Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Sometimes the truths and practices of the true religionare misinterpreted or misused, and this is a kind of superstition.It is true doctrine, for instance, that the souls in purgatory arehelped by our prayers. But it would be superstition to believe thata certain formula of prayer, or a certain number of prayers, givesabsolute assurance of the deliverance of a certain soul frompurgatory.
2. And the good and useful practices of Catholics-inpenitential acts, for instance, and in using medals, scapulars, andother blessed objects-are sometimes turned into superstitioususages by mistaken persons who invest such practices with a kind ofmagical power, instead of using them, according to the mind of theChurch, as means of stirring up reverence and devotion to God intheir own hearts.
"The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.
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Thomas á Kempis
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"There is nothing which gives greater security to our actions, or more effectually cuts the snares the devil lays for us, than to follow another person’s will, rather than our own, in doing good."
St Philip Neri
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