Saints' Discussion Forums

'Through the sin of our first parents, all the powers of the soul are left destitute of their proper order, whereby they are naturally directed to virtue. This destitution is called a wounding of nature.

First, in so far as the reason, where prudence resides, is deprived of its order to the true, there is the wound of ignorance.

Second, in so far as the will is deprived of its order to the good, there is the wound of malice.

Third, in so far as the sensitive appetite is deprived of its order to the arduous, there is the wound of weakness.

Fourth, in so far as it is deprived of its order to the delectable moderated by reason, there is the wound of concupiscence.

These four wounds, ignorance, malice, weakness and concupiscence are afflicted on the whole of human nature only as a result of our first parents’ sin. But since the inclination to the good of virtue is diminished in each individual on account of actual sin, these four wounds are also the result of other sins, in so far as, through sin, the reason is obscured, especially in practical matters, the will hardened to evil, good actions become more difficult, and concupiscence more impetuous.'

'Without sanctifying grace it is not possible to refrain long from mortal sin.'

'Shun useless conversation. We lose by it both time and the spirit of devotion.'

'God never so abandons His Church that worthy servants of the altar in sufficient numbers are not to be found, if only the worthy are ordained and the unworthy debarred from ordination.'

'Some say that fraternal correction does not extend to the prelates either because man should not raise his voice against heaven, or because the prelates are easily scandalized if corrected by their subjects. However, this does not happen, since when they sin, the prelates do not represent heaven, and, therefore, must be corrected. And those who correct them charitably do not raise their voices against them, but in their favour, since the admonishment is for their own sake.'

'Everyone -- past, present, and future -- will be judged. Now, then, is the time for mercy, while the time to come will be the time for justice only. For that reason, the present time is ours, but the future time will be God’s only!'

'The prayerless soul makes no progress whatever.'

'. . . because without charity nothing can be acceptable to God, nor does anything profit unto eternal life in the absence of charity. Now it happens that certain persons persevere in works of mercy without having charity. Wherefore nothing profits them to the meriting of eternal life, or to exemption from eternal punishment, as may be gathered from 1 Corinthians 13:3. Most evident is this in the case of those who lay hands on other people’s property, for after seizing on many things, they nevertheless spend something in works of mercy.'

'The greater the charity of the saints, in their heavenly home, the more they intercede for those who are still on their journey and the more they can help them by their prayers; the more they are united with God, the more effective those prayers are. This is in accordance with divine order, which makes higher things react upon lower things, like the brightnees of the sun filling the atmosphere.'

'Where there is cleanness there is understanding.'

'In raising human nature to heaven by His ascension, Christ has given us the hope of arriving thither ourselves.'

'Preserve purity of conscience with care, and never do anything to sully it or render it less agreeable to God.'

'In recalling to mind the life and actions of the saints, walk in their footsteps as much as possible, and humble thyself if thou canst not attain to their perfection.'

On humility

Whatever we are able to do He gave us the power to do when He created us.

Seek praises from God alone.

Humility orders us in relations to God; Justice regulates us in regards to our neighbors; and Purity with regard to ourselves.

The Devil takes away the seed of good works, at the same time that he makes men to glory in them.

Man has to believe others in matters that he cannot know perfectly by himself. Now no one is to be believed as much as God is. Thus, those who will not believe the statements of faith are not wise, but foolish and proud.

If you seek an example of humility, look on the Crucified. Although He was God, He chose to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to suffer death....The Master chose to die for His servant; the Life of the Angels suffered death for man.

Humility is the road to exaltation.

True humility consists not in presuming on our own strength, but in trusting to obtain all things from the power of God.

Of all the signs of a man's knowledge and wisdom, none is proof of greater wisdom than that he does not cling to his own opinion.....For those who cling to their own judgment so as to mistrust others and trust in themselves alone invariably prove themselves fools and are judged as much.

Our Lord will hold to what he promised to the humble, when He will exalt them in the same measure that they had been abased and disclaimed, and to what He promised to the proud, when he will humble them as much as they glorified themselves.


More humility quotes and other quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas coming soon ....... ;D  (I got a free book on his quotes when I ordered a bunch of children's books  ;) )

St. Thomas and the saints could see things as they are. Must be because they practiced what they preached. Sin obscures everything. Avoiding sin helps one reason and think more clearly.

