Maxioms by C.s. Lewis
Feast of John Vianney, Curè d'Ars, 1859 To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian read more
Feast of John Vianney, Curè d'Ars, 1859 To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian charity; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life -- to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son -- how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it means to refuse God's mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099 It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when read more
Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099 It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud, He would hardly have us on such terms.
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.
I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.
I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.
