Of Dry Trees
Posts Tagged ‘Quotes’
Don’t Consider Lesser Sins Unimportant
But don’t consider lesser sins unimportant: they may not weigh heavy, but tremble when you count them. Where then is our hope? In acknowledging our sins. Try hard not to sin, but if from weakness you fall, be sorry, realize what you have done, blame yourself: then you can with confidence come before the judge; he is also your advocate and the propitiation for your sins.
St. Augustine, Commentary on the 1st Epistle of St. John
You Grow Up
As we mature as Christians, we are more and more of our sinful natures, but at the same time we see more and more of Jesus. As we see our weakness more clearly, we begin to grasp our need for more grace. – Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life, 56
Consuming Liturgy
Every liturgy, we’ve said, is oriented toward a telos–an implicit vision of flourishing that is loaded into its rituals. Those formed by such liturgies then become the kind of people who pursue and desire that end. So if we are unreflectively immersed in the liturgies of consumerism, we will, over time, “learn” that the end goal of human life is acquisition and consumption. “What is the chief end of man?” the consumerist catechism asks “To acquire stuff with the illusion that I can enjoy it forever.” – James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love, 86
Where He Is Found
The great care of our souls is to find God, that he may direct, comfort, strengthen, sanctify, and teach us to sweetly enjoy his grace. If we are to find him, we will find him where he is to be found: in his Word, prayer, and in the assembly of his people. Enjoying fellowship with Christ is the goal of all our effort. – Thomas Manton, Psalm 119, 1:16-18
Sin’s Violent Demands
At times temptation presses in with violent demands. To combat the power and force of these we must prepare our hearts with strong antidotes beforehand. Fix your heart upon your true treasure, your fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Flee to God to hide you. Here the tempter cannot reach you. – From a Sermon by John Gibbon (1629-1718)
Plain Christian Words
In plain words–if you can accept them as plain–Christianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society. – Thomas Merton, Introduction to St. Augustine’s The City of God.