A Vision of Light Quotes

“Margaret looked up at him from where she sat by the window.

"Oh, Brother Gregory, what's wrong with your hand"

"I'm just scratching it; it itches."

"Really, is it red?"

"No, it's just a bite. You gave me a flea."

"I don't have fleas, Brother Gregory," insisted Margaret.

"Everyone has fleas, Margaret. It's part of God's plan."

"I don't. I wash them off."

"Margaret, you haven't any sense at all. They just hop back. You can't wash enough to keep them off."

"I do."

"Aren't you afraid your skin will come off? It could, you know. That's much worse than fleas." Brother Gregory spoke with an air of absolute certainty.

"Everyone tells me that. It hasn't come off yet."

"Margaret, you're too hardheaded for your own good. Now take for your next sentence, 'Fleas do not wash off.'"

"Is this right?" She held up the tablet, and Brother Gregory shook his head in mock indignation.

"I despair of you, Margaret. Flea is not spelled with one e--it's spelled with two.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Tell me, Brother Gregory, in your opinion can a woman think as well as a man?"
"Properly speaking," he said in a learned voice, "a woman cannot think at all, or at least, think as we men know it. But the imitative ability is very greatly developed in women, so that by copying men, some may attain the appearance of thought.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“The old days are always better,” replied Brother Sebastian. “The older they are, the better they get. That’s because you don’t remember them as well.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“You haven’t learned anything yet, have you? Don’t you know My hand sustains you?” I began to shiver in the chilly wind, and wrapped my cloak tighter. Then—I just couldn’t help it—I said, “You—have a hand?” “Only in a manner of speaking. I thought you’d understand it better that way.” “Oh, I’m sorry.” “You ought to be. You’re very troublesome, for a woman.” “For a woman—? Are You a man, then, after all?” “I am what people expect Me to be. It’s all they are capable of comprehending. After all, doesn’t it surprise you that I’m speaking in English instead of Latin?” “But I don’t know any Latin.” “Exactly.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“That is God’s way. He upsets everything and loves to annoy the vain most of all.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“DON’T LOOK LIKE a midwife,” Brother Gregory interrupted, as he blew on a page to make it dry. His face was averted to conceal his distaste. It is one thing to describe, say, the Virgin with angel attendants, but this woman had no discretion at all. “I’m not one anymore,” replied Margaret, looking at him coldly. “That is self-evident; it’s not an art practiced by women in respectable circumstances,” said Brother Gregory, looking around. “It ought to be the most respected profession in the world—midwives witness how God makes the world new,” said Margaret;”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“There is nothing wrong with being a woman, and doing ordinary things. Sometimes small deeds can show big ideas.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“The Miraculous Pancake?” my husband rumbled. “I’ve heard of that – they’ve just hit me up for a contribution to a shrine. I gave, of course. I always contribute to shrines.” “Father Edmund,” I asked, “have there been any more Manifestations since the Pancake?” “Oh, yes, several interesting ones. The Glowing Bone, the Floating Sword – that one was false, set up by a charlatan for money – there is also the Angelic Footprint and the Hanged Man’s Thumbnail.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Tell me, Brother Gregory, in your opinion can a woman think as well as a man?” “Properly speaking,” he said in a learned voice, “a woman cannot think at all, or at least, think as we men know it. But the imitative ability is very greatly developed in women, so that by copying men, some may attain the appearance of thought.” “This imitative ability,” said Margaret in a careful tone of voice, so as not to seem leading, “—how far does it carry women in the most extreme cases?” “Well, as far as true rationality, it cannot lead. In invention, mathematics and the higher philosophy, these being products of original thought and therefore pertaining to men, a woman cannot hope to enter. But in simpler things they have occasionally been trained. And it is, in my mind, entirely just to do so. For is not a falcon made useful to man by being trained in hunting? Is not a dog capable of being changed from a wild, dangerous creature to a gentle companion, capable of retrieving objects and protecting his lord’s house, if trained to the height of his capacities? Thus it is with women – they, too, should be trained as well as they are able, for the sake of their service to man.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“But—but couldn’t I be a nun, then, instead of marrying?” I ventured timidly. Sir Ambrose stood up in a towering rage and shouted down where I knelt, “You? A bride of Christ? You have no vocation that I have ever seen – Mistress Light Foot, the Dancer, Mistress Gay Voice, the Singer, Mistress Stay-up-at-Night-to-Steal-Kisses! Do not blaspheme the Holy Sisters! Ask Christ to steady you and make you grateful for marriage to so fine a man as Lewis Small!” “Fine a man?” I looked up at him. “Why, fine indeed! Finer by far than your own family. And although not noble in birth, noble in thought, noble in deed and noble in his love for Mother Church. He has already made an offering sufficient to repair the roof. And on the day the wedding vows are made, he pledges a window for the nave. Would you deny a holy place the beauty of a stained-glass window for your own selfish desires? Repent, repent now, and be forgiven, and marry in all modesty and humility, as becomes a maiden!”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“I am extremely humble,” answered Brother Gregory loftily, gesturing to his clothing in turn. “In fact, if you measure humility by the greatness of the change from one’s previous attire, I am possibly the most humble man in London. With my spiritual exercises in addition, I grow in Humility by leaps and bounds. Actually I expect to see God quite soon.” Brother Gregory looked very self-satisfied.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Now, if God were a woman, things would be entirely different, it seemed to me. Certainly She wouldn’t make a girl get married when she didn’t want to. She’d let the women do the choosing, and the men would have to wait to be chosen, and obey in all modesty and humility. It would be very, very different in this world, if women could make their own choices. But”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Today she was copying the Biblical passage that he had recited concerning the woman more valuable than rubies who serves her family day and night and never gets any rest.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Oh, good Lord Jesus, I prayed, preserve me from this joking of God. Grief and trouble were all bad enough. But joking? It seemed altogether unfair, to me.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“It is impossible to deny a woman in a feeding mood. It is as if they look right through you, to that small, weak part that has been there since you were a baby and that doesn’t know how to defy authority.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“I can write in Latin, French, and common English. I will not, however, write in German; it is a barbaric tongue that curdles the ink.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“Who put this in your mind, the Devil? He often plants improper desires in women. Women have no reason to write anything at all. They do not take part in great deeds, nor do they think sublime thoughts. These two things are the only proper reasons for writing books. The rest are all vanity, and will lead others into sin. Go home and serve your husband, and thank God that He has made you humble.” I was very discouraged. “Voice,” I said, “you’ve got me a tongue lashing, and I’m sad.” The Voice said, “Keep at it, Margaret. I didn’t think you were the sort of person who gave up so easily.” “It’s really too much for me this time. Everyone’s always telling me what’s impossible, and maybe this time they’re right. No man wants to write down what a woman has to say.” “You just haven’t found the right one yet,” said the Voice. “Keep on looking.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light

“I was content to dwell on the new idea that had come to me that all things and states were just varieties of light, and that in every form, light was the emanation and manifestation of God.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light