Thomas Aquinas Quotes About Charity
Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.
Thomas Aquinas
Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues.
Thomas Aquinas
It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin.
Thomas Aquinas
Charity brings to life again those who are spiritually dead.
Thomas Aquinas
Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace.
Thomas Aquinas
It is altogether unlawful to kill oneself... Wherefore suicide is contrary to the inclination of nature, and to charity whereby every man should love himself... Life is God's gift to man, and is subject to His power, Who kills and makes to live. Hence whoever takes his own life, sins against God... for it belongs to God alone to pronounce sentence of death and life.
Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, Even, as in the blessed in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in the damned there will be the most perfect hate.
Thomas Aquinas
O how unspeakable is this Sacrament which sets our affections ablaze with charity. ... It is the fulfillment of Christ's Mystical Body.
Thomas Aquinas
Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance.
Thomas Aquinas
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 brightness of the sun filling the atmosphere.
Thomas Aquinas
Prayer, Home, Journey
Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship.
Thomas Aquinas
Even as in the blessed in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in the damned there will be the most perfect hate. Wherefore as the saints will rejoice in all goods, so will the damned grieve for all goods. Consequently the sight of the happiness of the saints will give them very great pain.
Thomas Aquinas
Charity is love; not all love is charity.
Thomas Aquinas
Charity is not a potency of the soul, because if it were it would be natural. Nor is it a passion, because it is not in a sensitive potency in which are all passions. Nor is it a habit, because a habit is removed with difficulty; charity, however, is easily lost through one act of mortal sin. Therefore charity is not something created in the soul.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas Quotes About Choices
A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
Thomas Aquinas
Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain.
Thomas Aquinas
A person is disposed to an act of choice by an angel ... in two ways. Sometimes, a man's understanding is enlightened by an angel to know what is good, but it is not instructed as to the reason why ... But sometimes he is instructed by angelic illumination, both that this act is good and as to the reason why it is good.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas Quotes About Christ
If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because He Himself is the way.
Thomas Aquinas
The Blessed Eucharist is the perfect Sacrament of the Lord's Passion, since It contains Christ Himself and his Passion.
Thomas Aquinas
If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.
Thomas Aquinas
Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thomas Aquinas
The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead.
Thomas Aquinas
Christ was either liar, lunatic, or Lord!
Thomas Aquinas
O how unspeakable is this Sacrament which sets our affections ablaze with charity. ... It is the fulfillment of Christ's Mystical Body.
Thomas Aquinas
[It is appropriate that the Body and Blood of Christ be truly present in this Sacrament] because of the perfection of the New Covenant. The sacrifices of the Old Covenant contained the true sacrifice of Christ's Passion only in symbol....Therefore it was necessary that the sacrifice of the New Covenant, instituted by Christ, have something more, namely, that it contain Christ Himself who has suffered and contain Him not only in symbol but in reality.
Thomas Aquinas
Right faith is of necessity required for Baptism, since it is said: "the justice of God is by faith in Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism without faith avails nothing and thus we must recall that without faith no one is acceptable to God.
Thomas Aquinas
Faith will tell us Christ is present, When our human senses fail.
Thomas Aquinas
Whatever was in the human nature of Christ was moved at the bidding of the divine will; yet it does not follow that in Christ there was no movement of the will proper to human nature, for the good wills of other saints are moved by God's will... For although the will cannot be inwardly moved by any creature, yet it can be moved inwardly by God.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas Quotes About Church
Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.
Thomas Aquinas
Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.
Thomas Aquinas
One faith, St. Paul writes (Eph. 4:5). Hold most firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church ... We must hold this for certain, namely: that the faith of the people at the present day is one with the faith of the people in past centuries. Were this not true, then we would be in a different church than they were in and, literally, the Church would not be One.
Thomas Aquinas
There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved.
Thomas Aquinas
The Church has ever proved indestructible. Her persecutors have failed to destroy her; in fact, it was during times of persecution that the Church grew more and more; while the persecutors themselves, and those whom the Church would destroy, are the very ones who came to nothing. . . .Again, errors have assailed her; but in fact, the greater the number of errors that have arisen, the more has the truth been made manifest. . . . Nor has the Church failed before the assaults of demons: for she is like a tower of refuge to all who fight against the Devil.
Thomas Aquinas
If anyone without the right faith receives Baptism outside the Church, he does not receive it unto salvation ... From the comparison of the Church to Paradise, we learn that men can receive her Baptism even outside her fold, but that out there no one can receive or keep the salvation of the blessed.
Thomas Aquinas
The apostles and their successors are God's vicars in governing the Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another faith, nor institute other sacraments.
Thomas Aquinas
Just as in one man there is one soul and one body, yet many members; even so the Catholic Church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in the Holy Catholic Church.
Thomas Aquinas
Just as in a physical body the operation of one member contributes to the good of the whole body, so it is in a spiritual body such as the Church. And since all the faithful are one body, the good of one member is communicated to another; everyone members, as the Apostle says, of one another [Eph 4:25]. For that reason, among the points of faith handed down by the Apostles, is that there is a community of goods in the Church, and this is expressed in the words Communion of Saints.
Thomas Aquinas
He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the habit of faith.
Thomas Aquinas
Even as he would be guilty of falsehood who would, in the name of another person, proffer things that are not committed to him, so too does a man incur the guilt of falsehood who, on the part of the Church, gives worship to God contrary to the manner established by the Church or divine authority, and according to ecclesiastical custom.
Thomas Aquinas
The custom of the Church has very great authority and ought to be jealously observed in all things.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas Quotes About Confession
In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.
Thomas Aquinas
The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead.
Thomas Aquinas
Three conditions are necessary for Penance: contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment; confession of sins without any omission; and satisfaction by means of good works.
Thomas Aquinas
