Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange > Quotes

“St. Augustine wrote: “Two loves have built two cities: the love of self even to the despising of God, the city of the earth; the love of God even to the despising of self, the city of God. One glorifies itself in self, and the other in the Lord. One seeks its glory from men, the other places its dearest glory in God, the witness of its conscience. The one in the pride of its glory walks with head high; the other says to its God: ‘Thou art my glory, and it is Thou who dost lift up my head.’ The former in its victories lets itself be conquered by its passion to dominate; the latter shows us its citizens united in charity, mutual servants, tutelary governors, obedient subjects. The former loves its own strength in its princes; the latter says to God: ‘Lord, Thou art my only strength, I shall love Thee.’ “968”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“There are two classes of people who hide themselves: the criminal who flees punishment, and the saint who through humility wishes to remain unknown.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“the nearer we approach to God, the more we are drawn by Him.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“Talent by itself does nothing but make a bit of noise.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Knowing the Love of God

“Let us perform all our actions with the thought that God dwells in us. We shall thus be His temples, and He Himself will be our God, dwelling in us (cf. Eph. 15: 3).”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“Genuine strength of will, the effect of divine grace, is drawn from humble, trusting, and persevering prayer.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“With grace we can overcome it, because, as the Council of Trent says, quoting St. Augustine: “God never commands the impossible; but in giving us His precepts, He commands us to do what we can, and to ask for the grace to accomplish what we cannot do.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“St. Thomas Aquinas deeply loved this beautiful chant thus understood. It is told of him that he could not keep back his tears when, during Compline of Lent, he chanted the antiphon: “In the midst of life we are in death: whom do we seek as our helper, but Thou, O Lord, who because of our sins art rightly incensed? Holy God, strong God, holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not up to a bitter death; abandon us not in the time of our old age, when our strength will abandon us.” This beautiful antiphon begs for the grace of final perseverance, the grace of graces, that of the predestined. How it should speak to the heart of the contemplative theologian, who has made a deep study of the tracts on Providence, predestination, and grace!”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“A reproach given with great kindness is often well received, whereas when given with sharpness it produces no results. Thus Christ tells us: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“Happy the old people who after long experience and many trials reach this superior simplicity of true wisdom, which they had glimpsed from a distance in their childhood! With this meaning it can be said that a beautiful life is a thought of youth realized in maturity.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“Here enters a question: Does the human individual exist to serve society (communism), or does society exist to serve the individual (liberalism)?

Communism and liberalism are two extremes. Between and above these extremes runs the golden middle way. The in­dividual, in temporal matters, serves society; but in eternal things he rises above civil society, since he is a fellow citizen of the saints, a member of the household of God. In defense of his country the citizen must be willing even to shed his blood. But civil authority, on the otherhand, while its proxi­mate goal is the well-being of society, has as its ultimate goal that eternal life which is the end of all human activity. Man’s active life, then, his lower and external life, is subordinated to society. But man’s contemplative life, his higher and in­ternal life, transcends civil life.

Here we note the distinction between “individual” and “person.” The animal is an individual, but not a person. Man is both an individual and a person. Man, as an individual, is subordinated to society, whereas society is subordinated to man as a person. Thus in the spiritual order (as person) man is bound to provide first for himself, whereas in the temporal order (as individual) man is praiseworthy when he is generous in providing for his neighbor. Again, virginity excels matri­mony, because divine values surpass human values. And pri­vate spiritual good stands higher than common civil good.

Here too lies the reason why the secrets of man’s heart are not really parts of the universe, and hence cannot naturally be known.

[...]

Thus in the spiritual order (as person) man is bound to provide first for himself, whereas in the temporal order (as individual) man is praiseworthy when he is generous in providing for his neighbor. […] And pri­vate spiritual good stands higher than common civil good.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Beatitude: A Commentary on St. Thomas' Theological Summa, Ia IIae qq. 1-54

“In commenting on the Stagirite, St. Thomas discards Averroistic interpretations contrary to revealed dogma, on Providence, on creation, on the personal immortality of the human soul. Hence it can be said that he "baptizes" Aristotle's teaching, that is, he shows how the principles of Aristotle, understood as they can be and must be understood, are in harmony with revelation. Thus he builds, step by step, the foundations of a solid Christian philosophy.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought

“The nearer a soul is to God, the more it deserves our esteem; the closer the ties that bit it to us, the more sensible is our love for it, and the more whole-hearted should be the devotion we show in all that concerns family, country, vocation, and friendship. Thus, instead of destroying patriotism, charity exalts it, as we see in the case of St. Joan of Arc or St. Louis.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Providence: God's loving care for men and the need for confidence in Almighty God

