Tag: William of Saint Thierry
God cannot be regarded with indifference
So loving and generous a God cannot simply be regarded with indifference, or be a matter for dispassionate, rational speculation. The Cistercians, therefore, are far readier to speak to God than about God: Now, therefore, Lord, in complete faith I worship you. You who are God, the one Cause of all that is, the Wisdom… Read More ›
Wisdom teaches all things
By its anointing, wisdom teaches all things. Then, by having affixed the seal of God’s goodness to us, it imprints and conforms to itself by this anointing everything calmed and gentled within us. If it finds any hardness, any rigidity, it pounds and crushes it until this person, having received this wholesome happiness of God… Read More ›
Prayer is affection
Prayer is the affection of a person who clings to God, a certain familiar and devout conversation, a state in which the enlightened mind enjoys God as long as it is permitted. ‘Pray without interruption and give thanks at all times’. This prayer is a certain unchanging goodness of the mind and of the well-ordered… Read More ›
Prayer to the Trinity
You, therefore, God the Father, by whom as Creator we live, You Wisdom of the Father, by whom we have been made anew and taught to live wisely, You, Holy Spirit, whom and in whom we love, and so live happily, and are to live yet more so, You, who are Three in one Substance,… Read More ›
Prayer of St. William of Thierry
O good Creator! How well you created me! How gloriously you fashioned me! How blessed a place you appointed for my dwelling! You created me, Lord, for the good works you had prepared for me to walk in, as the Apostle says. You fashioned me in your own image and likeness, and set me in… Read More ›
Recognize your dignity — you are precious
O image of God, recognize your dignity; let the effigy of your Creator shine forth in you. Purify yourself, train yourself in godliness, and you shall find the kingdom of God within you. To yourself you seem of little worth, but in reality you are precious. Be wholly present to yourself and employ yourself wholly… Read More ›
Likeness to God
There is a likeness to God which is lost only with life itself, left to everyone by the Creator of all as evidence of a better and more sublime likeness. As far as merit is concerned, this likeness to God in us is of no importance with God, since it derives from nature, not from… Read More ›
The Son of God: Bringer of Hope
Created as we were to the image and likeness of the Creator, we fell through our sin from God into ourselves, and fell from ourselves beneath ourselves into such an abyss of unlikeness that no hope was left. But there came the Son of God, eternal Wisdom; he bowed his heavens and came down. He… Read More ›
With God near I am never alone
Give me, 0 Lord, the comfort of my wilderness: a solitary heart and frequent communing with you. As long as you are with me, O my God, I shall not be alone; but if you leave me, woe to him that is alone; for if I fall asleep, there will be no one to keep… Read More ›