On humility

In dispensing His favors God does not consider men's power, strength, riches, or physical beauty....It is above all people of humble condition who progress in the Church of God and abound in spiritual graces.

God alone in His own goodness and He alone is essentially good. All other creatures are said to be good according as they participate, to some extent, in Him.

See now the aid which God gives a man by His correction, how necessary it is, that you may know that however much you may be corrected by men, if the grace of God is not present and calling within you, that correction is worthless.

It would be of no advantage to ascend in status if a man did not also grow in merit.

In this world a man sometimes obtains earthly goods by contentiousness and deceit, but heavenly riches are obtained by meekness.....Blessed are the meek; for they shall possess the land.

Natural reason tells us that because of the inadequacies we perceive in ourselves we need to subject ourselves to some superior source for help and direction; and whatever that source might be, everybody calls it God.

Nature can't exist without God's activity: it would fall away to nothing unless God's power maintained it in existence, as Augustine makes clear. So nature can't act without God's activity.

More quotes on Humility in the days to follow.... ;D

I am looking forwards to them Patricia! :D

Isn't God's love of humility wonderful?

Heavenly riches obtained by meekness!

Fr. Joseph Illo's Blog
Homily: St. Thomas Day
Posted: 29 Jan 2014 03:32 PM PST

President McLean and Dean Kelly, College faculty, staff, students, and guests: a joyous and blessed St. Thomas Day to all of you. Our patron was born near Aquino, between Naples and Rome, around 1225. It is now the little town of Rocca Secca, or “dry castle” because Thomas’ ancestral home is now only a desiccated but picturesque ruin perched on the cliffs above town. Once I explored that castle, and gazing out a window of perhaps Thomas’ bedroom, beheld a view of beauty: an azure Mediterranean sea framed by blossoming fruit trees in surrounding orchards and fishing villages.

Thomas was born in Southern Italy, but of Germanic Hohenstaufen blood, and rather than become an abbot of the Benedictine monastery at which he began his education at age five, joined the newly-formed “Spanish” order of Friars Preachers. He began his studies at the University at the time, the University of Paris, the same year Albert the Great began teaching there. Although he taught in Paris for six years, at age 36 he left the Great University and spent the rest of his life wandering as a Friar Preacher, teaching at various Colleges, never more than two or three years in one place. In early 1274, the Pope called him from Naples to the General Council of Lyons in Southern France, but on the way north he became ill and died in the abbey of Fossanova.

A few months before he died, St. Thomas had already given up writing, having produced the most comprehensive integration of faith and reason the world has ever known. He had had a vision after Matins one morning, and later told Reginald, his secretary and traveling companion of many years, “compared to what I have seen, everything I have written seems like so much straw.” And this is why holy mother Church holds up St. Thomas for veneration and imitation: not because he was brilliant, perhaps the most brilliant of all western minds, but because he held his brilliance and all human brilliance in perspective. Certainly St. Thomas labored greatly in his studies and in his teaching, but one gets the sense not only of organic synthesis in his work, but also of humility and balance. My own introduction to St. Thomas came through my father, who told me that among all intellectuals, only Thomas had the humility to see the question first through the eyes of his opponents before presenting his own position. Here was a man who loved his interlocutors, and loving them, understood them.

Wisdom—the integration of faith and reason, of mind and heart—is a far greater good than knowledge, and it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It can only be received by a humble heart and mind, by a person who prays and who pleads for it. So Scripture holds up King Solomon as wise, because he pleaded for wisdom: “Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom….” St. Thomas excels precisely because he valued his endowments as endowments—gifts received from God—and did not overvalue them. He was smart, and he worked hard, but what is human knowledge compared to God? Only so much straw. Thomas knew he was a “master,” the most excellent teacher the Church has ever seen, and yet he called no man his “Master” but Christ.

Thomas never finished the Summa Theologica, as if to say that whatever we might say of God and his creation is never finished. Our education is lifelong, and will not be finished even on the day of our death. To put human knowledge in such perspective is true wisdom. This is the consolation of philosophy—that always a greater truth and beauty awaits us. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love him.

