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i also believe in the presence of angels, each of us have a guardian angel, who are continually referring us towards the path of salvation and onto righteous works, despite the presence of the forces of darkness that tries to negate that angelic influence. i believe that if one commits his works to protection by The Lord Jesus Christ, then the Lord will send His angels to protect one from the evil one. That is why we all should always pray for the assurance and continued protection that our guardian angels give us, who were tasked by God to protect us in this spiritual pilgrimage , which we call life.

We should also call on the help of the Archangels, in particular, Archangel Michael, who is the champion of the Armies of Heaven. It was Michael, The Archangel, who defeated satan, may God rebuke him, and sent him, the great protester of God's authority, into the abyss of hell. We should ask for the protection of Archangel Michael, who actively , with the angels, fights the evil one and his minions who prowl the earth for the ruin of souls.

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, -- or immediate and everlasting damnation.

    At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.

- Catechism of the One, Holy, Roman Catholic Church: 1022

I believe in the soul, which inhabits the body. I believe that the soul is immortal, and that the soul is within the body while a person is alive. When a person passes on, the soul is released from the physical shell, the body, and is then taken immediately to be judged according to his / her works and his/ her living faith. Into the blessedness of heaven, through purification in purgatory, or to eternal damnation in hell.

That is my belief.

For in HIM all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through HIM and for HIM.  He is before all things, and in HIM  all things hold together.

Colossians 1: 15-17

i actually had a conversation with a professor of mine, who is also an active catholic. when we talked outside of class, i asked him frankly, "professor S, why is it that these two theories which are considered true in the scientific community, unable to match with each other? If they do not match, why is it that the world as we know it exist as it is?"

he smiled at me and said to me, "Lorenzo, you will find your answer in Colossians 1:17"

When I took physics in college, these two theories do not match each other, and if one tries to combine the equations, we get a set of data points to infinity, it does not add up. yet, for us in the natural world, theory of general relativity exists because of the presence of gravity. and quantum physics also is present. just interesting what makes everything hold. that is where a lot of physicists right now are trying to grapple.

Quote from: hubag bohol on June 10, 2012, 06:52:38 PM
Yet the "paranormal" strange feeling rules. In the context of one's sense of life, whatever science says--however accurate or profound--will always be nothing more than an obiter dictum.

i agree.

he he, science tries to explain what man believes is true, however, there are times when scientific explanation cannot explain the natural order of things. an example is how the theory of relativity and the quantum physics do not equate or fit in a physics equation, yet, it does exist in the natural world.

there is only so much man can understand the tip of the iceberg that is God's wonder made manifest in the natural world, and also in the cosmos.

the created can only understand so much.

he he he, the people of Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are of ethnic Malay Stock. Combine the three countries together and you have some (250 million from Indonesia; 100 million from Philippines, 30 million from Malaysia) 380-400 million people. A combined Malay Nation would  be the 3rd most populous nation in the entire world, after China and India. Malays are actually a very ancient and populous race of people....

Even the crocodiles wont enjoy eating this piece of shyiet murdering SOB.

Who do they need to feed to the buayas? They need to feed this piece of shyiet pahking SOB to them , kining yawaang tawhana...

They're a new naval platform, Mike. The US Navy also has inducted the LCS ship, the fire power of 1 LCS ship is equal to that of 3 Arleigh Burke Missile Destroyers.


LCS

Quote from: chicogon on June 10, 2012, 03:51:32 AM
I was only the tour driver hehehe

he he he!

Quote from: hubag bohol on June 10, 2012, 06:27:26 AM
Maayo na lang naay trabaho...

Yes, you're so correct, Bai Hubag. At least naay trabaho sila og ning paningkamot ang mga pinoy.

ha ha ha

Chalte Chalte Karya He....

    love this beat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNj9bXKGOiI#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vPsoA8snI#

What an ambidextrous child! Good Job, kid!

I put my Trust, my Faith, my Confidence in The Lord Jesus Christ, who strengthens me.

bwahahahahahaha!

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Psalm 118:8

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”

Psalm 9:10

“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in him. ”

Nahum 1:7

“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

Psalm 18:2

i must say that both Ms. Isles and Sir Way Nada have credible points. Good job on the retorts, guys. keep it coming....

Quote from: chicogon on June 10, 2012, 03:23:48 AM
Minaw lang kos mga brayt kay leftist baja kos una nahimong karong capitalist bwahaha 

such is the flow of things, Father. Normally, people tend to be left-leaning in their youth, then change views later on in life.

bwahahaha

luoy pod 'tawn.

ha ha ha ha ha !

he he he! cute lagi mo tanan

oooh wow! today, i'm planning to go out with my sister for dinner. i'll see if we can find something similar to lapu lapu, if not lapu lapu, then maybe chilean sea bass.

hahaha lol !!!

 it's interesting how chinese historians portray the empress as a negative force. was she eventually assassinated ?

bwahahaha eclectic jamo !

The theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics manifests itself in our world, however, why is it that these equations do not equal or explain each other? Yet it does exist. What holds these two theories together ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHHz4mB9GKY#

Carrier Strike Group of the US Navy'S 7th Fleet, patrolling the Western Pacific Ocean:

Docked in Hawaii

One of the several Carrier Battle Groups serving in the the US Navy's Pacific Command.

ha ha ha, hilig diay ning tawhana sa wig?

President Aquino meeting American Government Officials upon landing in the United States

(Reuters) - Philippines President Benigno Aquino is in the United States for a visit that will highlight the Southeast Asian archipelago's growing importance in U.S. strategic thinking, as the White House "pivots" to Asia and both countries worry about China's intentions.

Aquino, well-regarded by the U.S. government, not least for fighting corruption, arrived on Wednesday and will be accorded a White House meeting on Friday with President Barack Obama.

That meeting comes as Washington has begun helping Manila beef up its modest military capacities in the face of a confrontation with China over contested South China Sea reefs.

The United States, colonial ruler of the Philippines from 1898-1946 and a treaty ally with Manila since 1951, has embraced the Philippines as part of a policy that makes the Asia-Pacific region the center of U.S. security and economic strategy.

"The meeting between President Aquino and President Obama will lay the groundwork for the future of the strategic partnership between the Philippines and the United States," said Jose Cuisia, the Philippines ambassador in Washington.

Aquino will also meet senior U.S. lawmakers for "discussions on our bilateral economic and defense cooperation, the shift in the focus of the United States toward the Asia-Pacific and ways to revitalize our alliance," the envoy said in a statement.

Washington's "rebalancing" of forces to the Asia-Pacific region, a strategy two decades in the making, has accelerated under the Obama administration as a response to China's rapid military modernization and growing assertiveness in that region.

A U.S. official said Washington saw Aquino as a leader who is "trying to do the right thing" to tackle the corruption, cronyism and red tape that have held back the economy of his nation of 93 million people.

But the United States is moving cautiously in solidifying defense ties with Manila. The Philippines evicted the U.S. military from Naval Station Subic Bay in 1992, passed a constitutional provision banning foreign bases on its soil, and nationalist sentiment remains high.

NO NEW U.S. BASES

Even as it fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States kept more than 70,000 troops in a network of military bases in Japan and South Korea that date back to the 1950s.

The Obama policy has focused on Southeast Asia and crafting flexible arrangements with other allies in Asia, Australia and the Philippines, and ship visits to Singapore and Vietnam.

No new U.S. bases are envisioned under this scheme, although 2,500 U.S. troops will rotate through and train in Darwin, Australia. Any new arrangements with the Philippines would be smaller than the Australian program, U.S. officials say.

The top U.S. military officer, fresh from a visit to the Philippines where he met Aquino, said the United States was looking at potential locations where the military might increase its exercise and rotational presence.

"We did talk about that with my counterpart, not on the political side, but with my Filipino chief of defense counterpart," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Asked if former U.S. facilities at Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base were under consideration, he said: "I wouldn't say specifically Subic and Clark, although they are obvious locations were we to increase our exercise and rotational presence."

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last weekend the Pentagon will reposition its naval fleet so 60 percent of its battleships are in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of the decade, up from about 50 percent now. The move drew a pledge from China's People's Liberation Army to increase its vigilance.

In upgrading its military capability to protect its interests in disputed areas of the South China Sea, Manila has been looking to Washington for ships, aircraft and surveillance and equipment to build a credible defense posture.

After high-level bilateral security and diplomatic talks in late April, the Obama administration pledged to increase its annual foreign military sales program to the Philippines to $30 million, about three times the level of the 2011 program.

"We've been working with the Philippines on military modernization for 12 or 13 years, very intensively," said Walter Lohman, a Southeast Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

"The only thing that has changed is the urgency of this and the seriousness the Philippines has shown under the Aquino administration," he said.

U.S. BALANCING ACT

Manila's new urgency stems from a months-long showdown with China at the Scarborough Shoal, a horse-shoe shaped reef near the Philippines in waters both countries claim.

The United States is formally neutral on South China Sea territorial issues. But Washington's promotion of multilateral diplomacy to handle the disputes clashes with China's insistence on bilateral talks with its weaker neighbors.

"We want to empower international rules of the road in maritime security, not to isolate any one nation or to take a position on a claim - for instance, in the South China Sea - but rather to make sure that claims can be resolved peacefully," said a senior U.S. official.

Washington believes that multilateral discussions of the South China Sea is more fair to claimants and it wants China and its neighbors to advance so far slow-moving efforts to set up a code of conduct to manage disputes, said the official.

"The United States has the dilemma of balancing the many, many vital interests we have in our relations with China, with our interests in Southeast Asia and it really is a balancing act," said Southeast Asia security expert Don Weatherbee.

