The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The complexity of a person's inner life is far greater than can be easily understood or quantified.
In this quote, Saint Augustine reflects on the profound intricacies of human nature and the emotions that reside within individuals. He suggests that understanding one's soul and the various forces that shape it is an immensely challenging task, reinforcing the idea that human feelings and inner experiences are deeply complex and nuanced, much more so than external, quantifiable attributes like the number of hairs on one's head.
Themes
Human NatureComplexitySoulEmotionsUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on the nature of humanity, this quote can illustrate the deep complexities involved in individual experiences.
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
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
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch or weep tonight, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend your sick ones, O Lord Jesus Christ; rest your weary ones; bless your dying ones; soothe your suffering ones; pity your afflicted ones; shield your joyous ones; and all for your love's sake. Amen.
Saint AugustineRead
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