating Moses' anger, for on other occasions Moses has told God how tired he was of the people's hard-heartedness and how he preferred to die than to be their leader. But when God proposes to give Moses a new people to lead, the prophet objects strongly and intercedes for Israel.

Here we see Moses' greatness of soul, for he renounces the dream of every leader; he refuses to have the people made to his own measure. Instead Moses reminds God of his promise and tells him that the promise is non-negotiable: salvation cannot yield to human triumphalism. Moses bids God remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He protests that God will himself be ridiculed by the Egyptians if he abandons his beloved people. It's almost as if God were faltering and being tempted to change his ways, from being the God of faithful memory to being a God kept as a quaint souvenir. Moses tells God that he wants him to remain the God of faithful memory (Exodus 32:11-13).

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, and your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever." (Exodus 32:11-13)     

Only by understanding that prayer of intercession is truly a dialogue of love will we comprehend this "reversal of roles" by which each interlocutor uses argument that belongs in the other's mouth. This reversal of roles can also help us understand that difficult passage in the story about the wedding in Cana: Mary is able to discern the deepest sentiments of Jesus and intercede with him, even though Jesus' word seem to contradict his actions (cf. John 2:1-11). The praying person who intercedes for others is the one who has intuitively sensed God's deepest sentiments and holds fast to them despite all contrary indications, even when God's speech seems to be at variance with events.

What is at work in the book of Exodus is a kind of divine pedagogy by which God makes his servant into an intercessors: by exchanging roles and exaggerating the contradiction, God dissolves the angry reproach of Moses and brings forth the best from his worthy heart. The prophet understands that he should not be ashamed of his own flesh and blood. He realizes that by interceding he is not simply performing an obligatory function; rather, he loves his sisters and brothers as himself. He has thrown his lot in with his people, and in doing, he is becoming day by day more like God himself: "If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).

Moses dialogue of intercession take place despite the deep pain he feels at the stubbornness of this people who refuses to change. Nevertheless, Moses chooses this people as his own, and instead of living apart, he seeks to share in their opprobrium (cf. Hebrews 11:24-25).

It is against this background of intercession that we should understand the punishment that Moses then imposes on the people: the breaking of the tablets of the law and the slaughter carried out by the Levites (Exodus 32:19-29). There follows a second intercession, in which the roles return to their customary pattern. Now it is Moses who offers to be wiped out of God's book instead of his people, and it is God who confirms him in his mission and approves the way he has led and punished the people (Exodus 32:31-34).

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin - but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written." But the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day comes for punishment, I will punish them for their sin." (Exodus 32:31-34)

                                                      For Prayer and Reflection

"On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her. 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:1-5).

BY  HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  FRANCIS / JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO

Open Mind,  Faithful Heart - Reflections on Following Jesus - Translated by Joseph V. Owens, 

 -     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 -

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

     

THIS is the business of our life. By labour and prayer, to advance in the grace of God, till we come to that height of perfection in which, with clean hearts, we may behold God. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

To love God is something greater than to know Him. - Saint Thomas Aquinas - ( 1225 - 1274 )

ALL of us can attain to Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life-work may be. - Saint Francis de Sales - ( 1567 - 1622 )

There is no other religion than this, and the rule of life is the same for all. - Blessed Theophane Venard - ( 1829 - 1861 )

IF we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin everyday of our life with new ardour. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honour. - Saint Charles Borromeo ( 1538 - 1584 )

CONSIDER everyday that you are then for the first time - as it were - beginning; and always act with the same fervour as on the first day you began. - Saint Anthony of Padua ( 1195 - 1231 )

To be perfect in our vocation is nothing else than to fulfil the duties which our state of life obliges us to perform, and to accomplish them well, and only for the honour and love of God. - Saint Francis de Sales ( 1567 - 1622 )

GOD asks little, but He gives much. - Saint John Chrysostom - ( 347 - 407 )

THE soul who is in love with God is a gentle, humble and patient soul. - Saint John of the Cross - ( 1542 - 1591 - 

WHAT do you possess if you possess not God? - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

THE love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird-lime, which entangles the soul, and prevents it flying to God. - Saint Augustine of Hippo - ( 354 - 430 )

