Pseudo-St. Teresa of Ávila

"Govern everything by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will and not as I choose. Let me die to myself so that I may serve you; let me live to you who are life itself."

     Attributed to St. Teresa of Ávila but never, so far as I've been able to tell, with a proper citation.

     Also, having first tested these scans of the Complete works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, trans. E. Allison Peers, against the copy on my shelf, and found them to be functioning perfectly no matter what I pulled out of the three volumes of the latter at random, I searched for relevant occurrences of Govern, "your wisdom", "my soul" serving, "you will and not", "not as I choose", "die to myself", "live to you", and "life itself", but always came up empty.  Though this could have come from the hand of a translator other than Peers, it seems pretty unlikely that none of these short phrases would have been used by both.  For a searchable version of the critical edition of the Spanish, go here.

Fake newsies

"But let me ask you this.  A guy shoots 1 for 23 from the field."

"McDeere?"

"Yeah.  But he goes 8 for 8 from the foul line.  My question is, Why are you fouling this guy at all?  I’d just get out of the way and point him toward the basket."

     Toby Ziegler to Sam Seaborn, The West Wing, Season 3, Episode 11.

The Perishos and that untraceable 6:30-a.m. chirp

     "'Now there is the history of that burglar alarm—everything just as it happened; nothing extenuated, and naught set down in malice. Yes, sir; and when I had slept nine years with burglars, and maintained an expensive burglar alarm the whole time, for their protection, not mine, and at my sole cost—for not a d——d cent could I ever get them to contribute—I just said to Mrs. McWilliams that I had had enough of that kind of pie; so with her full consent I took the whole thing out and traded it off for a dog, and shot the dog.'"

     Mr. McWilliams in Mark Twain, "The McWilliamses and the burgler alarm" (December 1882), Mark Twain:  collected tales, sketches, speeches, & essays 1852-1890, Library of America 60 (New York, NY:  The Library of America, 1992), 843 (837-843).

"while you maintain your feeling of love for them do not deny them the rod of correction."

"How much love there must be in the Lord, considering he sent Christ to be crucified for sinners and for the wicked, and redeemed us at the price of his blood, us who were his enemies by loving the things he makes instead of him who made them! So while we were doing that sort of thing, God sent his Son (Gal 4:4), as the apostle says, and handed him over to be slain for wicked us and all other wicked people. And if a gift like that was given to people who were not yet believers, what must he be keeping for those who are believers? That's how much God loves men. But . . . does this mean he doesn't scourge them? Does it mean he doesn't reprove them? If he doesn't reprove them, how do you explain famine, how do you explain sicknesses, epidemics and diseases? They are all God's ways of reproving us [(si non illos corripit, unde fames, unde aegritudines, unde pestilentiae et morbi? omnes enim istae correptiones dei sunt)]. If then he loves and yet reproves, do likewise yourself; if you have anyone under your authority, while you maintain your feeling of love [(affectum dilectionis)] for them do not deny them the rod of correction. If you do refuse it, you will not be maintaining your love."

     St. Augustine, Sermon 5.2 (405/410), trans. Hill (WSA  III/1, 217-218).  Latin from CAG (Past Masters):

quanta ergo dilectio est in domino, quando pro peccatoribus et impiis Christum crucifigendum misit et pretio sanguinis eius non redemit, qui ei inimici eramus amando ea quae facit pro eo qui fecit! cum ergo ista faceremus, «misit deus », sicut apostolus dicit, «filium suum », et eum pro nobis impiis ab aliis impiis occidendum tradidit. et si nondum fidelibus tantum munus datum est, quid ergo seruatur fidelibus? ecce quomodo deus diligit homines. attendamus, fratres, numquid non illos flagellat? numquid non illos corripit? si non illos corripit, unde fames, unde aegritudines, unde pestilentiae et morbi? omnes enim istae correptiones dei sunt. si ergo ille diligit et tamen corripit, sic et tu, si habes aliquem in potestate, quamuis serues affectum dilectionis, noli tamen negare flagellum correptionis. quia si negaueris, non tenebis dilectionem; quia ille moritur in peccatis, qui forte correptus ea relinqueret; et magis tibi imputatur uerum odium.

"don’t look for anything from God except God"

Wellcome Collection

"Many people . . . have been much improved by a bout of illness and ruined by good health. Many have caught an illness for their good, been restored to health for their undoing."

"multi enim per infirmitatem correcti sunt et per sanitatem praecipitati sunt. multi bono suo aegrotauerunt, malo suo conualuerunt."

     St. Augustine, DOL Sermon 23.5, an expansion upon Sermon 374 (Epiphany, 409 (406/412)), trans. Hill and Rotelle (WSA III/11, 394).  Headline:  "nihil quaeras a deo nisi deum."
     Image:  An old couple lying in their sick bed receive charity from a reluctant girl, a nun stands in the background. Pen and ink drawing after J.B. Greuze. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Victimae Paschali (11th century, translated anonymously c. 1880)

St. James Cathedral, Seattle, 19 April 2020

Christians, to the Paschal Victim | Offer your thankful praises! | A Lamb the sheep redeemeth: | Christ, who only is sinless, | Reconcileth sinners to the Father. | Death and life have contended | In that combat stupendous: | The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal. | Speak, Mary, declaring | What thou sawest wayfaring: | 'The tomb of Christ, who is living, | The glory of Jesu’s Resurrection; | Bright angels attesting, | The shroud and napkin resting. | Yea, Christ my hope is arisen: | To Galilee he goes before you.’ | . . . | Christ indeed from death is risen, | Our new life obtaining. | Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! | [Amen.  Alleluia.]

"Though sense suggests the contrary"

     "Do not then think of the elements as bare [(ψιλοῖς)] bread and wine; they are, according to the Lord’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ.  Though sense [(ἡ αἴσθησίς)] suggests the contrary, let faith be your stay [(ἀλλὰ ἡ πίστις σε βεβαιούτω)].  Instead of judging the matter by taste [(τὴς γεύσεως)], let faith give you an unwavering confidence that you have been privileged to receive the Body and Blood of Christ."

     Mystagogical catechesis/lecture 4.6 (late 4th-century), trans. McCauley & Stephenson, FC 64, 183 =PG 33, col. 1101 (no access to the modern critical editions at present).