Weatherbee, emeritus professor at the University of South Carolina, said that while Manila could not expect a "blank check" from Washington in a territorial conflict with Beijing, U.S. credibility would face scrutiny.

"It's not just a question of U.S.-Philippines relations. It's a question of the American security guarantee in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific and what is actually meant by the word guarantee," he said.

This week's meetings in Washington will also take up the prospect of the Philippines joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade pact in the Asia Pacific region with nine members that is also examining applications by Japan, Canada and Mexico.

Quote from: hubag bohol on June 08, 2012, 12:38:19 PM
Maginoo pero sobrang bastos = manyakis
Maginoo pero medyo bastos = lover boy
Maginoo at hindi bastos = medyo bayut

ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! 

The One, Holy, Roman Catholic Church's Teachings on what happens after the moment of death:


Although physical human bodies die, human souls never die. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that every spiritual soul "is immortal: It does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection" (CCC 366).

So at the moment of death, the soul separates from the body, is judged immediately, and enters either heaven (immediately or through purgatory) or hell.

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heavenâ€"through a purification or immediatelyâ€"or immediate and everlasting damnation. (CCC 1022)

Every soul will unite with its resurrected body just prior to the Last Judgment ("Judgment Day") when Christ returns:

    In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare. The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life . . .

    The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death. (CCC 1039-1040)

For the Roman Catholic Church death is the 'complete and final separation of the soul from the body'. However the Vatican has conceded that diagnosing death is a subject for medicine, not the Church. In 1957 Pope Pius XII raised the concerns over whether doctors might be 'continuing the resuscitation process, despite the fact that the soul may already have left the body.' He even asked one of the central questions confronting modern medicine, namely whether 'death had already occurred after grave trauma to the brain, which has provoked deep unconsciousness and central breathing paralysis, the fatal consequences of which have been retarded by artificial respiration.' The answer, he said, 'did not fall within the competence of the Church.'

    It remains for the doctor and especially the anaesthesiologist, to give a clear and precise definition of 'death' and the 'moment of death'
    of a patient who passes away in a state of unconsciousness.

     -Pope Pius XII

Medical definitions of Death:


"death (death) (deth) the cessation of life; permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. For legal and medical purposes, the following definition of death has been proposed-the irreversible cessation of all of the following: (1) total cerebral function, usually assessed by EEG as flat-line (2) spontaneous function of the respiratory system, and (3) spontaneous function of the circulatory system...

brain [death]. irreversible brain damage as manifested by absolute unresponsiveness to all stimuli, absence of all spontaneous muscle activity, including respiration, shivering, etc., and an isoelectric electroencephalogram for 30 minutes, all in the absence of hypothermia or intoxication by central nervous system depressants. Called also irreversible coma and cerebral d[eath]."

reference:
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 31st Edition, republished on the website of Merck & Co, defined death as (accessed June 07, 2012):

What do you think happens at the moment of physiological death?

a friend of mine, Job, used to say "Maginoo pero sobrang bastos..." he he he !

Do you consider yourself "Maginoo pero medyo bastos" ?

he he he, en ader werds, labing labing si inday isles pero medyo iring ?

Quote from: chicogon on June 08, 2012, 11:56:51 AM
For now I planted Bell Pepper, Chard and Ahos!!!

he he he ! na inspired ko sa imong planting projects , Father. This weekend, I'm going to buy a couple of pots of veggies. Maybe I can grow some tomatoes, and mint, parsley sa ahoang apartment.

Quote from: islander on June 08, 2012, 11:48:14 AM
thanks!  i hope to be physically perfect again soon.  no longer the 100-meter dash runner that i used to be, for sure, but just fit enough not to get depressed for no reason.

keep up the good work, isles.

Scientific Theories about Déjà Vu

Currently, there are four main scientific hypotheses about déjà vu:

1. Dual processing glitch. Memory may involve a set of neurons that signal when a stimulus is familiar, and another set that retrieves already stored data. Déjà vu might arise when the familiarity system functions independently of the retrieval system.

2. Seizures. Epileptic seizures are sometimes accompanied by a déjà vu experience, leading some researchers to suggest that all déjà vu might be caused by small brain seizures. There is also data demonstrating that déjà vu occurs when certain brain regions are electrically stimulated.

3. Missing context. It could be that déjà vu happens when the brain retrieves something from our vast memory bank of images and perceptionsâ€"without filling in the situational context.

4. Double perception theory. Déjà vu occurs when there is a slight interruption in our normal perceptual processing. When our attention returns a moment later, we feel that we’ve already processed this perception before.

