Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is read more

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of His own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to Him on such a footing, casting away his own poor performances or goodnesses, and relying implicitly upon the free love of Him who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.

Feast of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373 The Hebrew word, nabi, translated "prophet" in English Bibles, has the read more

Feast of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373 The Hebrew word, nabi, translated "prophet" in English Bibles, has the connotation of "message bearer". The prophets were men called by God to serve as His messengers to a stubborn and unheeding people. They were always careful to point out that they were not voicing their own wisdom. Their warnings, entreaties, and promises were always prefaced by the awesome proclamation: "Thus says the Lord..." When the prophets did engage in prognostication, they usually were concerned with events which were fairly close at hand, such as the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of Judah (both of which they foretold with deadly accuracy). But occasionally a prophet's vision ranged farther into the future, to the day when God would enter into a new covenant with his rebellious children. The hope of reconciliation was often linked with the coming of a very particular person, a Messiah or Savior. What made the prophets so sure that they had a right--nay, a duty, to speak in the name of God? It is clear from their writings that they were not megalomaniacs who confused their own thoughts with the voice of God. On the contrary, they were humble men, awe-stricken by the responsibilities thrust upon them... The prophets minced no words in their indictments of the sins of Israel and Judah, and they trod especially hard on the toes of the rich, the powerful, and the pious. The Establishment responded then as some church members are wont to respond now when a preacher speaks out on controversial public issues: "One should not preach of such things!" (Micah 2:6).

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and read more

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and the Prophets [the] "Old Testament"? Do they not set forth the covenant of grace? The doctrine of justification by faith -- does not Paul in his Epistle to the Romans prove it from Genesis and from the Psalms? Where is the doctrine of substitution and the vicarious sufferings of the messiah set forth more clearly than in Leviticus and in the 53rd of Isaiah? The term "Old Testament" leads people to fancy it is an antiquated book; whereas, in many respects, it is newer than the New Testament, referring more fully to the age of glory and blessedness on the earth which is still before us.

Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 But in rejecting the [Bible's illustrations of eternal punishment] as grotesque read more

Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 But in rejecting the [Bible's illustrations of eternal punishment] as grotesque and even immoral, many people make the mistake of rejecting the truth it illustrated (which is rather like rejecting a book as untrue because the pictures in it are bad). It is illogical to tell men that they must do the will of God and accept his gospel of grace, if you also tell them that the obligation has no eternal significance, and that nothing ultimately depends on it. The curious modern heresy that everything is bound to come right in the end is so frivolous that I will not insult you by refuting it. "I remember," said Dr. [Samuel] Johnson on one occasion, "that my Maker has said that he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left." That is a solemn truth which only the empty-headed and empty-hearted will neglect. It strikes at the very roots of life and destiny.

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle It is often said with a sneer that the God of Israel was only read more

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle It is often said with a sneer that the God of Israel was only a God of Battles, "a mere barbaric Lord of Hosts" pitted in rivalry against other gods only as their envious foe. Well it is for the world that He was indeed a God of Battles. Well it is for us that He was to all the rest only a rival and a foe. In the ordinary way, it would have been only too easy for them to have achieved the desolate disaster of conceiving Him as a friend. It would have been only too easy for them to have seen Him stretching out His hands in love and reconciliation, embracing Baal and kissing the painted face of Astarte... It would have been easy enough for His worshipers to follow the enlightened course of Syncretism and the pooling of all the pagan traditions. It is obvious indeed that His followers were always sliding down this easy slope; and it required the almost demoniac energy of certain inspired demagogues, who testified to the divine unity in words that are still like winds of inspiration and ruin, [to stop them]. The more we really understand of the ancient conditions that contributed to the final culture of the Faith, the more we shall have a real and even a realistic reverence for the greatness of the Prophets of Israel. As it was, while the whole world melted into this mass of confused mythology, this Deity who is called tribal and narrow, precisely because He was what is called tribal and narrow, preserved the primary religion of all mankind. He was tribal enough to be universal. He was as narrow as the universe.

Continuing a short series on Romans 8: [Of vv. 4-13] You must not understand flesh here read more

Continuing a short series on Romans 8: [Of vv. 4-13] You must not understand flesh here as denoting only unchastity or spirit as denoting only the inner heart. Here St. Paul calls flesh (as does Christ in John 3) everything born of flesh, i.e. the whole human being with body and soul, reason and senses, since everything in him tends toward the flesh. That is why you should know enough to call that person "fleshly" who, without grace, fabricates, teaches and chatters about high spiritual matters. You can learn the same thing from Galatians, chapter 5, where St. Paul calls heresy and hatred works of the flesh. And in Romans, chapter 8, he says that, through the flesh, the law is weakened. He says this, not of unchastity, but of all sins, most of all of unbelief, which is the most spiritual of vices.

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 That God loves us in spite of our sin is the read more

Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397 That God loves us in spite of our sin is the Gospel truth; but this truth can only be shared by words, since good deeds are easily [taken to show] the opposite--that we love God. Faith is not understood when [it is] only demonstrated by life. The more sanctified a life without the verbal witness, the greater the danger of the Christian's goodness getting in the way. Should a person by the grace of God become easier to live with, he doesn't need to call attention to it: it will speak for itself. He can instead seek to balance the reverse effect of the good image by occasionally speaking of the unfavorable realities within, those parts that are still changing. In this way, his external behavior by contrast can point to the power of God, rather than to the effort of man. When we decrease, He can increase, but not until.

Jesus once declared that God is "good to the ungrateful and the wicked" (St. Luke 6:35), and I remember preaching read more

Jesus once declared that God is "good to the ungrateful and the wicked" (St. Luke 6:35), and I remember preaching a sermon on this text to a horrified and even astonished congregation who simply refused to believe (so I gathered afterwards) in this astounding liberality of God. That God should be in a state of constant fury with the wicked seemed to them only right and proper, but that God should be kind towards those who were defying or disobeying His laws seemed to them a monstrous injustice. Yet I was but quoting the Son of God Himself, and I only comment here that the terrifying risks that God takes are part of His Nature. We do not need to explain or modify His unremitting love towards mankind.