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Thursday, February 19, 2026

Augustine: the evil turning

Meditation:
Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
—Ecclesiastes 10:3 (ESV)

Quotation:
When the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil—not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked. Therefore it is not an inferior thing which has made the will evil, but it is itself which has become so by wickedly and inordinately desiring an inferior thing.
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The City of God, v. I [426], Marcus Dods, ed., as vol. 1 of The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Edinbugh: T & T Clark, 1871, XII.vi, p. 488-489 (see the book)
See also Eccl. 10:3; Matt. 15:11,17-20; Mark 7:15,18-23; Luke 11:38-41; Tit. 1:15

Quiet time reflection:
Hide me, Lord, from the evil that my own will would lead me to.
 
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  by Robert McAnally Adams,
  Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day
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