Concluding a short series on education: The devout student is the best of all students. There are too read more

Concluding a short series on education: The devout student is the best of all students. There are too many who are devout, but not students. They will not accept the discipline of study and of learning, and they even look with suspicion upon the further knowledge which study brings to men. There are equally too many who are students, but not devout. They are interested too much in intellectual knowledge, and too little in the life of prayer and in the life of service of their fellow men. A man would do well to aim at being not only a student, and not only devout, but at being a devout student.

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 We see him exalting love for neighbor along with read more

Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552 We see him exalting love for neighbor along with love for God. He reaches out to foreigners who are beyond the borders of the "Israel of God". He seeks the release of captives, prisoners, and slaves. He denounces the scribes and religious leaders who "devour the houses of widows". Despite his well-known requirement of loyalty that surpasses family ties, he insists that a man put the care of his own parents ahead of his obligations to his religion. His treatment of women is radically opposed to the strictures of that day. He exhibits sympathy and understanding toward children. He operates an out-patient clinic wherever he happens to be. He insists upon justice as the basis for everyday dealings between citizens. The social teaching of parables like "the good Samaritan" and incidents such as the encounter with the rich young ruler have had an effect upon his followers that cannot easily be measured. If one summary statement of Jesus' ethics can be made, it is that love of God is best shown by love of fellow men.

With what presumption have we dared to voice "Thank You for home (although we hold the deed), Our acre, trees, read more

With what presumption have we dared to voice "Thank You for home (although we hold the deed), Our acre, trees, and flowers (ours by choice), Our faithful dog and cat (though it's agreed No one can own the latter), each good book (A gift, or purchased), all else we foresaw That we should cherish, and have made to look Ours by possession (nine points of the law)." With what presumption have we called them ours, And even felt unselfish when we shared them-- When, if the truth be known, they have been Yours From the beginning, Lord! You have prepared them For us to borrow, using as our own: So thank You, Father, for this generous loan.

The reconciliation of man to God begins when God accepts the child of man, exactly as he is, into a read more

The reconciliation of man to God begins when God accepts the child of man, exactly as he is, into a relationship with himself -- "this grace wherein we stand". This He does for the sake of what man is to inherit, to become. And for the means, He gives him over to a Person, Christ, and a community, the Church; and in attachment to these, personality grows, freedom is attained, sin is forgiven, estrangement is ended, capacities for relationship extend. Reconciliation is the Spirit's liberating work of love, exercised through a Person and a community of persons.

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be read more

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world: at least, we should be better enabled to bear them.

Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678 The soul which gives itself wholly and without reserve to God is read more

Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678 The soul which gives itself wholly and without reserve to God is filled with His own Peace; and inasmuch as we are prone to grow like that to which we are closely united, the closer we draw to our God, so much the stronger and more steadfast and more tranquil shall we become.

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.

"What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt." I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in read more

"What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt." I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in my mother tongue than be master of all the languages in Europe.

Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906 Most Christians live in read more

Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906 Most Christians live in confusion in regard to their scales of values and priorities. Many honest Christian people experience the shock of a revelation when they are brought to realize that their membership of the Church constitutes a loyalty prior to their loyalty to the nation to which they belong. Patriotism is one of the powerful underground pseudo-religions of to-day, not merely nationalism. The fundamental notion that the Christians are a "peculiar people" that never is identical, or even can be, with a people in the biological, national sense of the word, is largely asleep. It can only become awake by a new grasp of the biblical truth that the Church is the "people of God", an elect race composed of people out of all nations, transcending all nations and races.