Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866 God gave the prophecies, not to gratify men's curiosity by enabling read more

Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866 God gave the prophecies, not to gratify men's curiosity by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and His own providence, not the interpreter's, be thereby manifested to the world.

Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417 If afore us were laid together all the pains in read more

Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417 If afore us were laid together all the pains in Hell... and in Earth -- death and the rest -- and by itself, sin, we would rather choose all that pain than sin. For sin is so vile and so greatly to be hated that it may be likened to no pain that is not sin. To me was shown no harder hell than sin.

Paul's argument in First Corinthians 1:18-25 is equally relevant when we come to ask why men cannot understand the Bible. read more

Paul's argument in First Corinthians 1:18-25 is equally relevant when we come to ask why men cannot understand the Bible. Any attempts to hide behind the excuse that it is too difficult, when what we mean is that its word is too hard for us to bear, meets the just remark of a pastor from Communist Germany: "How can they say that the Bible is difficult, when young Communists are poring over much more difficult and much more technical literature to discover what Communism is all about?" Sometimes the Biblical teaching is crystal-clear, but we dare not understand it. The Christian Church has a vested interest in its present forms, and Christian people, like others, have their pleasant prejudices. This unwillingness to hear some new thing, except in times of great disturbance, plays a bigger part in weakening the voice of God through the Bible than we are prepared to admit.

Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170 Belief in God through Christ is the most important of read more

Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170 Belief in God through Christ is the most important of all aids to the following of Christ, but (let us never forget) the following is the great thing. To those who, by whatever means they are attracted to Him, really seek to do God's will as He revealed it, Christ will prove a Saviour -- a Saviour from sin, a Saviour from the power of sin here, and from the misery which sin brings with it here and hereafter.

Concluding a short series on prayer: He that seeks God in everything is sure to find God in everything. read more

Concluding a short series on prayer: He that seeks God in everything is sure to find God in everything. When we thus live wholly unto God, God is wholly ours and we are then happy in all the happiness of God; for by uniting with Him in heart, and will, and spirit, we are united to all that He is and has in Himself. This is the purity and perfection of life that we pray for in the Lord's Prayer, that God's kingdom may come and His will be done in us, as it is in Heaven. And this we may be sure is not only necessary, but attainable by us, or our Saviour would not have made it a part of our daily prayer.

Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167 Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689 read more

Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167 Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689 Pain is a kindly, hopeful thing, a certain proof of life, a clear assurance that all is not yet over, that there is still a chance. But if your heart has no pain -- well, that may betoken health, as you suppose: but are you certain that it does not mean that your soul is dead?

Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's read more

Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

How did Jesus show his authority? Not by making vast claims for himself, though such claims were implicit. His authority read more

How did Jesus show his authority? Not by making vast claims for himself, though such claims were implicit. His authority seemed to reside in what he was and what he did rather than in what he specifically claimed to be. Especially in Mark's Gospel there is an elusive quality about his authority, the mystery of the hidden Messiah. His authority was at the same time most deeply hidden and most clearly expressed by his servanthood... The more the Church in its life shows forth the character of the Servant, the more will its teaching bear the marks of the authority of the Servant.

Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life read more

Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876 It is to be acknowledged that many passages in the Bible are abstruse, and not to be easily understood. Yet we are not to omit reading the abstruser texts, which have any appearance of relating to us; but should follow the example of the Blessed Virgin, who understood not several of our Saviour's sayings, but kept them all in her heart. Were we only to learn humility thus, it would be enough; but we shall by degrees come to apprehend far more than we expected, if we diligently compare spiritual things to spiritual.