Catholic Saints

"Yet for all this reverence, the Bible is one long celebration of violence. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God took one of Adam’s ribs, and made he a woman. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. With a world population of exactly four, that works out to a homicide rate of 25 percent, which is about a thousand times higher than the equivalent rates in Western countries today. No sooner do men and women begin to multiply than God decides they are sinful and that the suitable punishment is genocide. (In Bill Cosby’s comedy sketch, a neighbor begs Noah for a hint as to why he is building an ark. Noah replies, “How long can you tread water?”) When the flood recedes, God instructs Noah in its moral lesson, namely the code of vendetta: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”"

"And thus our sages instituted that they should (mention) the oath to Noah every day, as it is said, "That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth" (Deut. 11:21)."

"Noah awoke from his wine, and he knew what the younger son of Ham had done unto him, and he cursed him, as it is said, "And he said, Cursed be Canaan" (Gen. 9:25). Noah sat and mused in his heart, saying: The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered me || from the waters of the Flood, and brought me forth from that prison, and am I not obliged to bring before Thee a sacrifice and burnt offerings? What did Noah do? He took from the clean animals an ox and a sheep, and from all the clean birds, a turtle-dove and pigeons; and he built up the first altar upon which Cain and Abel had brought offerings, and he brought four burnt offerings, as it is said, "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Gen. 8:20). It is written here only, "and he offered burnt offerings on the altar," and the sweet savour ascended before the Holy One, blessed be He, and it was pleasing to Him, as it is said, "And the Lord smelled the sweet savour" (Gen. 8:21). What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He put forth His right hand, and swore to Noah that He would not bring the waters of the Flood upon the earth, as it is said, "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth" (Isa. 54:9). And He gave a sign in the rainbow as a sign of the covenant of the oath between Himself and the people, as it is said, "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant" (Gen. 9:13)."

"Noah found a vine which was lying there, which had come out of the garden of Eden. It had its clusters with it, and he took of its fruit and ate, and rejoiced in his heart, as it is said, "My wine, which cheereth God and man" (Judg. 9:13). He planted a vineyard with it. On the selfsame day it produced and became ripe with its fruits, as it is said, "In the day of thy planting thou dost make it grow, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom" (Isa. 17:11). He drank wine thereof, and he became exposed in the midst of the tent, as it is said, "And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent" (Gen. 9:21). Canaan entered and saw the nakedness of Noah, and he bound a thread (where the mark of) the Covenant was, and emasculated him. He went forth and told his brethren. Ham entered and saw his nakedness. He did not take to heart the duty of honouring (one's father). But he told his two brothers in the market, making sport of his father. His two brothers rebuked him. What did they do? They took the curtain of the east with them, and they went backwards and covered the nakedness of their father, as it is said, "And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness" (Gen. 9:23)."

"Rabbi Zadok said: For twelve months all the creatures were in the ark; and Noah stood and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying before Him: Sovereign of all worlds ! Bring me forth from this prison, for my soul is faint, because of the stench of lions. Through me will all the righteous crown Thee with a crown of sovereignty, because Thou hast brought me forth from this prison, as it is said, "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto thy name: for the righteous shall crown me, when thou wilt have dealt bountifully with me" (Ps. 142:7)."

"“a just man and perfect in his generations”"

"The deluge in the time of Noah was by no means the only flood with which this earth was visited. The first flood did its work of destruction as far as Jaffé, and the one of Noah's days extended to Barbary."

"And God went on to bless blessed Noah and his sons, and to say to them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

"And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry."

"For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days."

"When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

"So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japeth."

"Recent scholarship has immensely enriched our knowledge of medieval European stereotypes of the supposedly black-skinned serfs and peasants (who were darkened by dirt and by abor in the sun); of early Arab stereotypes of black African slaves (millions of whom were transported from East Africa to the Near East); and of the story of the biblical Noah, whose curse subjected all the descendants of Canaan, the son of Noah’s own misbehaving son Ham, to the lowliest form of eternal bondage. This confusing biblical passage became for many centuries a major justification for black slavery. But my discussion of antiblack prejudice also considers the very ambivalent messages conveyed by European art and sculpture and culminates with the “modern” forms of antiblack racism that appear in the writings of such figures of the Enlightenment as David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, and Immanuel Kant and then reach a symbolic climax in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica."

