St. Augustine on Good Fruits

 As long, therefore, as any one is evil, he cannot bring forth good fruits; for if he were to bring forth good fruits, he would no longer be evil. So it might most truly have been said, snow cannot be warm; for when it begins to be warm, we no longer call it snow, but water. It may therefore come about, that what was snow is no longer so; but it cannot happen that snow should be warm. So it may come about, that he who was evil is no longer evil; it cannot, however, happen that an evil man should do good. And although he is sometimes useful, this is not the man’s own doing; but it is done through him, in virtue of the arrangements of divine providence…

St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon on the Mount XXIV.79

St. Augustine on the Unjust Steward

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present this parable to us?

He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant who cheated his master, stole from him and did not make it up from his own pocket. On top of that, he also did some extra pilfering. He caused his master further loss, in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job.

Why did the Lord set this before us?

It is not because that servant cheated but because he exercised foresight for the future. When even a cheat is praised for his ingenuity, Christians who make no such provision blush. I mean, this is what he added, “Behold, the children of this age are more prudent than the children of light.” They perpetrate frauds in order to secure their future.

In what life, after all, did that steward insure himself like that? What one was he going to quit when he bowed to his master’s decision? He was insuring himself for a life that was going to end. Would you not insure yourself for eternal life?

St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 359A.10

Quomodo sedet sola civitas

Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo,
Facta est quasi vidua
Domina gentium princeps provinciarum
facta est sub tributo.

How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!
How is she become as a widow!
The mistress of the Gentiles, and princess among the provinces,
How she is made tributary!

Lamentations 1:1, Tenebrae Matins of Maundy Thursday

Almighty God is accustomed to visit every sinful soul in many ways.

Almighty God is accustomed to visit every sinful soul in many ways. He visits her relentlessly by her commandments, sometimes by a trial, sometimes even by a miracle, so that she hears the truths she did not know, and – if still she remains full of pride and contempt – that she returns to God in the pain of compunction, or else, overcome by the benefits, that she blushes for the evil she has committed.

St. Gregory the Great, Homily 39, par. 5

Nothing but Forgiveness of Sin

Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. Thus, although we have sins, the grace of the Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but continuous, uninterrupted forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in that we forgive, bear with, and help each other.

Dr. Martin Luther, Large Catechism, II.55

St. Cyril of Alexandria on the Pharisee and Publican

But what of the publican? He stood, it says, “afar off,” not even venturing, so to speak, to raise up his eyes on high. You see him abstaining from all boldness of speech, as having no right thereto, and smitten by the reproaches of conscience: for he was afraid of being even seen by God, as one who had been careless of His laws, and had led an unchaste and dissolute life. You see also that by his external manner, he accuses his own depravity. For the foolish Pharisee stood there bold and broad, lifting up his eyes without scruple, bearing witness of himself, and boastful. But the other feels shame at his conduct: he is afraid of his Judge, he smites upon his breast, he confesses his offences, he shows his malady as to the Physician, he prays that he may have mercy. And what is the result? Let us hear what the Judge says, “This man, He says, went down to his house justified rather than the other.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon 120

The Common Place

The Common Place was a book carried by people who wished to collect thoughts, quotations, and memorabilia in a single, common, place. Philip Melanchthon, Robert Burns, John Milton, and Francis Bacon all have published common places, and many other thinkers have ledd famous loci of their own. This blog is an attempt to collect, share, and benefit from our own individual commonplaces for quotations, prayers, and Christian art. Later, we may expand to include other cooperative labors like bulletin blurbs, articles, and catechetical resources.

For now, the main editors are moving our individual commonplaces into this format to beg, borrow, and steal from each other’s collections. Contact Father Gramenz, if you wish to contribute, and he will add you as an editor. You can contact Father Voigt for help with posting. Otherwise, feel free to use these resources, which are all free of copyright, to the best of our knowledge, and to share it with anyone who might be helped.

To Live a Forgiven Life

So to live a “forgiven” life is not simply to live in a happy consciousness of having been absolved. Forgiveness is precisely the deep and abiding sense of what relation—with God or with other human beings—can and should be; and so it is itself a stimulus, an irritant, necessarily provoking protest at impoverished versions of social and personal relations.

Rowan Williams, Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel