Now this is the ground and original of the Spirit of Love in the creature, it is and must be read more

Now this is the ground and original of the Spirit of Love in the creature, it is and must be a will to all goodness; and you have not the Spirit of Love in you till you have this will to all goodness at all times and on all occasions. You may indeed do many works of love and delight in them -- especially at such times as they are not inconvenient to your state or temper or occurrences in life. But the Spirit of Love is not in you till it is the spirit of your life, till you live freely, willingly, and universally according to it.

Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 3. the ministry of listening The first service that read more

Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship: 3. the ministry of listening The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them... Listening can be a greater service than speaking... One who cannot listen long and patiently will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others. Anyone who thinks his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies... We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 There is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate read more

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 There is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate of this world and the world to come, in the honour paid to those who cast away life in battle, or sap it slowly in the pursuit of wealth or honours, and the contempt expressed for those who compromise life on behalf of souls, for which Christ died. Whenever, by exertion in any unselfish cause, health is broken or fortune impaired, or influential friends estranged, the follower of Christ is called an enthusiast, a fanatic, or even more plainly a man of unsound mind. He may be comforted by remembering that Jesus was said to be beside Himself when teaching and healing left Him not leisure even to eat.

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of read more

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.

[Thomas] Carlyle believed that every man has a special duty to do in this world. If he had been asked read more

[Thomas] Carlyle believed that every man has a special duty to do in this world. If he had been asked what especially he conceived his own duty to be, he would have said that it was to force men to realize once more that the world was actually governed by a just God; that the old familiar story, acknowledged everywhere in words on Sundays and disregarded or openly denied on week-days, was, after all, true. His writings, every one of them, ... were to this same purpose and on this same text -- that truth must be spoken and justice must be done; on any other conditions, no real commonwealth, no common welfare, is permitted or possible.

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 God does not lead His children around hardship, but leads them straight read more

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 God does not lead His children around hardship, but leads them straight through hardship. But He leads! And amidst the hardship, He is nearer to them than ever before.

It is to no purpose to boast of Christ, if we have not an evidence of His graces in our read more

It is to no purpose to boast of Christ, if we have not an evidence of His graces in our hearts and lives. But unto whom He is the hope of future glory, unto them He is the life of present grace.

The various moral and theological and sociological disputes of the day, however progressively resolved with ecclesiastical connivance, have nothing to read more

The various moral and theological and sociological disputes of the day, however progressively resolved with ecclesiastical connivance, have nothing to say to this spiritual hunger, which is not assuaged by legalized abortion and homosexuality, solaced by contraception, or relieved by majority rule. Nor will it take comfort in the thought that God is dead, or that mankind has come of age, or even in ecumenical negotiations for writing off Papal Infallibility against the validity of Anglican Orders. The only means of satisfying it remains that bread of life which Jesus offered, with the promise that those who are of it should never hunger again. The promise stands.

Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812 Weak and imperfect men shall, read more

Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812 Weak and imperfect men shall, notwithstanding their frailties and effects, be received as having pleased God, if they have done their utmost to please Him.