The good of our soul is more important than that of our body; and we have to prefer the spiritual welfare of our neighbor to our bodily comforts. . . If a certain kind of dress constitutes a grave and proximate occasion of sin, and endangers the salvation of your soul and others, it is your duty to give it up.
Interpretation
Spiritual well-being takes precedence over physical comfort.
This quote emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the spiritual welfare of ourselves and others over mere physical comforts and desires. Pope Pius XII suggests that if something, such as clothing, leads to sin and jeopardizes spiritual salvation, it is paramount that one renounces it for the sake of a higher moral duty.
In practice
In a discussion on ethical behavior, this quote could highlight the need for sacrificial love.
If a worker is deprived of hope to acquire some personal property, what other natural stimulus can be offered him that will inspire him to hard work, labor, saving and sobriety today, when so many nations and men have lost everything and all they have left is their capacity for work?
To live without risk is to risk not living.
It might be said that society speaks through the clothing it wears. Through its clothing it reveals its secret aspirations and uses it, at least in part, to build or destroy its future.
The faith of the Church is this: That one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary Who suffered on the Cross, Who is present in the Eucharist, and Who rules in Heaven
True science discovers God in an ever-increasing degree β as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science.
You lose nothing through peace. You can lose everything through war.
If a company has acted badly, people want to punish it - not in order to deter future misconduct, but simply because they're outraged. And the more outraged they are, the more punishment they want to inflict.
I simply contend that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeals to me, it is in short the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods.
The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning.
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.
Lord, where shall I find you? Your place is lofty and secret. And where shall I not find you? The whole earth is full of your glory! You are found in our innermost heart, yet you fixed earth's boundaries. You are a strong tower for those who are near and the trust of those who go far. I have sought to come near you; I have called to you with all my heart; and when I went out towards you, I found you coming towards me.
I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
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