Quotes from St. Augustine

He no more wished to speak alone than He wished to exist alone, since He says: Behold, I am with you all days, unto the consummation of the world (Matt. 28:20). If He is with us, then He speaks in us, He speaks of us, and He speaks through us; and we too speak in Him.

Though absent from our eyes, Christ our Head is bound to us by love. Since the whole Christ is Head and body, let us so listen to the voice of the Head that we may also hear the body speak.

What has the Church done to thee, that thou shouldst wish to decapitate her? Thou wouldst take away her Head, and believe in the Head alone, despising the body. Vain is thy service, and false thy devotion to the Head. For to sever it from the body is an injury to both Head and body.

In order to understand the Scriptures, it is absolutely necessary to know the whole, complete Christ, that is, Head and members. For sometimes Christ speaks in the name of the Head alone ... sometimes in the name of His body, which is the holy Church spread over the entire earth. And we are in His body ... and we hear ourselves speaking in it, for the Apostle tells us: We are members of His body (Eph. 5:30). In many places does the Apostle tell us this.

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.

It is no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed.

Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart never resteth till it findeth rest in Thee.

Give, O Lord, what Thou commandest, and then command what Thou wilt.

The verdict of the world is conclusive.

For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared.

Venerate the martyrs, praise, love, proclaim, honor them. But worship the God of the martyrs.

He who sings prays twice.