偶而將我們所有的一切支持都挪去，乃是好的。這會使我們感覺到我們腳下的甚麼是堅石，甚麼是流沙。
-- Madeleine L'Engle
It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us
occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and
what is sand.
有時我們來到上帝跟前，不是因為我們最愛祂，而是因為我們最愛財富。我們求基督「拯救西方文化，」而不自問它的整體文化，是否都是基督都要拯救的。我們太常常向上帝祈求，不是要遵行上帝的旨意，而是要上帝的幫助維持我們「繼續不斷增加的消費」。但是雖然基督已經應許，上帝會餵飽我們，但祂從未應許，要將我們填塞到爆炸的程度。
... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain [1955]
We sometimes come to God, not because we love Him best, but because we
love our possessions best; we ask Christ to "save Western civilization,"
without asking ourselves whether it is entirely a civilization that
Christ could want to save. We pray, too often, not to do God𠏋 will, but
to enlist God assistance in maintaining our "continually increasing
consumption." And yet, though Christ promised that God would feed us, he
never promised that God would stuff us to bursting.
尊貴與榮耀誠然都屬乎上帝，並單單屬乎祂。但若是它們不保存在愛裡，二者祂都不會接受。愛本身是自足的，因為自身而喜悅自身。愛不尋求本身之外的原因。也不在乎結果。它是自身的果子，自己的快樂。我愛，因為我愛。我愛為了我可以去愛。愛只要是會回到它的原點，再從新出發，並永遠從那不絕澎湃的泉源汲取，就是偉大的。生靈的所有情感之中，受造之物雖然不能同等地，但可用以回應與報答創造主之鴻恩的，就只有愛了。因為上帝愛我們之時，祂所要的只有被愛。誠然，祂愛我們不為別的，只是為了被愛，因為知道藉著他們的愛之本身，愛祂的人就必蒙福。
... St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)
Honor and glory are indeed due to God and to Him alone, but He will
accept neither of them if they be not preserved in the honey of love.
Love is sufficient of itself; it pleases by itself and on its own
account. Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit. It is its own
fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love that I may love.
Love is a great thing provided it recurs to its beginning, returns to
its origin, and draws always from that Fountain which is
perpetually in flood. Of all the feelings and affections of the soul,
love is the only one by which the creature, though not on equal terms,
is able to respond to the Creator and to repay what it has received from
Him. For when God loves us He desires nothing but to be loved. He loves
for no other reason, indeed, than that He may be loved, knowing that by
their love itself those who love Him are blessed.
只要人還在集體屠殺動物，他們就仍會彼此殺害。誠然，那撒播屠殺與痛苦種子的。必無法收割喜樂與慈愛。
Pythagoras, mathematician
“For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed,
he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”
邪惡，當你審視它時，會變成只是以錯誤的方式在追求善。你可以只因為善的緣故而是善的。但你卻不能只因為是壞的緣故而是壞的。你可以在不感覺到仁慈的時候做一件仁慈的事，只是因為仁慈是對的。但卻沒有一個人只因為殘酷是錯的而去做一件殘酷的事──只是因為殘酷使他快樂，對他有利。換句話說，壞之成為壞，不能以好之成為好的那種方式出現。好，是指其本身，但壞只是好的破敗。....惡是寄生蟲，不是原生物。
Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some
good in the wrong way. You can be good for the mere sake
of goodness; you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. You can do
a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no
pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel
action simply because cruelty was wrong—only because cruelty was
pleasant or useful to him. In other words, badness cannot succeed even
in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so
to speak, itself; badness is only spoiled goodness.…Evil is a parasite,
，not an original thing.
耶穌，像其他的漁夫一樣，先抓魚，然後潔淨牠們。
-- Mark Potter
Jesus, like any good fisherman, first catches the fish; then He cleans
them.
