Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead read more

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us to worship God, filling our inner being with a fullness we would never have thought possible. Awe prepares the way in us for the power of God to transform us and this transformation of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and obedience toward God.

Thy word remaineth for ever, which word now appeareth unto us in the riddle of the clouds, and through the read more

Thy word remaineth for ever, which word now appeareth unto us in the riddle of the clouds, and through the mirror of the heavens, not as it is: because that even we, though the well beloved of thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. He looked through the lattice of our flesh and he spake us fair, yea, he set us on fire, and we hasten on his scent. But when he shall appear, then shall we be like him, for we shall see him as he is: as he is, Lord, will our sight be, though the time be not yet. ... The Confessions of St. Augustine June 19, 1996 Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929 Many we have who plead themselves to be Christians. This might be allowed them, would they not do such things as the Christian religion abhors. But this is the least part of their claim. They will also be the only Christians, all others who differ from them -- however so falsely called -- being only a drove of unbelievers, hastening unto hell.

One of Paul's most important teachings... is the doctrine of what we call "justification by faith". It frequently appears to read more

One of Paul's most important teachings... is the doctrine of what we call "justification by faith". It frequently appears to the non-Christian mind that this is an immoral or at least unmoral doctrine. Paul appears to be saying that a man is justified before God, not by his goodness or badness, not by his good deeds or bad deeds, but by believing in a certain doctrine of Atonement. Of course, when we come to examine the matter more closely, we can see that there is nothing unmoral in this teaching at all. For if "faith" means using a God-given faculty to apprehend the unseen divine order, and means, moreover, involving oneself in that order by personal commitment, we can at once see how different that is from merely accepting a certain view of Christian redemption... That which man in every religion, every century, every country, was powerless to affect, God has achieved by the devastating humility of His action and suffering in Jesus Christ. Now, accepting such an action as a fait accompli is only possible by this perceptive faculty of "faith". It requires not merely intellectual assent but a shifting of personal trust from the achievements of the self to the completely undeserved action of God. To accept this teaching by mind and heart does, indeed, require a metanoia ["transformation"], a revolution in the outlook of both heart and mind.

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 The task is not, in essence, the securing read more

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 The task is not, in essence, the securing of uniformity, or cooperation, or Church reunion, or any of the external forms, through which nevertheless the unity may be manifested. Within the wide bounds of the Christian Church there is abundant scope for the multiplicity of races, languages, and social conditions; room also for separate organizations with different traditions of faith and order, and much diversity of operation. But there is no room for strife or hostility, for pride or selfassertion, for exclusiveness or unkind judgments, nor for that kind of independence which leads men to ignore their fellowship with the great company of believers, the communion of saints. These things are contrary to the revealed will of God, and should be made at once to cease. As these disappear, the outward manifestation of unity will come in such ways as the Spirit of God shall guide.

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.

At the very moment when the pulpit has fallen strangely silent about sin, fiction can talk of little except evil, read more

At the very moment when the pulpit has fallen strangely silent about sin, fiction can talk of little except evil, not indeed viewed as sin, but apparently as the invariable ways of a peculiarly repulsive insect, which it can't help, poor thing; and there is no manner of use expecting anything from it, except the nastiness natural to it.

He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying.

He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying.

Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642 Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers read more

Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642 Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.

The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.

The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.