Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 Jesus, as a mother you gather your people read more

Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you: you are gentle with us as a mother with her children; Often you weep over our sins and our pride: tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement. You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds: in sickness you nurse us, and with pure milk you feed us. Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life: by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy. Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness: through your gentleness we find comfort in fear. Your warmth gives life to the dead: your touch makes sinners righteous. Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us: in your love and tenderness remake us. In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness: for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.

It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen read more

It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.

Continuing a short series on the Bible: Never was a book so full of incredible sayings -- everywhere the read more

Continuing a short series on the Bible: Never was a book so full of incredible sayings -- everywhere the sense of mystery dominates; unless you feel that mystery, all becomes prosaic -- nothing about God is prosaic. ... The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn August 26, 2000 Continuing a short series on the Bible: Have you noticed this? Whatever need or trouble you are in, there is always something to help you in your Bible, if only you go on reading till you come to the word God specially has for you. I have noticed this often. Sometimes the special word is in the portion you would naturally read, or in the Psalm for the day, ... but you must go on till you find it, for it is always somewhere. You will know it the moment you come to it, for it will rest your heart.

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 Continuing a short series on prayer: I have so much to read more

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 Continuing a short series on prayer: I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.

Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929 The breadth and depth of [William] Carey's missionary read more

Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929 The breadth and depth of [William] Carey's missionary service [in India] is well illustrated in the principles laid down for themselves by the Serampore Brotherhood to be read three times a year in each station in their charge. Here is a summary: To set an infinite value on men's souls. To abstain from whatever deepens India's prejudice against the Gospel. To watch for every chance of doing the people good. To preach Christ crucified as the grand means of conversions. To esteem and treat Indians always as equals. To be instant in the nurture of personal religion. To cultivate the spiritual gifts of the Indian brethren, ever pressing upon them their missionary obligation, since only Indians can win India for Christ.

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, read more

Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389 Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833 Do not, as is usually the case, thrust the care of the common weal upon your neighbor; then, as each one in his own thoughts makes light of the matter, all find to their surprise that they have drawn upon themselves by their neglect a personal misfortune.

Feast of Jawani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 Continuing a short series on forgiveness: As the veil read more

Feast of Jawani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 Continuing a short series on forgiveness: As the veil of the temple was, at the death of the Saviour, rent asunder, in the same way our communion with the Crucified puts aside all the curtains separating us artificially from the rest of the world, and removes all sense of privilege and exclusiveness. It is this explanation of justification by faith only which leads us to the true depth of what the Gospel has contributed to this world. To live by grace and to die by grace, to live in forgiveness every day, every hour and every moment, means to identify oneself with those who do not share our faith, and to realize all the debts we owe them. Let us not be afraid that this will reduce the Gospel to relativism. Its depth is in proportion to its breadth. The deeper it is, the broader and fuller it becomes.

Feast of Matthias the Apostle Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences; we shall never have read more

Feast of Matthias the Apostle Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences; we shall never have done beginning, if we determine to begin with proof. We shall ever be laying our foundations; we shall turn theology into evidences, and divines into textuaries... Life is for action. If we insist on proofs for everything, we shall never come to action: to act you must assume, and that assumption is faith.

Our hearts deceive us, because we leave them to themselves, are absent from them, taken up in outward rules and read more

Our hearts deceive us, because we leave them to themselves, are absent from them, taken up in outward rules and forms of living and praying. But this kind of praying, which takes all its thoughts and words only from the state of our hearts, makes it impossible for us to be strangers to ourselves. The strength of every sin, the power of every evil temper, the most secret workings of our hearts, the weakness of any or all our virtues, is with a noonday clearness forced to be seen, as soon as the heart is made our prayer book, and we pray nothing, but according to what we read, and find there.