Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709 Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845 read more

Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709 Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845 Life provides all kinds of astonishingly effective anodynes and narcotics, all of which are nothing but misused gifts of God. But there in hell--that is, beyond a fixed boundary set by God--all the securities and safeguards disappear into thin air. What here is only a tiny flame of secret self-reproach that flickers up occasionally and is quickly smothered, there becomes a scorching fire. What here is no more than a slight ticking sound in our conscience suddenly becomes the trumpet tone of judgment which can no longer be ignored. Lazarus is permitted to see what he believed, but the rich man is compelled to see what he did not believe.

[Johannes] Brahms chose his own texts [for his German Requiem] from Luther's Bible to illustrate the Protestant conviction that man read more

[Johannes] Brahms chose his own texts [for his German Requiem] from Luther's Bible to illustrate the Protestant conviction that man must hear and respond to God's word in man's own language, and that every believer must be free to deal with the Biblical text apart from priestly veto... For the word "German" he would gladly have substituted the word "human" because he was concerned to comment on "the primary text of human existence," finding there, as in the Bible, the universal themes of suffering and joy.

Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from read more

Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.

It is not in the power of the devil to do so much harm, as God can do good; nay, read more

It is not in the power of the devil to do so much harm, as God can do good; nay, we may be bold to say, it is not in the will, not in the desire of the devil to do so much harm, as God would do good.

Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 While extremely sensitive as to the slightest approach to slander, read more

Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 While extremely sensitive as to the slightest approach to slander, you must also guard against an extreme into which some people fall who, in their desire to speak evil of no one, actually uphold and speak well of vice. If you have to do with one who is unquestionably a slanderer, do not excuse him by calling him frank and free-spoken; do not call one who is notoriously vain, liberal and elegant; do not call dangerous levities mere simplicity; do not screen disobedience under the name of zeal; or arrogance, of frankness; or evil intimacy, of friendship. No, my friends, we must never, in our wish to shun slander, foster or flatter vice in others: but we must call evil evil, and sin sin, and so doing we shall serve God's glory.

Feast of Barnabas the Apostle Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change; and when we read more

Feast of Barnabas the Apostle Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change; and when we are right, make us easy to live with.

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 The neglect of the spiritual read more

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 The neglect of the spiritual cannot be laid directly at the door of advertising. It may be better laid at the door of the church [that] has failed to preach the God of the Bible, heaven and hell, repentance, faith, and eternal life. It can be argued that a society only gets the advertising it deserves. Yet the power to commend certain patterns of spending behaviour to millions with regularity is an open invitation to orchestrate the covetousness, envy, lust, and desire to dominate, which lie in the heart of sinful man.

Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877 If our hopes, whatever we protest, really lie read more

Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877 If our hopes, whatever we protest, really lie in this world instead of in the eternal order, we shall find it difficult to accept the New Testament teaching of the Second Coming. In our eyes, the job is not yet done; and such an action would be, though we would not put it so, an interference. But suppose our hope rests in the purpose of God: then we safely leave the timing of the earthly experiment to Him. Meanwhile, we do what we were told to do -- to be alert and to work and pray for the spread of His Kingdom.

Feast of Andrew the Apostle "Why was I born?" "Why am I here?" Theology answers, "You are here read more

Feast of Andrew the Apostle "Why was I born?" "Why am I here?" Theology answers, "You are here to grow, to grow up in every way unto the full stature of a man newborn in Christ.".