THE EXAMINED LIFE  - The Confessions changes focus at this point and becomes more philosophical and theological. Here we begin to hear the self-examination of the Bishop of Hippo - Saint Augustine - and his interpretation of the nature of knowledge and of creation itself. -

-  Page 11 - When I name forgetfulness and recognize what I name, how could I recognize it if I did not remember it? I do not speak of the sound of the name, but the thing which it signifies. If I had forgotten, I could not recognize what that sound meant. When I remember memory, memory itself is, by means of itself, present with itself; but when I remember forgetfulness, there are present both memory and forgetfulness: memory by which I remember, and forgetfulness which I remember.

But what is forgetfulness, but the absence of memory? How then can that be present, so that I remember it, which, when it is present keeps me from remembering? But if we hold in memory what we remember, we could never recognize forgetfulness when we hear it named unless we remembered it. So then, forgetfulness is retained by memory. It is present then, so that we do not forget it. This being the case, are we to suppose that forgetfulness, when we remember it, is present to the memory only through its image rather than by itself? Because if it were present by itself, it would not cause us to remember, but to forget. Who can search this out? Who shall understand how it is?

Lord, I truly toil in this: yes, and in myself. I have become a difficult soil, requiring too much sweat of the brow. For I am not now searching out the regions of the heavens, or measuring the distances of the stars, or inquiring about the weight of the earth. It is I myself who remember, I, the mind. It is not so strange if what I am not should be far from me. But what is nearer to me than myself? And lo, I do not understand the power of my own memory, though I cannot even name myself without it. For what shall I say, when it is clear to me that I remember forgetfulness? Shall I say that what I remember is not in my memory? Or shall I say that forgetfulness is in my memory so that I will not forget? Both of these are most absurd. But what third view is there? How can I say that the image of forgetfulness is retained in my memory, and not forgetfulness itself, when I remember it? How could I say this either, seeing that when the image of anything itself is imprinted on the memory, the thing itself must first be present from which the image may be imprinted? For this is the way I remember Carthage, and in this way I remember all the places I have been; this is the way it is with men's faces whom I have seen, and things reported by the other senses. Thus it is which health or sickness of the body. For when these things were present, my memory received images from them, which remain present with me, so that I can look on them and bring them back to mind when I remember them in their absence. If then this forgetfulness is retained in the memory through its image, not through itself, then, plainly it was once present itself, so that its image might be taken. But when it was present, how did it write its image in my memory, since the forgetfulness by its presence erases even what it finds already recorded? And yet, in whatever way, although it is past conceiving or explaining, I am certain that I remember forgetfulness itself, too, by which is blotted out what we remember.

Great is the power of memory, a fearful thing, O my God, a deep and boundless multiplicity; and this is the mind and this I am myself. What am I then, O my God? What nature am I? A life various and manifold, exceedingly immense. Behold the innumerable plains and caves and caverns of my memory are innumerably full of unnumbered kinds of things - either through images, as in all physical bodies, or by actual presence, as the arts, or by certain notions or impressions, like the emotions of the mind which are retained by the memory even when we no longer feel them, because whatever is in the memory is in the mind. I run over all these, I fly, I drive on this side and on that, as far as I can, and there is no end. The power of memory is a great as the power of life in this moral life of man.

What shall I do then, O my God, my true life? I will go even beyond this power of mine which is called memory. Yes, I will go beyond it, so that I may approach you, O lovely Light. What do you say to me? See, I am mounting up through my mind toward you who dwell above me. Yes, I now will pass beyond this power of mine which is called memory, desiring to reach you where you may be reached, and to cleave to you where that is possible. For even beasts and birds have memory, otherwise they could not return to their dens and nests, nor do the many other things they do. Nor indeed could they be used in anyway except through their memory. I will pass then beyond memory, too, that I may reach him who has separated me from the four-footed beasts and made me wiser than the fowls of the air. So, I will go on beyond memory, but where shall I find you, O truly Good and certain Sweetness? If I find you without my memory, then I cannot retain you in my memory. And now shall I find you, if I do not remember you?

