The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint AugustineRead
The measure of charity may be taken from the want of desires. As desires diminish in the soul, charity increases in it; and when it no longer feels any desire, then it possesses perfect charity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that true charity grows as one lets go of personal desires.
Saint Augustine's quote highlights the idea that genuine charity is linked to the state of one's desires. As individuals diminish their personal wants and attachments, they cultivate a greater capacity for love and altruism towards others. The concept implies that ultimate charity is achieved when a person is entirely free of desires, allowing unconditional love and selflessness to take precedence.
Themes
CharityDesiresSelflessnessLoveAltruism
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of giving.
More from Saint Augustine
All quotes →There 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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As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other, and the former will be objects to which the latter attach themselves.
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Put light against light - you have nothing. Put dark against dark - you have nothing. It's the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.
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Ultimately we want to use dream to liberate ourselves from all relative conditions, not simply to improve them.
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Charity should be spontaneous. Calculated altruism is an affront.
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