Scientists have attempted to come up with studies to trigger or replicate déjà vu-like experiences. For instance, students at two universities were shown photos of the other campus and asked to quickly locate superimposed cross-shaped markers. After viewing more photos of the other campus three weeks later, including some that had appeared in the first task, 89% of the students thought that they had been to the other campus before and 50% reported feeling déjà vu. These results support the double perception theory. When they were intent on locating the cross-shaped markers, students were not paying attention to the other elements in the photos. When they looked at the photos later, they experienced déjà vu.


http://psych.knoji.com/scientific-explanations-for-deja-vu/

yes, i've experienced this phenomenon called deja vu. i'd like to know the neurophysiology of this experience.

he he he! yay! what are you planting in your 2nd garden, Father?

Quote from: islander on June 08, 2012, 10:43:40 AM
i am taking 20mg atorvastatin calcium, daily at bedtime.  the doctor said i have to see him again before my 30-day regimen ends so he can check the development.  i just read through this medicine's side effects; so far, so good.  but how come this has calcium?

that's good isles! you're doing a great job keeping a record on when you see your specialist again. what you're taking (atorvostatin calcium), we call it here in the 'states as "Lipitor". The calcium is added into it to allow the ease of bioavailability , it helps in the solubility of the drug in the blood. that's a good thing that you're keeping a look out on possible side effects. if you do feel symptoms of myalgia (muscle pain), tenderness , or nausea, make sure to tell your M.D. good job on the maintenance !

i always prefer to counsel my patients in the following combination: STATIN + NIACIN + FIBRATES

all these drugs and a daily 30 minute walk is a great way to control the cholesterol level.  

isles, are you on cholesterol medication? mo recommend ko og SIMVASTATIN , ATORVOSTATIN, PRAVASTATIN, FLUVASTATIN, LOVASTATIN.

if i was the attending M.D in that local hospital, i would have cardioeverted the child.

the physicians in the local hospitals should have implemented ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) procedures on this boy. i am sure that had they cardioverted the boy after a bolus of epinephrine, they would have easily fixed the undetected bradyarrhthmia. the cardioeversion would have returned the child's normal sinus rhythm.

sayang.

Quote from: chicogon on June 08, 2012, 07:21:11 AM
Ga yoga ang iro... 

yoga or falun gong...

ha ha ha, cute little doggie! i wonder if inchik ning bredang iroa...ha ha ha!

Quote from: chicogon on June 08, 2012, 06:07:07 AM


Haaaay... nipalit jud ahihihi 

Oh man!!! That looks really good! I'll ask babycakes if she'll come with me this weekend to chinatown to try something like this. luoy pod intawn si babycakes kai nag trabaho sija duro karong semana. 'tawn pod ...

Quote from: chicogon on June 08, 2012, 06:26:45 AM


Rambutan ug... di ko sure sa usa, lychees? Naa ba to na? Lamian ra ba 

i love rambutan. he he he he!

Quote from: cujo on June 07, 2012, 09:15:27 PM
Just got done checking the real photos and postcards of the Philippines on ebay,while waiting for hubby to come home from work.Purchased one.Nipa hut and mango tree.

he he he, cute design!

Quote from: chicogon on June 08, 2012, 06:52:37 AM


Went to the Oriental Store today with this guy, Pauli Caronna, to buy some Pinoy food ug Peking Duck 

Pauli has a really nice TRUCK!

hmmm, this is very interesting and i must admit that i have never seen this before in my experience in the medical field. if what the mr. santos says is true, then perhaps a reason to this situation could be that the child had an alteration in his heart's conduction system where it placed him in some kind of severe bradycardia (where the heart rate is < 40 beats per minute; note that the normal heart rate is around 60-100 b/m). he apparently had pneumonia, and respiratory pathologies are known to cause arrhythmia, perhaps , in this case, was the catalyst to the onset of severe bradyarrhythmia, which led the local doctors to declare him dead. perhaps the child's vital sign were so weak that it was incorrectly diagnosed as being dead.

i'm assuming that the child was not embalmed. if the child was embalmed, then there is no way he would have risen up because when one is embalmed, one's blood is effectively drained from the body, all internal organs are also cleaned, and the body is then pumped with a toxic preservative called FORMALDEHYDE / FORMALIN in place of blood.

rip to little boy santos.

Interesting article!

Quote from: islander on June 06, 2012, 01:03:11 AM
seriously, i like this thoroughly researched article and the conclusions made by the writer.  he, at least, has the objectivity of an "outsider" who has background knowledge of history without the burden of chinese bias in its interpretation.

Indeed. It's good that he holds some kind of objectivity in his writings. I'm sure that the CCP is cringing as they read his articles.

he he he! These are two cute pandas!

Behold the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep.

- Psalms 107:24

You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

- Jonah 2: 3

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

-Psalm 42:7

But as you abound in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us--see that you abound in this grace also.

- 2 Corinthians 8:7

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

- 2 Corinthians 12:10

"Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed," he said. "Peace! Be strong now; be strong." When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, "Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength."

-Daniel 10:19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIMrS2M8hc#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOmnGzAKLvg#ws

He he he kuyawa pod uy! 550 ka iring? di na poydi nako kai ma ngatsi gajod ko aning situwasyon....

luoy pod intawn ang bata. may she rest in peace in the loving arms of The Lord. and may the murderer be brought to justice in this life. if not in this physical life, then in the life to come......where one cannot evade the Righteous Judge...

