Many / One

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Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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My Way of Life, The Summa Simplified for Everyone
Walter Farrell and Martin J. Healy
The authors present St. Thomas Aquinas' 'Summa Theologica' in a form which everyone can understand.

1 "The natural inclination of every creature is an inclination to good."

2 "The goodness of God keeps the wheels of the universe whirring;…We set our feet on a road because there is goodness at the end of it; we keep our hands at a task because the goodness at the end of it makes all the labor well worthwhile; our minds probe into every corner of the universe because our hearts are hungry for the goodness to be discovered in the universe and its Maker."

3 "Good is an expanding force, capable of opening up the soul to the limitless vistas of the Divine Being."

4 "Man's intellect and will are tendencies toward universal truth and universal good."

5 "The world is a mirror flashing back different facets of divine beauty, and all that is, by that very existence, shouts aloud God's name: He Who Is."

6 "Our will, the faculty of our desire and our love, is in ceaseless pursuit of goodness."

7 "Love builds on justice or it is not love at all."

8 "Our happiness or misery is a matter of the objects of our loves."

9 "God is indeed not far from any one of us; rather, He is in us, as He is in every created thing, profoundly, intimately, more present to us than we are to ourselves."

10 "The whole world is ruled by the Providence of God….It is the Divine Mind which directs all the activities and movements of all creatures."

11 "We can open our eyes to the sharp hints of divine glory in the eager promise of spring, the austere cleanliness of winter, or the lush richness of late summer's fulfillment;…The minute details of nature's organization can stagger our minds with their multitude and complexity and so give us an insight into the horizons of divine wisdom."

12 "The world is built on truth and filled with goodness."

13 "There is a divine Providence, a divine government, that guides a person; there is a power greater than man that moves him precisely to his responsible mastery of his own life."

14 "It would be more accurate to say that God contains us rather than that we have God within us."

15 ""The characteristic note of all goodness is its desirability; its demand is for love, which is no more than the recognition of the heart-filling character of goodness."

16 "The divine will must be seen first in its primary and eternal activity – as a roaring flame warming all the halls of eternity with the fervor of its love. We must see, in other words, something of the sublime attractiveness of the divine will before we can begin to see rightly its mysterious working with our own will, and with the world."

17 "The world moves on, and everything in it, from sunrise to sunset, from new moon to full moon, from century to century, as if it had intelligence; as an arrow flies to its mark as though it had eyes. The arrow is in fact directed by eyes, but by the eyes and hands of the archer; the world too is directed by an intelligence, by the intelligence of God."

18 "Just as an apple tree works to produce fruit, so man works to produce good acts."

19 "Justice is the necessary foundation of peace and order in human society."

20 "The great truths that must flood the mind of humanity with light are the limitless perfection of God and the perfectibility of humanity."

21 "No one need ever be ignorant of God. Every single thing in the universe is plainly signed with the name of the divine Artist; and each thing has a distinct truth to tell about its Maker."

22 "Nature bends all its energy to a return to God, becoming more like Him as it sharpens the divine image by reaching to its natural perfection."

23 "In us, as in all creatures, perfection is reached by greater and greater complexity with more and more perfect order; the enriched powers and smooth precision of cooperation give a created image of the absolute simplicity that is divine richness. Created organization is the best possible reflection of divine unity."

24 "In a very real sense, there is a kind of knowledge of God buried deep in every human being, as deep as the demand for happiness."

25 "Eternity is a cloak wrapped about and enclosing yesterday, today and tomorrow in one moment that never ends."

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite