Don't imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call "humble" nowadays: he read more

Don't imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call "humble" nowadays: he won't be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who's always telling you that, of course, he's nobody. Probably all you'll think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He won't be thinking about himself at all. There I must stop. If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you're not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 None use instituted forms or ways read more

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 None use instituted forms or ways of worship profitably, but such as find communion with God in them, or are seriously humbled because they do not.

Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941 Christianity is a religion which concerns us as we are here and read more

Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941 Christianity is a religion which concerns us as we are here and now, creatures of body and soul. We do not "follow the footsteps of his most holy life" by the exercise of a trained religious imagination, but by treading the firm, rough earth, up hill and down dale.

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave read more

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.

Providence is a greater mystery than revelation. The state of our world is more humiliating to our reason than the read more

Providence is a greater mystery than revelation. The state of our world is more humiliating to our reason than the doctrines of the Gospel. A reflecting Christian sees more to excite his astonishment, and to exercise his faith, in the state of things between Temple Bar [in Dublin] and St. Paul's [in London], than in what he reads from Genesis to Revelation.

Feast of the Visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth The solution lies in a complete realisation of what read more

Feast of the Visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth The solution lies in a complete realisation of what we mean by asserting that God is Almighty. The two ideas of Free-will and Divine Sovereignty can not be reconciled in our own minds, but that does not prevent them from being reconciled in God's mind. We measure Him by our own intellectual standard if we think otherwise. And so our solution of the problem of Free-will and of the problems of history and of individual salvation must finally lie in the full acceptance and realisation of what is implied by the infinity and the omniscience of God.

To the rich man, Lazarus was part of the landscape. If ever he did notice him, it never struck him read more

To the rich man, Lazarus was part of the landscape. If ever he did notice him, it never struck him that Lazarus had anything to do with him. He was simply unaware of his presence, or, if he was aware of it, he had no sense of responsibility for it... A man may well be condemned, not for doing something, but for doing nothing.

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We should not draw too sharp a distinction between this "barren land" read more

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We should not draw too sharp a distinction between this "barren land" or "wilderness" of our pilgrimage, and the sweet home that God has prepared. We all know the changes and chances of this troublous life; but we can also know in this vale of tears the healthful spirit of His grace. Health for the whole man is God's gracious purpose for us here and now, often frustrated, often prevented by unbelief. The life of the saints in light must not emphasize for us simply the contrast between their state and ours, but rather the beginning of the gift of eternal life and all its benefits of inner strength and peace amid earthly vicissitudes. .

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle How readily we assume that the Church is the only channel of divine action read more

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle How readily we assume that the Church is the only channel of divine action among men! Common sense tells us this assumption is wrong -- and nothing in the Bible supports such a conclusion. Believing that God is the Lord of history, we believe that God is at work now in the development of industry and commerce throughout the world, in the experiments and researches of the scientists, in the deliberations of the United Nations, and in the course of events in Berlin and Havana, in Moscow and Peiping, and Detroit. One might say, then that He seems to be doing some very strange and contradictory things! But, though we cannot claim to know God's purpose in all this, we do believe that God acts in all these circumstances. The revolutionary changes of our time are not all a mistake: they are not taking place without God.