Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945 There remains for us only the very narrow way, often extremely read more

Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945 There remains for us only the very narrow way, often extremely difficult to find, of living every day as though it were our last, and yet living in faith and responsibility as though there were to be a great future.

Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258 Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, read more

Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258 Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253 It is of the greatest importance for the soul to go to prayer with confidence, and such a pure and disinterested love as seeks nothing from the Father but the ability to please Him and to do His will; for a child who only proportions his diligence to his hope of reward renders himself unworthy of all reward. Go, then, to prayer, not that ye may enjoy spiritual delights, but that ye may be full or empty, just as it pleaseth God. This will preserve you in an evenness of spirit, either in desertion or in consolation, and will prevent your being surprised at dryness, or the apparent repulses of Him who is altogether Love. Constant prayer is to keep the heart always right towards God.

Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633 The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be? My God, no hymn read more

Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633 The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be? My God, no hymn for Thee? My soul's a shepherd too: a flock it feeds Of thoughts, and words, and deeds. The pasture is Thy Word, the streams, Thy Grace Enriching all the place. Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers Out-sing the daylight hours.

O father Abram, what these Christians are,
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect
The thoughts of read more

O father Abram, what these Christians are,
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect
The thoughts of others!

Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687 Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Although we ought always to read more

Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687 Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Although we ought always to raise our minds upwards towards God, and pray without ceasing, yet such is our weakness, which requires to be supported, such our torpor, which requires to be stimulated, that it is requisite for us to appoint special hours for this exercise, hours which are not to pass away without prayer, and during which the whole affections of our minds are to be completely occupied; namely, when we rise in the morning, before we commence our daily work, when we sit down to food, when by the blessing of God we have taken it, and when we retire to rest. This, however, must not be a superstitious observance of hours, by which, as it were, performing a task to God, we think we are discharged as to other hours. It should rather be considered a discipline by which our weakness is exercised and stimulated. (Continued tomorrow).

Without realizing what was happening, most of us gradually came to take for granted the premises underlying the philosophy of read more

Without realizing what was happening, most of us gradually came to take for granted the premises underlying the philosophy of optimism. We proceeded to live these propositions, though we would not have stated them as blandly as I set them forth here: Man is inherently good. Individual man can carve out his own salvation with the help of education and society through progressively better government. Reality and values worth searching for lie in the material world that science is steadily teaching us to analyze, catalogue, and measure. While we do not deny the existence of inner values, we relegate them to second place. The purpose of life is happiness, [which] we define in terms of enjoyable activity, friends, and the accumulation of material objects. The pain and evil of life -- such as ignorance, poverty, selfishness, hatred, greed, lust for power -- are caused by factors in the external world; therefore, the cure lies in the reforming of human institutions and the bettering of environmental conditions. As science and technology remove poverty and lift from us the burden of physical existence, we shall automatically become finer persons, seeing for ourselves the value of living the Golden Rule. In time, the rest of the world will appreciate the demonstration that the American way of life is best. They will then seek for themselves the good life of freedom and prosperity. This will be the greatest impetus toward an end of global conflict. The way to get along with people is to beware of religious dictums and dogma. The ideal is to be a nice person and to live by the Creed of Tolerance. Thus we offend few people. We live and let live. This is the American Way.

Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in Thy peace and wake read more

Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in Thy peace and wake in Thy glory.

This wide and generous spirit of love, not the religious egotist's longing to get away from the world to God, read more

This wide and generous spirit of love, not the religious egotist's longing to get away from the world to God, is the fruit of true self-oblation; for a soul totally possessed by God is a soul totally possessed by Charity. By the path of self-offering, the Church and the soul have come up to the frontiers of the Holy. There we are required, not to cast the world from us, but to do our best for all others as well as ourselves.

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 That God loves us in spite of our sin is the read more

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 That God loves us in spite of our sin is the Gospel truth; but this truth can only be shared by words, since good deeds are easily [taken to show] the opposite--that we love God. Faith is not understood when [it is] only demonstrated by life. The more sanctified a life without the verbal witness, the greater the danger of the Christian's goodness getting in the way. Should a person by the grace of God become easier to live with, he doesn't need to call attention to it: it will speak for itself. He can instead seek to balance the reverse effect of the good image by occasionally speaking of the unfavorable realities within, those parts that are still changing. In this way, his external behavior by contrast can point to the power of God, rather than to the effort of man. When we decrease, He can increase, but not until.