Quote from: hubag bohol on June 07, 2012, 11:15:45 AM



Vegemeat na lang haw...

he he ka namit gid sang pikchyur bla! kuan diay na, bai hubag, PVP (pure veggie protein) ?

ma gusto ako makain ini...

he he he, medyo OCD ...

huod bla! indi na ako gusto ma kaon madamang karne. Gusto na ako ma kain sang veggies na lang.

I agree with you, Anna. Keep up the great work as an educator! Truly, you have a noble profession.

Reference:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34062.htm

St. Ambrose gives additional rules concerning repentance, and shows that it must not be delayed.

1. Although in the former book we have written many things which may tend to the more perfect practice of repentance, yet inasmuch as a great deal more may be added, we will continue the repast so as not to seem to have relinquished the provisions of our teaching only half consumed.

2. For repentance must be taken in hand not only anxiously, but also quickly, lest perchance that father of the house in the Gospel who planted a fig-tree in his vineyard should come and seek fruit on it, and finding none, say to the vine-dresser: "Cut it down, why does it cumber the ground?" Luke 13:7 And unless the vine-dresser should intercede and say: "Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruitâ€" well; but if not let it be cut down." Luke 13:8-9

3. Let us then dung this field which we possess, and imitate those hard-working farmers, who are not ashamed to satiate the land with rich dung and to scatter the grimy ashes over the field, that they may gather more abundant crops.

4. And the Apostle teaches us how to dung it, saying: "I count all things but dung, that I may gain Christ," Philippians 3:8 and he, through evil report and good report, attained to pleasing Christ. For he had read that Abraham, when confessing himself to be but dust and ashes, Genesis 18:27 in his deep humility found favour with God. He had read how Job, sitting among the ashes, Job 2:8 regained all that he had lost. Job 42:10 He had heard in the utterance of David, how God "raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill."

5. Let us then not be ashamed to confess our sins unto the Lord. Shame indeed there is when each makes known his sins, but that shame, as it were, ploughs his land, removes the ever-recurring brambles, prunes the thorns, and gives life to the fruits which he believed were dead. Follow him who, by diligently ploughing his field, sought for eternal fruit: "Being reviled we bless, being persecuted we endure, being defamed we entreat, we are made as the offscouring of the world." 1 Corinthians 4:12-13 If you plough after this fashion you will sow spiritual seed. Plough that you may get rid of sin and gain fruit. He ploughed so as to destroy in himself the last tendency to persecution. What more could Christ give to lead us on to the pursuit of perfection, than to convert and then give us for a teacher one who was a persecutor?

1. If the highest end of virtue is that which aims at the advancement of most, gentleness is the most lovely of all, which does not hurt even those whom it condemns, and usually renders those whom it condemns worthy of absolution. Moreover, it is the only virtue which has led to the increase of the Church which the Lord sought at the price of His own Blood, imitating the lovingkindness of heaven, and aiming at the redemption of all, seeks this end with a gentleness which the ears of men can endure, in presence of which their hearts do not sink, nor their spirits quail.

2. For he who endeavours to amend the faults of human weakness ought to bear this very weakness on his own shoulders, let it weigh upon himself, not cast it off. For we read that the Shepherd in the Gospel Luke 15:5 carried the weary sheep, and did not cast it off. And Solomon says: "Be not overmuch righteous;" Ecclesiastes 7:17 for restraint should temper righteousness. For how shall he offer himself to you for healing whom you despise, who thinks that he will be an object of contempt, not of compassion, to his physician?

3. Therefore had the Lord Jesus compassion upon us in order to call us to Himself, not frighten us away. He came in meekness, He came in humility, and so He said: "Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." Matthew 11:28 So, then, the Lord Jesus refreshes, and does not shut out nor cast off, and fitly chose such disciples as should be interpreters of the Lord's will, as should gather together and not drive away the people of God. Whence it is clear that they are not to be counted among the disciples of Christ, who think that harsh and proud opinions should be followed rather than such as are gentle and meek; persons who, while they themselves seek God's mercy, deny it to others, such as are the teachers of the Novatians, who call themselves pure.

4. What can show more pride than this, since the Scripture says: "No one is free from sin, not even an infant of a day old;" and David cries out: "Cleanse me from my sin." Are they more holy than David, of whose family Christ vouchsafed to be born in the mystery of the Incarnation, whose descendant is that heavenly Hall which received the world's Redeemer in her virgin womb? For what is more harsh than to inflict a penance which they do not relax, and by refusing pardon to take away the incentive to penance and repentance? Now no one can repent to good purpose unless he hopes for mercy.

