There is no sin or crime committed by another which I myself am not capable of committing through my weakness; and if I have not committed it, it is because God, in his mercy, has not allowed me to and has preserved me in good.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
When we are harassed by poverty, saddened by bereavement, ill, or in pain, let good friends visit us. Let them be persons who not only can rejoice with those who rejoice but can weep with those who weep. Let them be persons who know how to give useful advice and how to win us to express our own feelings in conversation.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
Whoever has the mission of proclaiming great things is also under obligation to practice them.
–Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)
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.
–Saint Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)
The omnipotence of God is shown, above all, in the act of his forgiveness and the use of his mercy, for the way He has of showing his supreme power is to pardon freely.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
He suffered at the hands of the Gentiles and the Jews, of men and of women –an example being the maids who accused Peter. He suffered at the hands of princes and their officials, and at the hands of the ordinary people too. He suffered at the hands of relatives and friends and acquaintances, on account of Judas who betrayed him and of Peter who denied him. In short, Christ suffered as much as it is possible for man to suffer. Christ suffered at the hands of his friends who abandoned him, He suffered as blasphemies were hurled at him; his honor and self-esteem suffered from all the taunts and jibes; He was even stripped of his clothes, the only possessions he had. In his soul he felt sadness, emptiness and fear; in his body, the wounds and the cruel lashes of the whip.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
