Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536 Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot radiating his dark influence outward to the very circumference of society, or he may be a blessing spreading benediction over the length and breadth of the world. But a blank he cannot be: there are no moral blanks; there are no neutral characters.
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Faith is that which, knowing the Lord's will, goes and does it; or, not knowing it, stands and waits, content read more
Faith is that which, knowing the Lord's will, goes and does it; or, not knowing it, stands and waits, content in ignorance as in knowledge, because God wills -- neither pressing into the hidden future, nor careless of the knowledge which opens the path of action.
If a poet or an artist puts himself into his Productions he is criticized. But that is exactly what God read more
If a poet or an artist puts himself into his Productions he is criticized. But that is exactly what God does, he does so in Christ. And precisely that is Christianity. The creation was really only completed when God included himself in it. Before the coming of Christ, God was certainly in the creation, but as an invisible sign, like the watermark in paper. But the creation was completed by the Incarnation because God thereby included himself in it.
Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 The great thing, and the only thing, is to adore and read more
Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 The great thing, and the only thing, is to adore and praise God.
Feast of Luke the Evangelist He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.
Feast of Luke the Evangelist He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.
Christians in general are far too eager to urge special exceptions when they hear these charges [of corruption in the read more
Christians in general are far too eager to urge special exceptions when they hear these charges [of corruption in the church] preferred; far too ready to make out a case for themselves while they admit their application to others; far too ready to think that the cause of God is interested in the suppression of facts. The prophets should have taught us a different lesson. They should have led us to feel that it was a solemn duty, not to conceal, but to bring forward all the evidence which proves, not that one country is better than another, or one portion of the church better than another, but that there is a principle of decay, a tendency to apostasy in all, and that no comfort can come from merely balancing symptoms of good here against symptoms of evil there, no comfort from considering whether we are a little less contentious, a little less idolatrous than our neighbors.
Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 If man is man and God is God, to read more
Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing: it is an infinitely foolish thing.
We are separated from one another by an unbridgeable gulf of otherness and strangeness which resists all our attempts to read more
We are separated from one another by an unbridgeable gulf of otherness and strangeness which resists all our attempts to overcome it by means of natural association or emotional or spiritual union. There is no way from one person to another. However loving and sympathetic we try to be, however sound our psychology however frank and open our behaviour we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other man, for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbors through Him.
Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist It takes a determined effort of the mind to break free read more
Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist It takes a determined effort of the mind to break free from the error of making books an end in themselves. The worst thing a book can do for a Christian is to leave him with the impression that he has received from it anything really good; the best it can do is to point the way to the Good he is seeking. The function of a good book is to stand like a signpost directing the reader toward the Truth and the Life. That book serves best which early makes itself unnecessary, just as a signpost serves best after it is forgotten, after the traveler has arrived safely at his desired haven. The work of a good book is to incite the reader to moral action, to turn his eves toward God and urge him forward. Beyond that it cannot go.
If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of read more
If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered; if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that another the word of release may be given, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
