Feast of Joseph of Nazareth Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Jeremy Taylor gives us some fundamental rules for read more

Feast of Joseph of Nazareth Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Jeremy Taylor gives us some fundamental rules for prayer. And the chief of them is this: "Do not lie to God." And that curt piece of advice, so bluntly thrown down for us, is indeed all-important. Do not burn false fire upon God's altar; do not pose and pretend, either to Him or to yourself, in your religious exercises; do not say more than you mean, or use exagerated language that goes beyond the facts, when speaking to Him whose word is truth.

Commemoration of Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942 A man's physical hunger does not read more

Commemoration of Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942 A man's physical hunger does not prove that that man will get any bread; he may die of starvation on a raft in the Atlantic. But surely a man's hunger does prove that he comes of a race which repairs its body by eating and inhabits a world where eatable substances exist. In the same way, though I do not believe (I wish I did) that my desire for Paradise proves that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good indication that such a thing exists and that some men will. A man may love a woman and not win her; but it would be very odd if the phenomenon called `falling in love" occurred in a sexless world.

Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888 Much of today's Christianity is almost completely read more

Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888 Much of today's Christianity is almost completely earthbound, and the words of Jesus about what follows this life are scarcely studied at all. This, I believe, is partly due to man's enormous technical successes, which make him feel master of the human situation. But it is also partly due to our scholars and experts. By the time they have finished with their dissection of the New Testament and with their explaining away as "myth" all that they find disquieting or unacceptable to the modern mind, the Christian way of life is little more than humanism with a slight tinge of religion.

Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist The Present is the point at which Time touches Eternity. read more

Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist The Present is the point at which Time touches Eternity. Of the present moment -- and of it only -- humans have an experience analogous to the experience which God has of reality as a whole; in it alone, freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with Eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present -- either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself; or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.

Feast of the Holy Innocents You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast read more

Feast of the Holy Innocents You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.

One of the results of the Reformation,... which is somewhat difficult of explanation, was the attitude of the Protestant Church read more

One of the results of the Reformation,... which is somewhat difficult of explanation, was the attitude of the Protestant Church of the Reformation to missions during the Reformation period (1517-1650). Having themselves been emancipated from the superstitions and slavery of a false doctrine and a harsh ecclesiastical government, it would be thought most natural that the Reformers and those who followed them should promptly turn their attention to spreading these glad tidings among non-Christian peoples; but here a strange anomaly is found in the fact that there had been hardly any period, in the entire history of the Christian Church, so destitute of any concerted effort to spread the gospel in heathen lands [as] just this period of the Reformation.

Easter Morning breaks upon the tomb, Jesus scatters all its gloom. Day of triumph through the skies-- See the glorious read more

Easter Morning breaks upon the tomb, Jesus scatters all its gloom. Day of triumph through the skies-- See the glorious Saviour rise. Christians! Dry your flowing tears, Chase those unbelieving fears; Look on his deserted grave, Doubt no more his power to save. Ye who are of death afraid, Triumph in the scattered shade: Drive your anxious cares away, See the place where Jesus lay.

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 [Leaders of the anarchist movement in Amsterdam] call their public read more

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 [Leaders of the anarchist movement in Amsterdam] call their public demonstrations "Happenings". These paintings, these poems, and these demonstrations... are the expression of men who are struggling with their appalling lostness. Dare we laugh at such things? Dare we feel superior when we view their tortured expressions in their art? Christians should stop laughing and take such men seriously. Then we shall have the right to speak again to our generation. These men are dying while they live, yet where is our compassion for them? There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.

Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258 As Christians, and followers of Jesus, we have not taken read more

Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258 As Christians, and followers of Jesus, we have not taken pride half seriously enough. But the Devil has. The Devil knows that as long as he can control human pride it does not matter how many prayer meetings, how many services, how much devotion goes on -- he can still wrack any group of Christians, sooner or later, and frustrate God's purpose for them, and for the world. ... The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn August 11, 1999 Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253 Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890 Never... think we have a due knowledge of ourselves till we have been exposed to various kinds of temptations, and tried on every side. Integrity on one side of our character is no voucher for integrity on another. We cannot tell how we should act if brought under temptations different from those we have hitherto experienced. This thought should keep us humble. We are sinners, but we do not know how great. He alone knows who died for our sins.