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117. Man's Action Upon Things

1. Man acts upon his fellow man. In special, man canenlighten or teach others.

2. Man cannot teach or enlighten angels, but by his speechor prayer he can make known to angels what they could not otherwiseknow, that is, his own secret thoughts and intentions.

3. Man cannot move or affect bodies directly by acts offree will. Indirectly his will can move or change bodies by itsdecision which makes a man take hold on bodies and change them. Andindirectly, by holding the mind and imagination to a certain trainof thought or fancy, the will can work a change in a man's ownbody. Thus may a man move himself to resolution, to calmness intrial, to anger; and concomitant changes result in the body itself.Of course, by natural action, man's will commands the normalmovements of the body exercised in such acts as stretching out thehands, or walking.

4. When the human soul is separated from its body bydeath, it has no further control over the members of that body, orof any other body, unless God, by a miracle, should give it thatpower.

"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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"The name of Jesus, pronounced with reverence and affection, has a kind of power to soften the heart. "
St Philip Neri

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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. "
Thomas á Kempis

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