"Lord of the world, You are merciful; why have You not pitied Your children?" God answered him: "Foolish shepherd! Now you implore My clemency. Had you done so when I announced to you the Flood, it would not have come to pass. You knew that you would be rescued, and therefore did not care for others; now you pray."

""O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day!"[22]"

"Do not deny God."

"When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."

"More and more, as the organic world was observed, the vast multitude of petty animals, winged creatures, and "creeping things" was felt to be a strain upon the sacred narrative. More and more it became difficult to reconcile the dignity of the Almighty with his work in bringing each of these creatures before Adam to be named; or to reconcile the human limitations of Adam with his work in naming "every living creature"; or to reconcile the dimensions of Noah's ark with the space required for preserving all of them, and the food of all sorts necessary for their sustenance. ...Origen had dealt with it by suggesting that the cubit was six times greater than had been supposed. Bede explained Noah's ability to complete so large a vessel by supposing that he worked upon it during a hundred years."

"(Gen. 8:16:) GO FORTH FROM THE ARK. This text is related (to Ps. 142:8 [7]): BRING MY SOUL OUT OF PRISON. is speaking about Noah when he was in the ark. Noah said to the Holy One: BRING MY SOUL OUT OF PRISON; for he had been imprisoned there. R. Levi said: The whole twelve months that Noah was in the ark, neither he nor his children tasted a bit of sleep because they were responsible for feeding the cattle and the wild aniamls. R. Abba bar Kahana said: He brought branches for the elephants and glass for the ostriches into the ark to feed the cattle and the wild animals. Now some of them ate in the second hour of the night, and some of them ate in the third hour of the day. Hence you yourself know that Noah did not taste a bit of sleep. R. Johanan said in the name of R. Eleazer b. R. Jose the Galilean: One time, when Noah was late infeeding the lion, the lion bit him, and he went away limping. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 7:23): AND NOAH ONLY [SURVIVED]"

"Come and see all who preceded Noah. They were begetting at seventy, eighty, and a hundred years of age; but Noah begat at give hundred years. And why so? Noah had reflected on the children of Adam who would ride and provoke the Holy One. So he said: Why should I join in intercourse for fruitfulness and multiplying? Therefore, he did not beget until he was five hundred years old; but after that he said: Is this person to die without children? Now the Holy One has commanded Adam about fruitfulness and multiplying, as stated (in Gen. 1:28): THEN GOD BLESSED THEM, [AND GOD SAID TO THEM: BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY]; yet I am dying without children. What did Noah do? He joined in intercourse for fruitfulness and multiplying after five hundred years. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 5:32): AND NOAH WAS FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD; [AND NOAH BEGAT SHEM, HAM AND JAPHETH]."

""Noah, seeing a he-goat eat sour grapes and become intoxicated so that it began to frisk, took the root of that vine-branch and, after having washed it with the blood of a lion, a hog, a sheep, and an ape, planted it and it bore sweet grapes."

"With regard to the lion, a fever sustained it, since when it suffered from a fever, it did not need to eat; as Rav said: For no fewer than six days and no more than twelve days, fever sustains a person; he need not eat and is sustained from his own fats. Shem continued: With regard to the phoenix [avarshina], my father found it lying in its compartment on the side of the ark. He said to the bird: Do you not want food? The bird said to him: I saw that you were busy, and I said I would not trouble you by requesting food. Noah said to the bird: May it be God’s will that you shall not die, and through that bird the verse was fulfilled, as it is stated: “And I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix” (Job 29:18)."

"Rav Ḥana bar Bizna says: Eliezer, servant of Abraham, said to Shem the Great, son of Noah: It is written: “After their kinds, they emerged from the ark,” indicating that the different types of animals were not intermingled while in the ark. Where were you and what did you do to care for them while they were in the ark? Shem said to him: We experienced great suffering in the ark caring for the animals. Where there was a creature that one typically feeds during the day, we fed it during the day, and where there was a creature that one typically feeds at night, we fed it at night. With regard to that chameleon, my father did not know what it eats. One day, my father was sitting and peeling a pomegranate. A worm fell from it and the chameleon ate it. From that point forward my father would knead bran with water, and when it became overrun with worms, the chameleon would eat it."

"Man's mind a mirror is of heavenly sights, A brief wherein all marvels summèd lie, Of fairest forms and sweetest shapes the store, Most graceful all, yet thought may grace them more."

"Grant me grace, O God! that I My life may mend, sith I must die."