15. For, as the Divine utterances testify, "God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God dwells in him." Whoso therefore contends that love of God may be had without aid of God, what else does he contend, but that God may be had without God? Now what Christian would say this, which no madman would venture to say? Therefore in the Apostle, true, pious, faithful patience, says exultingly, and by the mouth of the Saints; "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us:" not through ourselves, but, "through Him that loved us." And then he goes on and adds; "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is that "love of God" which "is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." But the concupiscence of the bad, by reason of which there is in them a false patience, "is not of the Father," as says the Apostle John, but is of the world.

14. They which say these things, do not understand that as well each one of the wicked is in that measure for endurance of any ills more hard, in what measure the lust of the world is mightier in him; as also that each one of the just is in that measure for endurance of any ills more brave, in what measure in him the love of God is mightier. But lust of the world has its beginning from choice of the will, its progress from enjoyableness of pleasure, its confirmation from the chain of custom, whereas "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts," not verily from ourselves, but "by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." And therefore from Him comes the patience of the just, by Whom is shed abroad their love (of Him). Which love (of charity) the Apostle praising and setting off, among its other good qualities, says, that it "bears all things." "Charity," says he, "is magnanimous." And a little after he says, "endures all things." The greater then is in saints the charity (or love) of God, the more do they endure all things for Him whom they love, and the greater in sinners the lust of the world, the more do they endure all things for that which they lust after. And consequently from that same source comes true patience of the righteous, from which there is in them the love of God; and from that same source the false patience of the unrighteous, from which is in them the lust of the world. With regard to which the Apostle John says; "Love not the world, neither the things that be in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: because all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and pride of life; which is not of the Father, but is of the world." This concupiscence, then, which is not of the Father, but is of the world, in what measure it shall in any man be more vehement and ardent, in that measure becomes each more patient of all troubles and sorrows for that which he lusts after. Therefore, as we said above, this is not the patience which descends from above, but the patience of the godly is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. And so that is earthly, this heavenly; that animal, this spiritual; that devilish, this Godlike. Because concupiscence, whereof it comes that persons sinning suffer all things stubbornly, is of the world; but charity, whereof comes that persons living aright suffer all things bravely, is of God. And therefore to that false patience it is possible that, without aid of God, the human will may suffice; harder, in proportion as it is more eager of lust, and bearing ills with the more endurance the worse itself becomes: while to this, which is true patience, the human will, unless aided and inflamed from above, does not suffice, for the very reason that the Holy Spirit is the fire thereof; by Whom unless it be kindled to love that impassible Good, it is not able to bear the ill which it suffers.

13. But they answer and speak, saying, "If the will of man without any aid of God by strength of free choice bears so many grievous and horrible distresses, whether in mind or body, that it may enjoy the delight of this mortal life and of sins, why may it not be that in the same manner the self-same will of man by the same strength of free-choice, not thereunto looking to be aided of God, but unto itself by natural possibility sufficing, does, in all of labor or sorrow that is put upon it, for righteousness and eternal life's sake most patiently sustain the same? Or is it so, say they, that the will of the unjust is sufficient, without aid of God, for them, yea even to exercise themselves in undergoing torture for iniquity, and before they be tortured by others; sufficient the will of them which love the respiting of this life that, without aid of God, they should in the midst of most atrocious and protracted torments persevere in a lie, lest confessing their misdeeds they be ordered to be put to death; and not sufficient the will of the just, unless strength be put into them from above, that whatever be their pains, they should, either for beauty's sake of very righteousness or for love of eternal life, bear the same?"

Reference:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1315.htm

12. But concerning true patience, worthy of the name of this virtue, whence it is to be had, must now be inquired. For there are some who attribute it to the strength of the human will, not which it has by Divine assistance, but which it has of free-will. Now this error is a proud one: for it is the error of them which abound, of whom it is said in the Psalm, "A scornful reproof to them which abound, and a despising to the proud." It is not therefore that "patience of the poor" which "perishes not forever." For these poor receive it from that Rich One, to Whom is said, "My God are You, because my goods You need not:" of Whom is "every good gift, and every perfect gift;" to Whom cries the needy and the poor, and in asking, seeking, knocking, says, "My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, and from the hand of the lawless and unjust: because You are my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth up." But these which abound, and disdain to be in want before God, lest they receive of Him true patience, they which glory in their own false patience, seek to "confound the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope." Nor do they regard, seeing they are men, and attribute so much to their own, that is, to the human will, that they run into that which is written, "Cursed is every one who puts his hope in man." Whence even if it chance them that they do bear up under any hardships or difficulties, either that they may not displease men, or that they may not suffer worse, or in self-pleasing and love of their own presumption, do with most proud will bear up under these same, it is meet that concerning patience this be said unto them, which concerning wisdom the blessed Apostle James says, "This wisdom comes not from above, but is earthly, animal, devilish." For why may there not be a false patience of the proud, as there is a false wisdom of the proud? But from Whom comes true wisdom, from Him comes also true patience. For to Him sings that poor in spirit, "Unto God is my soul subjected, because from Him is my patience."

