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Manuel Alfonseca Quotes

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Famous Manuel Alfonseca Quotes

“When I was a child in school, one of my teachers complained that we students always told about our achievements in the active mode (I've passed), while we always told about our failures in the passive mode (I've been failed). All of this in Spanish, of course, but it's true, that's how children speak in my country. So the good grades are due to the child's actions, while the failed grades seem to be the responsibility of the teacher. What Lorenzo Scupoli is telling us [in his book "Spiritual Combat"] is just the opposite: whenever I do something right, it's not I who has done it, it's not my action, for God was acting through me. At most I can say that I allowed God to act through me. On the other hand, when I do something wrong (sin) I myself am the only responsible, for I didn't allow God to take control. Therefore I should trust only God and not me, for whenever I insist to take control, I do something wrong.”

“Trusting yourself is the opposite of trusting God. If you trust God totally (as you must) you must mistrust yourself. If you trust yourself, you are automatically mistrusting God. Faith is not enough, you also need an act of will. The act of will you need is precisely deciding to trust God fully and mistrust yourself. Modern psychology has lost its bearings when they insist that one must trust oneself. That position is un-Christian.”