"Though all the East did quake to hear Of Alexander's dreadful name, And all the West did likewise fear To hear of Julius Cæsar's fame."

"Not Solomon, for all his wit, Nor Samson, though he were so strong, No king nor person ever yet Could 'scape, but Death laid him along."

"Before my face the picture hangs, That daily should put me in mind Of those cold names and bitter pangs, That shortly I am like to find: But yet, alas! full little I Do think hereon that I must die."

"When Fortune smiles, I smile to think How quickly she will frown."

"To rise by others' fall I deem a losing gain; All states with others' ruins built To ruin run amain."

"I feel no care of coin, Well-doing is my wealth; My mind to me an empire is, While grace affordeth health."

"My conscience is my crown, Contented thoughts my rest; My heart is happy in itself, My bliss is in my breast. Enough I reckon wealth; A mean the surest lot, That lies too high for base contempt, Too low for envy's shot."

"The saddest birds a season find to sing, The roughest storm a calm may soon allay; Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all, That men may hope to rise yet fear to fall."

"No joy so great but runneth to an end, No hap so hard but may in fine amend."

"Times go by turns and chances change by course, From foul to fair, from better hap to worse."

"My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns; Love is the fire and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns; The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals; The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls."

"As in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow, Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow; And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear."

"This stable is a prince's court, The crib his chair of state; The beasts are parcel of his pomp, The wooden dish his plate."

"Behold a silly tender babe, In freezing winter night, In homely manger trembling lies; Alas! a piteous sight."

"Plough not the seas, sow not the sands, Leave off your idle pain; Seek other mistress for your minds, Love's service is in vain."

"Time wears all his locks before, Take thy hold upon his forehead; When he flies he turns no more, And behind his scalp is naked. Works adjourn'd have many stays, Long demurs breed new delays."

"Shun delays, they breed remorse; Take thy time while time is lent thee; Creeping snails have weakest force, Fly their fault lest thou repent thee. Good is best when soonest wrought, Linger’d labours come to nought."

"In Aman's pomp poor Mardocheus wept, Yet God did turn his fate upon his foe; The Lazar pined while Dives' feast was kept, Yet he to heaven, to hell did Dives go. We trample grass and prize the flowers of May, Yet grass is green when flowers do fade away."

"God is truth. All who seek truth seek God, whether this is clear to them or not."

"I see her groping, wonder-filled prayer, which in the beginning resembles a conversation she is conducting with herself and is very managed. It is half like a question she puts to herself without knowing exactly what she means; it may be that the step she takes does not need to be completed by her; the question does not need to be perfectly articulated; perhaps God would be able to intervene in the middle of her step, in order to make his presence known and answer her question in a much more profound way than she herself would have expected or even would have been capable of expecting. And God truly answers. She prays more and more and finally receives a victorious certainty and rejoices. From this moment of victorious certainty on, everything is perfectly simple and unambiguous. She will follow the path God shows to her; she belongs to him; she has rediscovered her childlike cheerfulness, which has increased and become clearly manifest through love and faith."

"Everywhere the need exists for maternal sympathy and help, and thus we are able to recapitulate in the one word motherliness that which we have developed as the characteristic value of woman. Only, the motherliness must be that which does not remain within the narrow circle of blood relations or of personal friends; but in accordance with the model of the Mother of Mercy, it must have its root in universal divine love for all who are there, belabored and burdened."

"The teacher thus needs a basic education in dogma and asceticism. Apologetics is certainly also good, but the former seems more important to me: ready arguments, as right as they may be, often do not have penetrating force. But she whose soul is formed through the truths of faith — and I call this ascetic formation — finds words which are proper for this human being and for this moment respectively."

"The intrinsic value of woman consists essentially in exceptional receptivity for God's work in the soul, and this value comes to unalloyed development if we abandon ourselves confidently and unresistingly to this work."

"Excess of interest in both her own and in the stranger’s personality merge in feminine surrender, the urge to lose herself completely in a human being; but in so doing, she does justice neither to self nor to the humanity of another, and, at the same time, becomes unfit for exercising other duties. Also connected to the false pursuit of prestige is a perverted desire for totality and inclusiveness, a mania to know everything and thereby to skim the surface of everything and to plunge deeply into nothing. However, such superficiality can never be true humanity."

"To be a mother is to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development. But again, this necessitates that she possess true humanity herself, and that she is clear as to what it means; otherwise, she cannot lead others to it. One can become suitable for this double duty if one has the correct personal attitude."