Gems from GK, and…

As they say in Chinese, 「說到曹操，曹操就到。」(Shuo dào Cáo Cao, Cáo Cao jiù dào.) "As soon as you say "Cao Cao," Cao Cao arrives." This is a phrase used in Chinese as we use "Speak of the devil" in English. It is common to say only, 「說曹操，曹操到。」

In any case, this week I posted some quotes by GK Chesterton and then, while poking around the Jacques Maritain Center's website, I found a true darling: Chesterton Day by Day. So, as I did a couple years ago with quotes from St. Augustine and various Fathers and Saints (via a couple U. of Villanova websites), so I will do with Chesterton. As the book was published in 1912, this is early Chesterton, so I will be curious to see what topics do and don't come up as much.

I will also post daily quotes from St. Francis de Sales, my patron saint.

I am aware that another blog, PhatCatholic Apologetics, posts daily quotes from St. Francis, and may begin posting daily quotes from one or two of the sources I will cite (i.e., St. Augustine, the Fathers, and GKC), and I have no intention of stealing his thunder; I simply believe the Internet and bear duplicate postings of such goodness.

Since it's already the 13th, I will play catch up with a few select January quotes from GKC.

JANUARY 2nd

"THERE is no such thing as fighting on the winning side: one fights to find out which is the winning side."

'What's Wrong with the World.'

JANUARY 3rd

"COURAGE is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. … No philosopher, I fancy, has ever expressed this romantic riddle with adequate lucidity, and I certainly have not done so. But Christianity has done more: it has marked the limits of it in the awful graves of the suicide and the hero, showing the distance between him who dies for the sake of living and him who dies for the sake of dying. And it has held up ever since above the European lances the banner of the mystery of chivalry the Christian courage which is a disdain of death; not the Chinese courage which is a disdain of life."

'Orthodoxy.'

JANUARY 8th

"THE dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink."

'George Bernard Shaw.'

JANUARY 9th

"THE thing from which England suffers just now more than from any other evil is not the assertion of falsehoods, but the endless and irrepressible repetition of half-truths."

'G. F Watts.'

JANUARY 11th

"VARIABILITY is one of the virtues of a woman. It obviates the crude requirements of polygamy. If you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem."

'Daily News.'

JANUARY 13th

"THE Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

'What's Wrong with the World.'

+ + +

Hilary of Poitiers: May I always hold fast to my baptism

… I beg you…, Father, to preserve in me that pure and reverent faith and to grant that to my last breath I may testify to my conviction. May I always hold fast to what I publicly professed in the creed when I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May I worship you, the Father of us all, and your Son together with you and may I be counted worthy to receive your Holy Spirit who through your only Son proceeds from you. For me there is sufficient evidence for this faith in the words: Father, all that I have is yours, and all that is yours is mine, spoken by Jesus Christ my Lord who remains, in and from and with you, the God who is blessed for endless ages. Amen. (The Trinity 12, 55-56: PL 10, 471-472.)

+ + +

ST: AUGUSTINE: Conceive Christ by Faith

In Mary holy virginity gave birth to Christ; in Anna, aged widowhood recognized Christ in the child; in Elizabeth, conjugal chastity did service for Christ. All ranks of the faithful have contributed to the Head according to their ability.

Therefore, since Christ is Truth and Peace and Justice, conceive him by faith, bring him forth by works, so that what the womb of Mary did in the flesh of Christ your heart may do in the law of Christ.

-- Sermon 192, 2

Prayer. Father, a closed heart cannot keep out your gaze. You open it as you please in mercy or in justice. Nothing can hide for your heart.

-- Confessions 5, 1

+ + +

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES––January 13

"You need patience to do God's will and receive what he has promised," says the apostle. [Heb 10:36] True, for our Savior Himself has declared, "By your patience you will possess your souls." [cf. Lk 21:19] It is our great happiness to possess our own soul, and the more perfect our patience the more completely do we possess our soul. Therefore, it is very necessary that we perfect ourselves in this virtue. (INT. Part III, Ch. 3; O. III, p. 133)