The woman who lost her drachma and searched for it with a light could never have found her drachma and searched for it with a light could never have found it unless she had remembered it. And when it was found, how would she know it was the same coin if she did not remember it? I remember having looked for and finding many things, and this I know by it, that when I was searching for any of them, and was asked, "Is this it?" "Is that it?" I said, "No," until the thing I was looking for was offered. But if I had not remembered it - whatever it was - though it had been offered to me, I could not have found it because I failed to recognize it. And so it always is when we look for and find any lost thing. Nevertheless, when anything is lost from sight by chance (not from the memory, as any visible body might be) still its image is retained within us, and we look for it until it is restored to sight; and when it is found, we recognize it by its image within. We do not say that we have found what was lost unless we recognize it, and we cannot recognize it unless we remember it. It was lost to the eye, but it was retained in the memory.

When the memory itself loses anything, as happens when we forget something and try to recall it, where do we look for it, but in the memory itself? And there, if one thing happens to be offered instead of another, we reject it until we find what we are looking for. And when we find it, we say, "This is it!" We could not say that unless we recognized it, nor recognize it unless we remembered it. Certainly then we had forgotten it. Or, had all of it not been forgotten, and did we look for the part that was missing by the part which we still remembered, as if the memory felt that it could not carry on properly until the missing part was restored to it?

For instance, if we see or think of someone known to us, and having forgotten his name, try to recall it, whatever else occurs does not connect itself with his name, because we are not accustomed to think of that in connection with him. So we go on rejecting these things until something presents itself on which the knowledge we seek rests. And from where does that come, but out of the memory itself? For even when we recognize it as it is brought to mind by someone else, it still comes from memory. For we do not believe it as something new, but upon recollection, agree that what was said was right. But if it had been utterly blotted out of mind, we would not remember it even when reminded of it. For we have not as yet utterly forgotten what we remember as having forgotten. What we have lost and utterly forgotten, we cannot even search for.

How do I seek you, then, O Lord? For when I seek you, my God, I seek a happy life. I will seek you, my God, I seek a happy life. I will seek you that my soul may live. For my body lives by my soul, and my soul lives by you. How then do I seek a happy life, seeing that I do not have it until I can rightly say, "It is enough!" How do I seek it? By remembering, as though I had forgotten it, remembering that I forgotten it? Or by desiring to learn it as something unknown, either never having known, or having so forgotten as not even to remember that it had been forgotten? Is not a happy life what all seek, and is there anyone who does not desire it? Where have they known it, so that they desire it? Where have they seen it, that they love it so much? Somehow we have it, but how I do not know.

There is indeed a way in which one has it and then is happy, and there are some who are happy in the hope of having it. These have it in a lesser way than those who have it in very fact; yet they are better off than those who are neither happy in fact nor in hope. Yet even these, if they did not have it in some way, they would not so greatly desire to be happy - and that they do desire it is most certain. How they have known it then, I do not know. By what sort of knowledge they have it, I do not know, and I am perplexed whether it is in the memory - for in that case, we would have been happy once.

I do not now inquire as to whether everyone was happy separately, or happy in that man who first sinned, in whom also we all died, and from whom we are all born with misery. I only ask whether the happy life is in the memory. For we could not love it if we did not know it. We hear the name, and we all confess that we desire the thing, for we are not delighted with the mere sound. When a Greek hears it in Latin, he is not delighted, not knowing what is being spoken. But we Latins are delighted, as he would be too, if he heard it in Greek; because the thing itself which Greeks and Latins and men of all other tongues long for so earnestly is neither Greek nor Latin. It is therefore known to all, for could that with one voice be asked, "Do you want to be happy?" they would answer, without doubt, "We do." And this could not be unless happiness itself, signified by the name, were retained in their memory.

But is it the same as when one who has seen Carthage remembers it? No. For a happy life is not seen with the eye, because it is not a body. Is it the same as when we remember numbers? No. For the one who has these in his knowledge does not have to look further to reach them. But a happy life we have in our knowledge and therefore love it, and yet we still desire to attain it, so that we may be happy. Is it the same as when we remember eloquence, then? ........... -  Page 11  -

BY  SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO  

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.