Augustine of Hippo quotes - page 6

Let us rejoice and give thanks. Not only are we become Christians, but we are become Christ. My brothers, do you understand the grace of God that is given us? Wonder, rejoice, for we are made Christ! If He is the Head, and we the members, then together He and we are the whole man.... This would be foolish pride on our part, were it not a gift of his bounty. But this is what He promised by the mouth of the Apostle: "You are the body of Christ, and severally His members” (1 Cor. 12:27). (Augustine of Hippo)
The Apostle says: "I make up in my flesh what is lacking to the sufferings of Christ” (Col. 1:24). "I make up,” he tells us, "not what is lacking to my sufferings, but what is lacking to the sufferings of Christ; not in Christ's flesh, but in mine. not in Christ's flesh, but in mine. Christ is still suffering, not in His own flesh which He took with Him into heaven, but in my flesh, which is still suffering on earth.”. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Therefore, on hearing His words let no one say either: "These are not Christ's words," or "These are not my words." On the contrary, if he knows that he is in the body of Christ, let him say: "These are both Christ's words and my words." Say nothing without Him, and He will say nothing without thee. We must not consider ourselves as strangers to Christ, or look upon ourselves as other than Himself. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
When the Head and members are despised, then the whole Christ is despised, for the whole Christ, Head and body, is that just man against whom deceitful lips speak iniquity (Ps. 30:19). View quote
Augustine of Hippo
"For I am holy." When I hear these words I recognize the voice of the Saviour. But shall I take away my own? Certainly when He speaks thus He speaks in inseparable union with His body. But can I say, "I am holy"? If I mean a holiness that I have not received, I should be proud and a liar; but if I mean a holiness that I have received - as it is written: "Be ye holy because I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2) - then let the body of Christ say these words. And let this one man, who cries from the ends of the earth, say with his Head and united with his Head: "I am holy." ... That is not foolish pride, but an expression of gratitude. If you were to say that you are holy of yourselves, that would be pride; but if, as one of Christ's faithful and as a member of Christ, you say that you are not holy, you are ungrateful. ... View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Unless you believe, you will not understand. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
For when God said, "Let there be light, and there was light,” if we are justified in understanding in this light the creation of the angels, then certainly they were created partakers of the eternal light which is the unchangeable Wisdom of God, by which all things were made, and whom we call the only-begotten Son of God. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
On the words of Ps. 21:3: "O My God, I shall cry day by day, and Thou wilt not hear." View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The Catholic faith, ... I now realized could be maintained without presumption. This was especially true after I had heard one or two parts of the Old Testament explained allegorically-whereas before this, when I had interpreted them literally, they had "killed” me spiritually. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
When I, who conduct this inquiry, love something, then three things are found: I, what I love, and the love itself. ... There are, therefore three things: the lover, the beloved and the love. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The Word takes to Himself one man, for He takes unity. He does not take schisms to Himself, nor does He take heresies. ... So it is one man who is taken, and his Head is Christ. ... This is that "blessed man who hath not walked in the council of the ungodly" (Ps. 1:1); this is he that is assumed. He is not outside of us. ... Let us be in Him, and we shall be assumed; let us be in Him, and we shall be chosen. ... Therefore this one man that is taken to become the temple of God, is at once many and one. (Augustine of Hippo)
Give what you command, and command what you will. You impose continency on us. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Choose to love whomsoever thou wilt: all else will follow. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
A man might say, "The things that are in the world are what God has made.... Why should I not love what God has made?"...Suppose, my brethren, a man should make for his betrothed a ring, and she should prefer the ring given her to the betrothed who made it for her, would not her heart be convicted of infidelity?... God has given you all these things: therefore, love him who made them. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
And these were the dishes wherein to me, hunger-starven for thee, they served up the sun and the moon. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
I have become a question to myself. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The true servants of God are not solicitous that He should order them to do what they desire to do, but that they may desire to do what He orders them to do. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Thus, in this universal catastrophe, the sufferings of Christians have tended to their moral improvement, because they viewed them with eyes of faith. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The superfluities of the rich are the necessaries of the poor. They who possess superfluities, possess the goods of others. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
So the Church too, like Mary, enjoys perpetual virginity and uncorrupted fecundity. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
Christ Himself has said: "They are no longer two, but they are one flesh” (Matt. 19:6). Is it strange then, if they are one flesh, that they should have one tongue and should say the same words, since they are one flesh, Head and body? Let us therefore hear them as one. But let us listen to the Head speaking as Head, and to the body speaking as the body. We do not separate the two realities, but two different dignities; for the Head saves, and the body is saved. (Augustine of Hippo)
One does not read in the Gospel that the Lord said: "I will send you the Paraclete who will teach you about the course of the sun and moon." For He willed to make them Christians, not mathematicians. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
For the spiritual power of a sacrament is like light in this way: it is both received pure by those to be enlightened, and if it passes through the impure it is not defiled. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The female defects – greed, hate, and delusion and other defilements – are greater than the male's...You [women] should have such an intention...Because I wish to be freed from the impurities of the woman's body, I will acquire the beautiful and fresh body of a man. View quote
Augustine of Hippo
The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page. View quote
Augustine of Hippo