Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387 In the pure soul, whether it sing or pray, The Christ read more

Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387 In the pure soul, whether it sing or pray, The Christ is born anew from day to day. The life that knoweth Him shall bide apart And keep eternal Christmas in the heart.

Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 In saying God is there, we are saying God exists, and not read more

Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 In saying God is there, we are saying God exists, and not just talking about the word God, or the idea God. We are speaking of the proper relationship to the living God who exists. In order to understand the problems of our generation, we should be very alive to this distinction. Semantics (linguistic analysis) makes up the heart of modern philosophical study in the Anglo-Saxon world. Though the Christian cannot accept this study as a total philosophy, there is no reason why he should not be glad for the concept that words need to be defined before they can be used in communication. As Christians, we must understand that there is no word so meaningless as the word "god" until it is defined. No word has been used to reach absolutely opposite concepts as much as the word "god". Consequently, let us not be confused. There is much "spirituality" about us today that would relate itself to the word god or to the idea god; but this is not what we are talking about. Biblical truth and spirituality is not a relationship to the word god, or to the idea god. It is a relationship to the one who is there, which is an entirely different concept.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and read more

We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

By the quality of our inner lives I do not mean something characterized by ferocious intensity and strain. I mean read more

By the quality of our inner lives I do not mean something characterized by ferocious intensity and strain. I mean rather such a humble and genial devotedness as we find in the most loving of the saints. I mean the quality which makes contagious Christians, makes people catch the love of God from you.

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century "The Law", he says, "was our 'pedagogue', until Christ should come." read more

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century "The Law", he says, "was our 'pedagogue', until Christ should come." Those words have been interpreted as though they described the Law as a preparatory education, continued at a higher stage by Christ. That, however, is not quite what Paul meant. The "pedagogue" in Greek society was not a schoolmaster, he did not give lessons. He was a slave who accompanied a boy to school, and both waited upon him and exercised a supervision which interfered with the boy's freedom of action. He is, in fact, a figure in the little allegory which Paul gives us to illustrate the position of the People of God before Christ came. There was a boy left heir to a great estate. He was a minor, and so must have guardians and trustees. He was as helpless in their hands as if he had been a slave. He must live on the allowance they gave him, and follow their wishes from day to day. They gave him a "pedagogue" to keep him out of mischief. He could not please himself, or realize his own purposes and ambitions. Yet all the time he was the heir; the estate was his, and no one else's. Just so the People of God, the Divine Commonwealth, was cramped and fettered by ignorance and evil times. It remained in uneasy expectation of one day coming into active existence. At last the heir came of age: guardians and trustees abdicated their powers, and the grown man possessed in full realization all that was his. So now the fettered life of the Divine Commonwealth bursts its bonds and comes into active existence... The intervention of law was not a reversal of God's original and eternal purpose of pure love and grace towards men, it only subserved that purpose, while it seemed to contradict it, just as the presence of the "pedagogus" might seem to the high-spirited young heir quite contrary to the rights secured to him by his father's will.

Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your read more

Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing, who would ever have been spared?

There is that in the Gospel with which no one is allowed to argue. All we can do is believe read more

There is that in the Gospel with which no one is allowed to argue. All we can do is believe or disbelieve; to give it in our life the place of the final reality to which everything else must give way, or to refuse it that place. Many people ... would like to talk the Word of God over. It raises in their minds various questions they would willingly discuss. It has aspects of interest and of difficulty which call for consideration; and so on. Perhaps there are some that confusedly shield themselves against the responsibilities of faith and unbelief by such thoughts. All that such thoughts prove, however, is that those who cherish them have never yet realized that what we are dealing with in the Gospel is GOD. When God speaks in Christ, He reveals His gracious will without qualification. And without qualification, we have to believe in it, or refuse to believe, and so decide the controversy between ourselves and Him. God has not come into the world in Christ ... to be talked about, but to become the supreme reality on the life of men, or to be excluded from that place.

Feast of Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179 Thou wayfaring Jesus -- a pilgrim and stranger, Exiled from read more

Feast of Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179 Thou wayfaring Jesus -- a pilgrim and stranger, Exiled from heaven by love at Thy birth: Exiled again from Thy rest in the manger, A fugitive child 'mid the perils of earth -- Cheer with Thy fellowship all who are weary, Wandering far from the land that they love: Guide every heart that is homeless and dreary, Safe to its home in Thy presence above.

Faith is not only a commitment to the promises of Christ; faith is also a commitment to the demands of read more

Faith is not only a commitment to the promises of Christ; faith is also a commitment to the demands of Christ.