Thomas was canonized because he loved God, and so loved his brethren, and loved all that God created. On behalf of the students, I wish to express our deep gratitude for our beloved tutors, who educate us for love above all. This is what particularly distinguishes Thomas Aquinas College—that, after the example of her Patron, she orients all knowledge toward its proper goal, that of loving God and neighbor. Let us love God as St. Thomas loved him, for love always seeks to know the beloved. Let us love Christ as his Mother loved him, entrusting our minds and hearts to him, our only Master, our only teacher, that we may know, love and serve him in this life, and be eternally happy with him in the next.

These are both splendid James! Thank you my friend!  :D

Your most welcome ! :)

If you noticed, Both the prayer and the quote are being said before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration.  :crucifix:

Stay tuned, more to come !!! :thumbsup:

[This is a Eucharistic Hymn]

Adoro Te Devote
(Lost, All Lost In Wonder)

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.

On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran—
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory’s sight. Amen.

~St. Thomas Aquinas

Lost in wonder at the hymn too!

If you want a smile or even a chuckle, try and picture, or better still, mime someone "lost in wonder"! :)

~ Meaning of the Eucharist ~

Since it was the will of God's only-begotten Son that human beings should share in His Divinity, He assumed our nature in order that by becoming Human He might make humans gods. Moreover, when He took our flesh He dedicated the whole of it's substance to our salvation.

He offered His Body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed His blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin.

But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, He left His Body as food and His Blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness ! Could anything be of more intrinsic value ? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ Himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful that this?

No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may benefit all.

Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this Sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in His Passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this Sacrament at the last supper. As He was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with His disciples, He left it as a perpetual Memorial of His Passion.

It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatness of all His miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of His departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.

~ St. Thomas Aquinas

Which is why we have to pursue the God's joyous love! :D


'We are not created for this earth. The end for which God has placed us in the world, is this, that by our good works we may merit eternal life. "The end is life everlasting." (Rom. vi. 22)'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Absolutely Shin !  :)



"We should be ready to undergo any kind of disrespect for the name of Jesus Christ: "Fear not the reproach of men, and be not dismayed at their reviling's" (Is 51:7)."

 -St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John 19.2.2381

Let's all pray for people not to take the Lord's name in vain.  :crucifix:

Written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who is referred to as the Angelic Doctor. He used to recite this prayer daily before an image of Christ.

CONCEDE mihi, misericors Deus, quae tibi sunt placita, ardenter concupiscere, prudenter investigare, veraciter agnoscere, et perfecte adimplere ad laudem et gloriam Nominis tui.   

GRANT me, O merciful God, to desire eagerly, to investigate prudently, to acknowledge sincerely, and to fulfill perfectly those things that are pleasing to Thee, for the praise and glory of Thy holy Name.

Ordina, Deus meus, statum meum et quod a me requiris, ut faciam, tribue ut sciam; et da exsequi sicut oportet et expedit animae meae.

O my God, order my life, and grant that I may know what Thou wilt have me to do; and grant that I may fulfill it as is fitting and profitable to my soul.

Da mihi, Domine Deus meus, inter prospera et adversa non deficere, ut in illis non extollar, et in istis non deprimar. De nullo gaudeam vel doleam, nisi quod ducat ad te, vel abducat a te. Nulli placere appetam, vel displicere timeam nisi tibi.   

Grant me, O Lord my God, the grace that I may not falter either in prosperity or adversity. May I not be unduly lifted up by the one, nor unduly cast down by the other. Let me neither rejoice nor grieve at anything, save what either leads to Thee or leads away from Thee. Let me not desire to please anyone nor fear to displease anyone save only Thee.

Vilescant mihi, Domine, omnia transitoria, et cara mihi sint omnia aeterna. Taedeat me gaudii quod est sine te, nec aliud cupiam quod extra te. Delectet me, Domine, labor, qui est pro te; et taediosa sit mihi omnis quies, quae est sine te.   

Let all things transitory seem vile in my eyes, and all things eternal be dear to me. Let me tire of that joy which is without Thee and to desire nothing that is outside Thee. Let me find joy in the labor that is for Thee; and let all repose that is without Thee be tiresome to me.

Da mihi, Deus meus, cor meum ad te dirigere, et in defectione mea cum emendationis proposito constanter dolere.   

Grant me, my God, the grace to direct my heart towards Thee, and with a firm purpose of amendment, to grieve continually my failures, together with a firm purpose of amendment.

