Feast of Philip & James, Apostles If we do not at least try to manifest something of Creative read more

Feast of Philip & James, Apostles If we do not at least try to manifest something of Creative Charity in our dealings with life, whether by action, thought, or prayer, and do it at our own cost -- if we roll up the talent of love in the nice white napkin of piety and put it safely out of the way, sorry that the world is so hungry and thirsty, so sick and so fettered, and leave it at that: then, even that little talent may be taken from us. We may discover at the crucial moment that we are spiritually bankrupt.

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 To think of the Communists as the executors of God's judgment should read more

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 To think of the Communists as the executors of God's judgment should not strike us as strange if we have read our Bibles. The same study should free us from the assumption that God will always be on our side whatever we do, will always protect His Church from temporal evil; or that He is only concerned with the faithful believers. It was precisely His concern for the wicked Ninevites that so distressed the prophet Jonah.

The evil of riches, then, for institutions, for nations, for individuals, is that those who possess or seek to possess read more

The evil of riches, then, for institutions, for nations, for individuals, is that those who possess or seek to possess almost invariably overvalue possessions and so cease to live creatively. They stop loving God with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength and all the mind. They stop loving their neighbors, too. When you find a person of means who is not either a self-centered bore or a low person, you may know that God has worked a miracle.

Briefly, that teaching contains the following elements: (1) There is one living and true God (i.9); (2) Idolatry is sinful read more

Briefly, that teaching contains the following elements: (1) There is one living and true God (i.9); (2) Idolatry is sinful and must be forsaken (i.9); (3) The wrath of God is ready to be revealed against the heathen for their impurity (iv.6), and against the Jews for their rejection of Christ and their opposition to the Gospel (ii.15,16); (4) The judgment will come suddenly and unexpectedly (v.2,3); (5) Jesus, the Son of God (i.1O), given over to death (v.10), and raised from the dead (iv.14), is the Saviour from the wrath of God (i.10); (6) The Kingdom of Jesus is now set up and all men are invited to enter it (ii.12); (7) Those who believe and turn to God are now expecting the coming of the Savior who will return from Heaven to receive them (i.10; iv.15-17); (8) Meanwhile, their life must be pure (iv.1-8), useful (iv.11-12), and watchful (v.14-8); (9) To that end, God has given them His Holy Spirit (iv.8; v.19). (Continued tomorrow).

Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878 If there were a righteousness which a man read more

Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878 If there were a righteousness which a man could have of his own, then we should have to concern ourselves with the question of how it can be imparted to him. But there is not. The idea of a righteousness of one's own is the quintessence of sin.

Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 We shall benefit very much from the Sacrament if this read more

Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 We shall benefit very much from the Sacrament if this thought has been impressed and engraved upon our minds that none of the brethren can be injured, despised, rejected, abused, or in any way offended by us, without [our] injuring, despising, and abusing Christ by the wrongs we do; that we cannot disagree with our brethren without at the same time disagreeing with Christ; that we cannot love Christ without loving Him in the brethren; that we ought to take the same care of our brethren's bodies as we take of our own; for they are members of our body; and that, as no part of our body is touched by any feeling of pain which is not spread among all the rest, so we ought not to allow a brother to be affected by any evil, without being touched with compassion for him.

Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253 Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, read more

Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253 Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890 It is our great relief that God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, that he looks at the motives, and accepts and blesses in spite of incidental errors.

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If you were to rise early every read more

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If you were to rise early every morning, as an instance of self-denial, as a method of renouncing indulgence, as a means of redeeming your time and of fitting your spirit for prayer, you would find mighty advantages from it. This method, though it seem such a small circumstance of life, would in all probability be a means [toward] great piety. It would keep it constantly in your head that softness and idleness were to be avoided and that self-denial was a part of Christianity... It would teach you to exercise power over yourself, and make you able by degrees to renounce other pleasures and tempers that war against the soul.

"There is no God," the foolish saith, But none, "There is no sorrow." And nature oft the cry of read more

"There is no God," the foolish saith, But none, "There is no sorrow." And nature oft the cry of faith In bitter need will borrow: Eyes which the preacher could not school, By wayside graves are raised; And lips say, "God be pitiful," Who ne'er said, "God be praised.".