11. Let then the Saints hear from holy Scripture the precepts of patience: "My son, when you come to the service of God, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation: bring your heart low, and bear up; that in the last end your life may increase. All that shall come upon you receive you, and in pain bear up, and in your humility have patience. For in the fire gold and silver is proved, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation." And in another place we read: "My son, faint not in the discipline of the Lord, neither be wearied when you are chidden of Him. For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." What is here set down, "son whom He receives," the same in the above mentioned testimony is, "acceptable men." For this is just, that we who from our first felicity of Paradise for contumacious appetence of things to enjoy were dismissed, through humble patience of things that annoy may be received back: driven away for doing evil, brought back by suffering evil: there against righteousness doing ill, here for righteousness' sake patient of ills.

10. To this man let them look who put themselves to death when they are sought for to have life put upon them; and by bereaving themselves of the present, deny and refuse also that which is to come. Why, if people were driving them to deny Christ or to do any thing contrary to righteousness, like true Martyrs, they ought rather to bear all patiently than to dare death impatiently. If it could be right to do this for the sake of running away from evils, holy Job would have killed himself, that being in so great evils, in his estate, in his sons, in his limbs, through the devil's cruelty, he might escape them all. But he did it not. Far be it from him, a wise man, to commit upon himself what not even that unwise woman suggested. And if she had suggested it, she would with good reason here also have had that answer which she had when suggesting blasphemy; "You have spoken as one of the foolish women. If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear evil?" Seeing even he also would have lost patience, if either by blasphemy as she had suggested, or by killing himself which not even she had dared to speak of, he should die, and be among them of whom it is written, "Woe unto them that have lost patience!" and rather increase than escape pains, if after the death of his body he should be hurried off to punishment either of blasphemers, or of murderers, or of them which are worse even than parricides. For if a parricide be on that account more wicked than any homicide, because he kills not merely a man but a near relative; and among parricides too, the nearer the person killed, the greater criminal he is judged to be: without doubt worse still is he who kills himself, because there is none nearer to a man than himself. What then do these miserable persons mean, who, though both here they have inflicted pain upon themselves, and hereafter not only for their impiety towards God but for the very cruelty which they have exercised upon themselves will deservedly suffer pains of His inflicting, do yet seek moreover the glories of Martyrs? Since, even if for the true testimony of Christ they suffered persecution, and killed themselves, that they might not suffer any thing from their persecutors, it would be rightly said to them, "Woe unto them which have lost patience!" For how has patience her just reward, if even an impatient suffering receives the crown? Or how shall that man be judged innocent, to whom is said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," if he commit murder upon himself which he is forbidden to commit upon his neighbor?

9. It is indeed a greater fight of patience, when it is not a visible enemy that by persecution and rage would urge us into crime which enemy may openly and in broad day be by not consenting overcome; but the devil himself, (he who does likewise by means of the children of infidelity, as by his vessels, persecute the children of light) does by himself hiddenly attack us, by his rage putting us on to do or say something against God. As such had holy Job experience of him, by both temptations vexed, but in both through steadfast strength of patience and arms of piety unconquered. For first, his body being left unhurt, he lost all that he had, in order that the mind, before excruciation of the flesh, might through withdrawal of the things which men are wont to prize highly, be broken, and he might say something against God upon loss of the things for the sake of which he was thought to worship Him. He was smitten also with sudden bereavement of all his sons so that whom he had begotten one by one he should lose all at once, as though their numerousness had been not for the adorning of his felicity, but for the increasing of his calamity. But where, having endured these things, he remained immovable in his God, he cleaved to His will, Whom it was not possible to lose but by his own will; and in place of the things he had lost he held Him who took them away, in Whom he should find what should never be lost. For He that took them away was not that enemy who had will of hurting, but He who had given to that enemy the power of hurting. The enemy next attacked also the body, and now not those things which were in the man from without, but the man himself, in whatever part he could, he smote. From the head to the feet were burning pains, were crawling worms, were running sores; still in the rotting body the mind remained entire, and horrid as were the tortures of the consuming flesh, with inviolate piety and uncorrupted patience it endured them all. There stood the wife, and instead of giving her husband any help, was suggesting blasphemy against God. For we are not to think that the devil, in leaving her when he took away the sons, went to work as one unskilled in mischief: rather, how necessary she was to the tempter, he had already learned in Eve. But now he had not found a second Adam whom he might take by means of a woman. More cautious was Job in his hours of sadness, than Adam in his bowers of gladness, the one was overcome in the midst of pleasant things, the other overcame in the midst of pains; the one consented to that which seemed delightsome, this other quailed not in torments most affrightsome. There stood his friends too, not to console him in his evils, but to suspect evil in him. For while he suffered so great sorrows, they believed him not innocent, nor did their tongue forbear to say that which his conscience had not to say; that so amid ruthless tortures of the body, his mind also might be beaten with truthless reproaches. But he, bearing in his flesh his own pains, in his heart others' errors, reproved his wife for her folly, taught his friends wisdom, preserved patience in each and all.

