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 Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 To take up the cross of Christ is read more

Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.

Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678 See in the meantime that your faith bringeth forth obedience, and God read more

Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678 See in the meantime that your faith bringeth forth obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth peace.

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 read more

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 Look heavenward, if you wish, but never to the horizon; that way danger lies. Truth is not there, happiness is not there, certainty is not there, but the falsehoods, the frauds, the quackeries, the ignes fatui (false beacons) which have deceived each generation all beckon from the horizon and lure the men not content to look for the truth and happiness that tumble out at their feet.

The men of faith might claim for their positions ancient tradition, practical usefulness, and spiritual desirability, but one query could read more

The men of faith might claim for their positions ancient tradition, practical usefulness, and spiritual desirability, but one query could prick all such bubbles: Is it scientific? That question has searched religion for contraband goods, stripped it of old superstitions, forced it to change its categories of thought and methods of work, and in general has so cowed and scared religion that many modern-minded believers... instinctively throw up their hands at the mere whisper of it... When a prominent scientist comes out strongly for religion, all the churches thank Heaven and take courage, as though it were the highest possible compliment to God to have Eddington believe in Him. Science has become the arbiter of this generation's thought, until to call even a prophet and a seer 'scientific' is to cap the climax of praise.

Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901 As a good Christian should consider every place as read more

Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901 As a good Christian should consider every place as holy, because God is there, so he should look upon every part of his life as a matter of holiness, because it is offered unto God. The profession of a clergyman is a holy profession, because it is a ministration in holy things, an attendance at the alter. But worldly business is to be made holy unto the Lord, by being done as a service unto Him, and in conformity to His Divine will.

Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916 If faith is the gaze of the heart read more

Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916 If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do.

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Religion is the possibility of the removal of read more

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.

Continuing a series on God and the human condition: The situation in which we find ourselves in this world read more

Continuing a series on God and the human condition: The situation in which we find ourselves in this world seems to be a condition of estrangement from God, with little feeling of contact with Him, yet a curious nostalgic feeling that somewhere He exists and that our life would be much more complete if we were in relationship with Him. The deep, seemingly indestructible awareness of something like homesickness for God is the natural basis for believing in some kind of "fall" -- we seem to remember something better and to be possessed to recapture it. There appears to be a gap, a chasm, between God and us which must be crossed if we are to be in relationship with him. We know that our own wrongdoing can widen the chasm: we are not so sure what will close it. Yet our first great need is not for a set of rules about how to be good: it is for something to bridge that yawning canyon between us and the God we dimly seem to remember, but cannot entirely forget.