This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Teach us to delight in simple things; And mirth that has no bitter springs; Forgiveness free of evil done, And love to all men 'neath the sun.
Mirth |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
There is a field beyond all notions of right and wrong. Come, meet me there.
Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL
Ye have enemies; for who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves: love them. In no way can thy enemy so hurt thee by his violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not. And let it not seem to you impossible to love him. Believe first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can thy neighbor's ill do to thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be thine enemy. Wish him well, then, that he may end his ill, and he will be thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with thee, but his sin.
Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL
Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission - to be of service to them wherever they require it.
There is nothing we can desire or want that we do not find in God.
Saint Bonaventure, born John of Fidanza Bonaventure
Since happiness is nothing other than the enjoyment of the highest good and since the highest good is above, no one can be happy unless he rises above himself, not by an ascent of the body, but of the heart.
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
As the soul becomes purged and purified by means of this fire of love, it becomes ever more enkindled in love. This enkindling of love is not always felt by the soul, but only at times when contemplation assails it less vehemently.
Experience | Freedom | God | Good | Imagination | Quiet | Reason | Soul | Spirit | Strength | Time | God |
Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL
If bodies please thee, praise God on occasion of them, and turn back thy love upon their Maker; lest in these things which please thee, thou displease. If souls please thee, be they loved in God: for they too are mutable, but in Him they are firmly established.
Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL
Let us, therefore, have charity and humility and give alms because it washes the stains of our sins from our clothes. For people lose everything they leave behind in this world; but they carry with them the rewards of charity and the alms which they gave, for which they will have a reward and a just retribution from the Lord.
Beginning | Cause | Day | Desire | Eternal | Father | Good | Hope | Love | Nothing | Praise | Time | Blessed |
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
Like a blind man he must lean on dark faith, accept it for his guide and light, and rest on nothing of what he understands, tastes, feels, or imagines. To reach the supernatural bounds a person must depart from his natural bounds and leave self far off in respect to his interior and exterior limits in order to mount from a low state to the highest.
God | Knowledge | Patience | Practice | Purity | Soul | Strength | Thought | God | Thought |
Saint Paul, aka The Apostle Paul, Paul the Apostle or Saul of Tarsus NULL
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
The Divine assails the human soul in order to renew it and thus to make it Divine… The soul feels itself to be perishing and melting away. The sensual part is purified in aridity, the faculties are purified in the emptiness of their perceptions and the spirit is purified in thick darkness. The soul itself should be destroyed since these passions and imperfections have become natural to it. One hour of purgation here is more profitable than are many there.
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
You should strive in your prayer for a pure conscience, a will that is wholly with God, and a mind truly set upon Him.
Attention | Awareness | Desire | Experience | Faith | Father | God | Love | Order | Possessions | Reflection | Regard | Soul | Understanding | Wants | Will | God | Awareness | Understand |
Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL
Know with certainty, therefore, that to stand is not within your power, nor does it pertain to your virtue, but it belongs to grace herself which carries you upon the palm of her hand, that you may not be alarmed.
Heart |
Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL
Stillness mortifies the outward senses and resurrects the inward movements, whereas agitation does the opposite, that is, it resurrects the outward senses and deadens the inward movements.
Saint Maximus the Confessor NULL
The world has many poor in spirit, but not in the right way; and many who mourn, but over money matters and loss of children; and many who are meek, but in the face of impure passions; and many who hunger and thirst, but to rob another's goods and to profit unjustly. And there are many who are merciful, but to the body and to its comforts; and clean of heart, but out of vanity; and peacemakers, but who subject the soul to the flesh; and many who suffer persecution, but because they are disorderly; many who are reproached, but for shameful sins.
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
The soul goes about the things of God with much greater freedom and satisfaction of the soul than before it entered the dark night of sense. It now very readily finds in its spirit the most serene and loving contemplation and spiritual sweetness without the labor of meditation. This sweetness overflows into their senses more than was usual… since the sense is now purer. But they also endure many frailties and sufferings and weaknesses of the stomach and are fatigued in spirit. After the second night of the spirit: no raptures and no torments of the body because their senses are now neither clouded nor transported.
Death | Desire | Eternal | Life | Life | Love | Memory | Mind | Occupation | Perfection | Pleasure | Refinement | Soul | Strength | Understanding | Will | Old |
Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL
A man who craves esteem cannot be rid of the causes of grief.
Experience | Knowledge | Little | Man | Receive |
The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.