Fac me, Domine Deus meus, oboedientem sine contradictione, pauperem sine deiectione, castum sine corruptione, patientem sine murmuratione, humilem sine fictione, hilarem sine dissolutione, maturum sine gravedine, agilem sine levitate, timentem te sine desperatione, veracem sine duplicitate, operantem bona sine praesumptione, proximum corripere sine elatione, ipsum aedificare verbo et exemplo sine simulatione.   

O Lord my God, make me obedient without complaining, poor without despondency, chaste without stain, patient without grumbling, humble without pretense, cheerful without dissipation, mature without undue heaviness, quick-minded without levity, fearful of Thee without abjectness, truthful without duplicity, devoted to good works without presumption, ready to correct my neighbor without arrogance, and to edify him by word and example without hypocrisy.

Da mihi, Domine Deus, cor pervigil, quod nulla abducat a te curiosa cogitatio: da nobile, quod nulla deorsum trahat indigna affectio; da rectum, quod nulla seorsum obliquet sinistra intentio: da firmum, quod nulla frangat tribulatio: da liberum, quod nulla sibi vindicet violenta affectio.   

Grant me, Lord God, a watchful heart which shall be distracted from Thee by no vain thoughts; give me a generous heart which shall not be drawn downward by any unworthy affection; give me an upright heart which shall not be led astray by any perverse intention; give me a stout heart which shall not be crushed by any hardship; give me a free heart which shall not be enslaved by passion.

Largire mihi, Domine Deus meus, intellectum te cognoscentem, diligentiam te quaerentem, sapientiam te invenientem, conversationem tibi placentem, perseverantiam fidenter te expectantem, et fiduciam te finaliter amplectentem. Da tuis poenis hic affligi per paenitentiam, tuis beneficiis in via uti per gratiam, tuis gaudiis in patria perfrui per gloriam: Qui vivis et regnas Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.   

Bestow upon me, O Lord my God, an understanding that knows Thee, diligence in seeking Thee, wisdom in finding Thee, conversation pleasing to Thee, perseverance in faithfully waiting for Thee, and confidence in embracing Thee in the end. Grant that I may be chastised here by penance, that I may make good use of Thy gifts in this life by Thy grace, and that I may partake of Thy joys in the glory of heaven: Who livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen.

[mod edit: formatting for readibility]

Good things to ask for!!!
What a wonderful prayer.
My prayer time is getting longer and longer,
I keep finding so many wonderful devotionals,
Novenas, chaplets. Where does one stop?  :D

I wish I could have separated the Latin from the English but I was in a bit of a hurry - lol  ;D It's good to hear your prayer time is in abundance.
That's one one aspect that's so wonderful about the Saints and Holy Mother Church, an almost never ending abundance of prayers !  :+: :thumbsup:

First Week in Lent Sunday

It was fitting that Christ should be tempted

Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted
by the devil. Matt. iv. i.


Christ willed to be tempted:

1. That He might assist us against our own temptations. St. Gregory says, " That our Redeemer, who had come on earth to be killed, should will to be tempted was not unworthy of Him. It was indeed but just that he should overcome our temptations by His own, in the same way that He had come to overcome our death by His death."

2. To warn us that no man, however holy he be, should think himself safe and free from temptation. Whence again His choosing to be tempted after His baptism, about which St. Hilary says, "The devil's wiles are especially directed to trap us at times when we have recently been made holy, because the devil desires no victory so much as a victory over the world of grace." Whence too, the scripture warns us, Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation (Ecclus. ii. i).

3. To give us an example how we should over come the temptations of the devil, St. Augustine says, "Christ gave Himself to the devil to be tempted, that in the matter of our overcoming those same temptations He might be of service not only by His help but by His example too."

4. To fill and saturate our minds with confidence in His mercy. For we have not a high-priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things, like as we are, without sin (Heb. iv. 15).

O Saving Victim
O Salutaris Hostia
by St. Thomas Aquinas

O Saving Victim, op'ning wide
The gate of heaven here below;
Our foes press on from ev’ry side;
Your aid supply, your strength bestow.

To your great Name be endless praise,
Immortal Godhead, One in Three;
O grant us endless length of days
In our true native land to be.

O Salutaris Hostia

Quae caeli pandis ostium;
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.

Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria.


(I know this has been posted before, but I just love singing this at the end of Adoration !)

 :crucifix:

Yes it is splendid, how can one do without it and Tantum Ergo?