8. But although patience be a virtue of the mind, yet partly the mind exercises it in the mind itself, partly in the body. In itself it exercises patience, when, the body remaining unhurt and untouched, the mind is goaded by any adversities or filthinesses of things or words, to do or to say something that is not expedient or not becoming, and patiently bears all evils that it may not itself commit any evil in work or word. By this patience we bear, even while we be sound in body, that in the midst of the offenses of this world our blessedness is deferred: of which is said what I cited a little before, "If what we see not we hope for, we do by patience wait for it." By this patience, holy David bore the revilings of a railer, and, when he might easily have avenged himself, not only did it not, but even refrained another who was vexed and moved for him; and more put forth his kingly power by prohibiting than by exercising vengeance. Nor at that time was his body afflicted with any disease or wound, but there was an acknowledging of a time of humility, and a bearing of the will of God, for the sake of which there was a drinking of the bitterness of contumely with most patient mind. This patience the Lord taught, when, the servants being moved at the mixing in of the tares and wishing to gather them up, He said that the householder answered, "Leave both to grow until the harvest." That, namely, must be patience put up with, which must not be in haste put away. Of this patience Himself afforded and showed an example, when, before the passion of His Body, He so bore with His disciple Judas, that ere He pointed him out as the traitor, He endured him as a thief; and before experience of bonds and cross and death, did, to those lips so full of guile, not deny the kiss of peace. All these, and whatever else there be, which it were tedious to rehearse, belong to that manner of patience, by which the mind does, not its own sins but any evils so ever from without, patiently endure in itself, while the body remains altogether unhurt. But the other manner of patience is that by which the same mind bears any troubles and grievances whatsoever in the sufferings of the body; not as do foolish or wicked men for the sake of getting vain things or perpetrating crimes; but as is defined by the Lord, "for righteousness' sake." In both kinds, the holy Martyrs contended. For both with scornful reproofs of the ungodly were they filled, where, the body remaining intact, the mind has its own (as it were) blows and wounds, and bears these unbroken: and in their bodies they were bound, imprisoned, vexed with hunger and thirst, tortured, gashed, torn asunder, burned, butchered; and with piety immovable submitted unto God their mind, while they were suffering in the flesh all that exquisite cruelty could devise in its mind.

7. Though indeed the welfare even of the body is then more providently consulted for if its temporal life and welfare be disregarded for righteousness' sake, and its pain or death most patiently for righteousness' sake endured. Since it is of the body's redemption which is to be in the end, that the Apostle speaks, where he says, "Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body." Then he subjoins, "For in hope are we saved. But hope which is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he also hope for? But if what we see not we hope for, we do by patience wait for it." When therefore any ills do torture us indeed, yet not extort from us ill works, not only is the soul possessed through patience; but even when through patience the body itself for a time is afflicted or lost, it is unto eternal stability and salvation resumed, and has through grief and death an inviolable health and happy immortality laid up for itself. Whence the Lord Jesus exhorting his Martyrs to patience, has promised of the very body a future perfect entireness, without loss, I say not of any limb, but of a single hair. "Verily I say unto you," says He, "a hair of your head shall not perish." That so, because, as the Apostle says, "no man ever hated his own flesh," a faithful man may more by patience than by impatience take vigilant care for the state of his flesh, and find amends for its present losses, how great soever they may be, in the inestimable gain of future incorruption.

6. But yet, seeing that for lusts' sake, or even wickednesses, seeing, in a word, that for this temporal life and good men do wonderfully bear the brunt of many horrible sufferings, they much admonish us how great things ought to be borne for the sake of a good life, that it may also hereafter be eternal life, and without any bound of time, without waste or loss of any advantage, in true felicity secure. The Lord says, "In your patience you shall possess your souls:" He says not, your farms, your praises, your luxuries; but, "your souls." If then the soul endures so great sufferings that it may possess that whereby it may be lost, how great ought it to bear that it may not be lost? And then, to mention a thing not culpable, if it bear so great sufferings for saving of the flesh under the hands of chirurgeons cutting or burning the same, how great ought it to bear for saving of itself under the fury of any soever enemies? Seeing that leeches, that the body may not die, do by pains consult for the body's good; but enemies by threatening the body with pains and death, would urge us on to the slaying of soul and body in hell.

5. When therefore you shall see any man suffer anything patiently, do not straightway praise it as patience; for this is only shown by the cause of suffering. When it is a good cause, then is it true patience: when that is not polluted by lust, then is this distinguished from falsity. But when that is placed in crime, then is this much misplaced in name. For not just as all who know are partakers of knowledge, just so are all who suffer partakers of patience: but they which rightly use the suffering, these in verity of patience are praised, these with the prize of patience are crowned.