The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint AugustineRead
For what am I to myself without You, but a guide to my own downfall?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the idea that one is incomplete and prone to failure without a higher power or guiding influence.
In this poignant reflection, Saint Augustine acknowledges the deep interdependence between the self and a divine presence. He suggests that without this connection, a person resorts to merely guiding themselves, which ultimately leads to self-destruction and despair. The essence of the quote lies in the recognition of the need for something greater than oneself to provide direction, purpose, and moral grounding.
Themes
GuidanceFailureDivineInterdependenceSelf
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the importance of faith, this quote can illustrate the necessity of divine guidance.
More from Saint Augustine
All quotes βThere is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
Saint AugustineRead
Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.
Saint AugustineRead
Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
Saint AugustineRead
Whatever skills I have acquired, whatever gifts I have been given, I place them at Your service.
Saint AugustineRead
Everyone who observes himself doubting observes a truth, and about that which he observes he is certain; therefore he is certain about a truth. Everyone therefore who doubts whether truth exists has in himself a truth on which not to doubt.... Hence one who can doubt at all ought not to doubt the existence of truth.
Saint AugustineRead
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