Choose a topic from Part 2B:

159. Cruelty

1. Cruelty is hardness of heart which makes one willing toinflict injurious or excessive punishment. It is a vice whichdirectly opposes the virtue of clemency.

2. Cruelty differs from brutality or savagery in this:cruelty recognizes its victim as one truly deserving punishment andis excessive in inflicting it; savagery or brutality takes inhumanand even bestial delight in the torture it inflicts on a humanbeing, regardless of the guilt or innocence of its victim.

"Obedience is a short cut to perfection."
St Philip Neri

* * *

"This is the greatest wisdom -- to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. "
Thomas á Kempis

* * *

"Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but when he has once chosen, he ought not to change, except for most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in his director."
St Philip Neri

* * *