Great Throughts Treasury

"Those who wish to hold the fortress of contemplation must first of all train in the camp of action."

"He is not wise to me who is wise in words only, but he who is wise in deeds."

"Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees."

"The possession of virtue… is always abundant for those who desire it, not like the possession of the earthly, in which those who divide it off into pieces for themselves must take their share from that of the other, and the gain of the one is the neighbor’s loss. From this, because of hatred of loss, arise fights concerning wealth. But the wealth of [virtue] is unenvied, and he who [gains] more brings no penalty to him who is worth of also participating equally in it."

"In religion, as in human learning, we need a gradual introduction, beginning by the more easily learned matters and the first elements. The Creator comes to our aid so that our eyes, accustomed to darkness, may be gradually opened to the full light of truth."

"It is not possible to form any other notion of the origin of vice than as the absence of virtue."

"The Divine beauty is not adoredned with any shape or endowment of form, or with any beauty of color, but is contemplated as excellence in unspeakable bliss."

"In the great body of the world the divine murmur finds as many; veins whereby it may come at us as there are creatures over which the very divinity rules."

"He who bears another, is borne by another."

"Compassion should be shown first to the faithful and afterwards to the enemies of the church."

"Be not anxious about what you have, but about what you are."

"Every day you provide your bodies with good food to keep them from failing. In the same way, your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren't to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to your body, which is going to die."

"The bliss of the elect in heaven would not be perfect unless they were able to look across the abyss and enjoy the agonies of their brethren in eternal fire."

"If you love the good that you see in another, you make it your own."

"It is by no means enough not to steal the property of others; you are in error if you keep to yourself the wealth which God has created for all. He who does not give to others what he possesses is a murderer, a killer; when he keeps for his own use what would provide for the poor, one can say that he is slaying all those who could have lived from his plenty; when we share with those who are suffering, we do not give what belongs to us, but what belongs to them. This is not an act of pity, but the payment of a debt."

"The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist."

"There are nine orders of angels, to wit, angels, archangels, virtues, powers, principalities, dominations, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim."

"There are some so restless that when they are free from labor they labor all the more, because the leisure they have for thought, the worse interior turmoil they have to bear."

"We make Idols of our concepts, but Wisdom is born of wonder."

"Anger is an expensive luxury in which only men of a certain income can indulge."

"As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come."

"Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts one we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead."

"He must, therefore, be the model for everyone. He must be devoted entirely to the example of good living. He must be dead to the passions of the flesh and live a spiritual life. He must have no regard for worldly prosperity and never cower in the face of adversity. He must desire the internal life only."

"If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the sins we have committed, we even add to them."

"Don't be anxious about what you have, but about what you are! -- Pope Saint Gregory the Great"

"Ignorance is a dangerous and spiritual poison, which all men ought warily to shun."

"For, indeed, nothing is more fugitive than the heart, which deserts us as often as it slips away through bad thoughts."

"I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile."

"He who would climb to a lofty height must go by steps, not leaps."

"Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God?s providence. In a marvelous way God?s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master?s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ?s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection."

"But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, were building the Tower; for by the confusion of their language the unity of their intention was broken up, and their undertaking destroyed; so much more worthy of praise is the present miraculous one. For being poured from One Spirit upon many men, it brings them again into harmony. And there is a diversity of Gifts, which stands in need of yet another Gift to discern which is the best where all are praiseworthy."

"If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. Nobody must rejoice in the security of their own good deeds. As long as we are still experiencing the uncertainties of this life, we do not know what end may follow... we must not trust in our own virtues."

"Moreover, because the slothful mind is typically brought to its downfall gradually, when we fail to control our speech, we move on to more harsh words. Thus, at first, we are happy to speak of others kindly; afterwards, we begin to pick at the lives of those of whom we speak, and finally our tongues break into open slander against them."

"My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God?s coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend?s eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them."

"Necessity demands that one should carefully examine who it is that comes to the position of spiritual authority; and coming solemnly to this point, how he should live; and living well, how he should teach; and teaching rightly, with what kind of self-examination he should learn of his own weakness."

"Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot."

"Raphael means, as I have said, God?s remedy, for when he touched Tobit?s eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly called God?s remedy. -- Pope Saint Gregory the Great from a homily"

"Our fatherland is paradise, heaven. We have departed from it by pride, disobedience, abuse of the senses, therefore it is needed that we return to it by obedience, contempt of the world, and by taming the desires of the flesh; thus we return to our own country by another road. By forbidden pleasures we have forfeited the joys of paradise; by penance we must regain them."

"Not Angles, but Angels."

"Some angels are given proper names to denote the service they are empowered to perform. In that holy city, where perfect knowledge flows from the vision of almighty God, those who have no names may easily be known. But personal names are assigned to some, not because they could not be known without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they came among us. Thus, Michael means ?Who is like God?; Gabriel is ?The Strength of God?; and Raphael is ?God?s Remedy.?"

"The Emperor of heaven, the Lord of men and of angels, has sent you His epistles for your life?s advantage?and yet you neglect to read them eagerly. Study them, I beg you, and meditate daily on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God that you may sigh more eagerly for things eternal, that your soul may be kindled with greater longings for heavenly joy."

"Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession as they torment us with their loss."

"The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them."

"The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind's eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection."

"The universe would not be rich enough to buy the vote of an honest man."

"The spiritual director should not reduce his attention to the internal life because of external occupations, nor should he relinquish his care for external matters because of his anxiety for the internal life."

"There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle the contests of temptation; and in the end the fullness of perfection."

"Those who do not speak the words of God with humility must be advised that when they apply medicine to the sick, they must first inspect the poison of their own infection, or else by attempting to heal others, they kill themselves."

"Then shall the mighty is erect in withstanding vice, when it bows to the command of reason."

"We pray You, Lord, to preserve Your servants in the peaceful enjoyment of this Easter happiness. We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with God The Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. -- Pope Saint Gregory the Great from an Easter Prayer by him"