Feast of John Vianney, Curè d'Ars, 1859 Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer read more

Feast of John Vianney, Curè d'Ars, 1859 Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.

Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation It was not a marriage only, but a marriage read more

Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation It was not a marriage only, but a marriage feast to which Christ conducted His disciples. Now, we cannot get over this plain fact by saying that it was a religious ceremony: that would be mere sophistry. It was an indulgence in the festivity of life; as plainly as words can describe, here was a banquet of human enjoyment. The very language of the master of the feast about men who had well drunk, tells us that there had been, not excess, of course, but happiness there, and merry-making. Neither can we explain away the lesson by saying that it is no example to us, for Christ was there to do good, and that what was safe for Him might be unsafe for us. For if His life is no pattern for us here in this case of accepting an invitation, in what can we be sure it is a pattern? Besides, He took His disciples there, and His mother was there: they were not shielded, as He was, by immaculate purity. He was there as a guest first, as Messiah only afterwards: thereby He declared the sacredness of natural enjoyments.... For Christianity does not destroy what is natural, but ennobles it. To turn water into wine, and what is common into what is holy, is indeed the glory of Christianity.

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 For the power Thou hast given read more

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 For the power Thou hast given me to lay hold of things unseen: For the strong sense I have that this is not my home: For my restless heart which nothing finite can satisfy: I give Thee thanks, O God. For the invasion of my soul by Thy Holy Spirit: For all human love and goodness that speak to me of Thee: For the fullness of Thy glory outpoured in Jesus Christ I give Thee thanks, O God.

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, read more

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 I would have the whole of my experience one continued sense -- first, of my nothingness, and dependence on God; second, of my guiltiness and desert before Him; third, of my obligations to redeeming love, as utterly overwhelming me with its incomprehensible extent and grandeur.

Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107 There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust read more

Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107 There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is bound to undermine any adequate sense of human responsibility. Such a faith is thought to be dangerous to spiritual health because it breeds a habit of complacent inertia. In particular, it is thought to paralyse evangelism by robbing one both of the motive to evangelize and of the message to evangelize with. The supposition seems to be that you cannot evangelize effectively unless you are prepared to pretend while you are doing it, that the doctrine of divine sovereignty is not true. I shall try to make it evident that this is nonsense. I shall try to show further that, so far from inhibiting evangelism, faith in the sovereignty of God's government and grace is the only thing that can sustain it, for it is the only thing that can give us the resilience that we need if we are to evangelize boldly and persistently, and not be daunted by temporary setbacks. So far from being weakened by this faith, therefore, evangelism will inevitably be weak and lack staying power without it.

He said: that it was a Great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other read more

He said: that it was a Great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action, as by prayer in its season.

Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so equated only when the profound mistake is made of read more

Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent. As the New Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance, commitment, vision. It is not a belief in this or that creed, it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition than the intellect. Faith has indeed an element of true simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which no man can enter the Kingdom of God. ... Anonymous December 16, 1996 But lo' the snare is broke, the captive's freed, By faith on all the hostile powers we tread, And crush through Jesus' strength the Serpent's head. Jesus hath cast the cursed Accuser down, Hath rooted up the tares by Satan sown: All nature bows to His benign command, And two are one in His almighty hand. One in His hand, O may we still remain, Fast bound with love's indissoluble chain; (That adamant which time and death defies, That golden chain which draws us to the skies!) His love the tie that binds us to His throne, His love the bond that perfects us in one, His only love constrains our hearts t' agree, And gives the rivet of Eternity.

Only on recognising the true, may we lay down our task of searching further for truth; and only on being read more

Only on recognising the true, may we lay down our task of searching further for truth; and only on being satisfied that we have found the holy, are we justified in submitting to its guidance. The duty of following truth at all hazards is not altered, and it is only a false wisdom and prudence which shuns the search. The one chief reason why so much more may be revealed to babes than to the wise and prudent is still simply that, with less calculation and prejudice, they entirely abandon themselves to the leading of truth.

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 read more

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 I will tell you what to hate: hate hypocrisy, hate cant, hate intolerance, oppression, injustice; hate pharisaism. Hate them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.