Charles Warren Currier

"We find not only differences of sanctity and perfection in individuals, but also in different classes of Christians. The great practice of sanctity manifests itself in various ways, in different epochs and countries. To understand the reason of this, we must bear in mind that there is in humanity and in human society a twofold element: the natural and the supernatural; the former constituting the basis of the latter, one ascending from the earth, the other descending from above, and the union of the two constituting the union of the human with the divine. If we bear this twofold element in view, we shall never be scandalized by what will appear too human in the Church and its subordinate societies."