Temptation or Sin? | SaintlySages. Drawing upon the wisdom and experience of Church Fathers, Padre Quadrupani illustrates the difference between involuntarily experiencing temptations and voluntarily committing sin. The holy abbot St. Antony was accustomed to say to the phantoms of his mind: “I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does not depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I would wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I repulse and reject you.”
St. Augustine taught: “It is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary, that if not voluntary, it is not sin.” Padre Quadrupani observes: “The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is not the case. “It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. Sayings of Catholic saints and sages: spiritual food for meditation and reflection. The Catholic Doors Ministry - Site Map. In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000.
Are you a trader. Mahalia Jackson - Amazing Grace. The Wørd: A Colbert Blog for Catholic It-Getters. Paxworks labyrinths, canvas labyrinths spiritual prayer gifts go. Christian Mysticism | Anamchara • The Website of Unknowing. Remember the Stories. Human beings are storytellers: each of us has a story to tell. The stories of the mystics — men and women who have profoundly loved God, both in the past and up to, and including, the present day — can be profound inspiration for each of us on our own unique God-search today. So let us take time to learn about, imitate, and honor the mystics and contemplatives and sages and saints who have journeyed before us, people like Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John Ruusbroec, Evelyn Underhill, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, and many many more.
When we remember their stories, we are nurtured in our own unfolding stories of intimacy with God. Photo credit: Stained glass window of Julian of Norwich, Norwich Cathedral. The greatest of mystical writings are timeless, capable of providing rich spiritual inspiration even centuries after they were written. The first five centuries of the Christian era: Twelfth century: The Question of God . Other Voices . Simone Weil. "At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased by any object in this world. " Those minds whose attention and love are turned towards that reality are the sole intermediary through which good can descend from there and come among men. Although it is beyond the reach of any human faculties, man has the power of turning his attention and love towards it. Nothing can ever justify the assumption that any man, whoever he may be, has been deprived of this power.
It is a power which is only real in this world in so far as it is exercised. The sole condition for exercising it is consent. This act of consent may be expressed, or it may not be, even tacitly; it may not be clearly conscious, although it has really taken place in the soul. Very often it is verbally expressed although it has not in fact taken place. Whoever recognizes that reality recognizes also that link. The reality of this world is necessity.