“We read in Ecclesiasticus also: “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“The life of God is above the past, the present, and the future; it is measured by the single instant of immobile eternity.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“We must begin to detach ourselves from earthly goods in order to grasp clearly the following truth often uttered by St. Augustine and St. Thomas: ‘Contrary to spiritual goods, material goods divide men, because they cannot belong simultaneously and integrally to a number.’ A number of persons cannot possess integrally and simultaneously the same house, the same field, the same territory; whence dissensions, quarrels, lawsuits, wars. On the contrary, spiritual goods, like truth, virtue, God Himself, can belong simultaneously and integrally to a number; many may possess simultaneously the same virtue, the same truth, the same God who gives Himself wholly to each of us in Communion. Therefore, whereas the unbridled search for material goods profoundly divides men, the quest for spiritual goods unites them. It unites us so much the more closely, the more we seek these superior goods. And we even possess God so much the more, the more we give Him to others. When we give away money, we no longer possess it; when, on the contrary, we give God to souls, we do not lose Him; rather we possess Him more. And should we refuse to give Him to a person who asks for Him, we would lose Him.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages Of The Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“We should note that mortification prepares for mental prayer, and the latter, in its turn, facilitates mortification. Therefore, prayer and mortification influence one another. Mortification and patience prepare for prayer through the purification and detachment they produce in us. They enable the person to take flight toward God, and this flight is prayer itself.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Knowing the Love of God

“As the bee knows how to find honey in flowers, the gift of wisdom draws lessons of divine goodness from everything.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“In the present, in the very instant in which it is committed, venial sin deprives the soul of a precious grace. In that instant, grace was offered us to make progress in perfection, to be charitable, fervent, and industrious. If we had corresponded, our merit would have increased and for all eternity we would have contemplated God more intensely face to face. We would have loved Him more. Now this grace has been lost by our neglect, our laziness, and our limited charity.

You will say, "But I can find the moment, the occasion to gain back the good that I lost." On the contrary, the answer is "no." You will not be able to revcver the quarter hour you wasted. Not even God, with all His power, would be able to restore it. This grace, a thousand times more precious than the universe, has been lost forever.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Knowing the Love of God

“Obscure faith enlightens us somewhat like the night, which, though surrounding us with shadows, allows us to see the stars, and by them the depths of the firmament. There is here a mingling of light and shade which is extremely beautiful. That we may see the stars, the sun must hide, night must begin. Amazingly, in the obscurity of night we see to a far greater distance than in the day; we see even the distant stars, which reveal to us the immense expanse of the heavens.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“St. Augustine says: “God who created you without yourself, will not sanctify you without yourself.” Our consent is needed and likewise our obedience to the precepts. God’s help is given us, he says again, not that our will should do nothing, but that it may act in a salutary and meritorious manner. Actual grace is constantly offered to us for the accomplishment of the duty of the present moment, just as air comes constantly into our lungs to permit us to breathe.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life

“The virtue of religion, which renders to God the worship due Him, is also inferior to the theological virtues; it is meritorious only by reason of the charity that animates it. If we should forget this, we would perhaps become more attentive to worship, to the liturgy, than to God Himself, to the figures rather than to the reality, to the manner in which we ought to say an Our Father or a Credo rather than to the sublime meaning of these prayers: the service of God would take precedence over the love of God.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life

“Hello, in regard to St. Catherine of Genoa, says: “In the life of the saints, and especially in the life of the contemplative saints, there is a succession of incomprehensible steps: they hesitate, they vacillate, they move ahead, they turn back, they change their paths. One has the impression that they are wasting time. It seems that the mysterious ways through which they are led never finish. God teaches them humility and makes them understand their impotence and nothingness” (Hello, Physiognomy of the Saints, p. 310).”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Knowing the Love of God

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― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Life Everlasting

“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.”
― Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life

“It is better to give the tree with its fruits than to offer the fruits alone.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“depends on the principle formulated by Aristotle and often recalled by St. Thomas: “The terms of language are the signs of our ideas, and our ideas are the similitude of realities.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“True strength of will is calm; in calmness it is persevering so that it does not become discouraged by momentary lack of success or by any wounds received. No one is conquered until he has given up the struggle. And he who works for the Lord puts his confidence in God and not in himself.982”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“He humbled Himself... even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names.” Phil. 2:8 f.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life

“This gift prevents us from weakening, from letting ourselves be disheartened, and it lifts up our courage in the midst of difficulties.”
― Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life