The task of the people of God is to proclaim the kingdom of God, which is a universal kingdom extending read more

The task of the people of God is to proclaim the kingdom of God, which is a universal kingdom extending to every aspect of human life. In a secular society, religion cannot remain a department of life. It must be the expression of a faith that extends over the whole of life, or it will be nothing.

If... you are ever tempted to think that we modern Western Europeans cannot really be so very bad because we read more

If... you are ever tempted to think that we modern Western Europeans cannot really be so very bad because we are, comparatively speaking, humane--if, in other words, you think God might be content with us on that ground--ask yourself whether you think God ought to have been content with the cruelty of past ages because they excelled in courage or chastity. You will see at once that this is an impossibility. From considering how the cruelty of our ancestors looks to us, you may get some inkling of how our softness, worldliness, and timidity would have looked to them, and hence how both must look to God.

Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380 God is often faulted for creating a world full of suffering read more

Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380 God is often faulted for creating a world full of suffering and evil. The issue is complex, both philosophically and theologically; but surely it is inappropriate to blame God for a problem He did not initiate, and [that is] in fact, one which He has sought to alleviate, at great cost to Himself. God sent His Son to inaugurate the Kingdom and to "destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). God is not the cause of suffering and sickness; He is its cure! Jesus' ministry and death guarantee this.

Feast of the Holy Cross If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest read more

Feast of the Holy Cross If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand", or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying peace, peace, where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant words, "Let love be without dissimulation" and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

You meet a thousand times in life with those who, in dealing with any religious question, make at once their read more

You meet a thousand times in life with those who, in dealing with any religious question, make at once their appeal to reason, and insist on forthwith rejecting aught that lies beyond its sphere -- without, however, being able to render any clear account of the nature and proper limits of the knowledge thus derived, or of the relation in which such knowledge stands to the religious needs of men. I would invite you, therefore, to inquire seriously whether such persons are not really bowing down before an idol of the mind, which, while itself of very questionable worth, demands as much implicit faith from its worshipers as divine revelation itself.

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 From subtle love of softening things, From easy choices, weakenings, (Not read more

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 From subtle love of softening things, From easy choices, weakenings, (Not thus are spirits fortified; Not this way went the Crucified;) From all that dims Thy Calvary, 0 Lamb of God, deliver me. Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God!

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 Let a man but separate himself from read more

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 Let a man but separate himself from all contingencies and from all works, and there will come over him in this state of emptiness a peace which is very great, lovely, and agreeable, and which is in itself no sin since it is part of our human nature. But when it is taken for a veritable possessing of God, or unity with God, then it is sin, for it is in reality nothing else than a state of thorough passivity and apathy untouched by the power from on high -- a purely negative state from which (if one in arrogance calls it divine) nothing follows but blindness, failure of understanding, and a disinclination to be governed by the rules of ordinary righteousness.

Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 To take up the cross of Christ is read more

Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 As long as I see any thing to be read more

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 As long as I see any thing to be done for God, life is worth having; but O how vain and unworthy it is to live for any lower end!