There is no need for peculiar conditions in order to grow in the spiritual life, for the pressure of God's read more

There is no need for peculiar conditions in order to grow in the spiritual life, for the pressure of God's Spirit is present everywhere and at all times. Our environment itself -- our home and our job -- is the medium through which we experience His moulding action and His besetting love. It is not Christian to try to get out of our frame, or to separate our outward life from our life of prayer, since both are the creation of one Charity. The third-rate little town in the hills, with its limited social contacts and monotonous manual work, reproves us when we begin to fuss about our opportunities and our score. And this quality of quietness, ordinariness, simplicity, with which the saving action of God enters history, endures from the beginning to the end.

Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945 If the [Incarnation] happened, it was the central event read more

Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945 If the [Incarnation] happened, it was the central event in the history of the Earth -- the very thing that the whole story has been about. Since it happened only once, it is by Hume's standards infinitely improbable. But then, the whole history of the Earth has also happened only once: is it therefore incredible? Hence the difficulty, which weighs upon Christian and atheist alike, of estimating the probability of the Incarnation. It is like asking whether the existence of nature herself is intrinsically probable. That is why it is easier to argue, on historical grounds, that the Incarnation actually occurred than to show, on philosophical grounds, the probability of its occurrence.

Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 We must confess our sins in order to obtain pardon; but we read more

Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 We must confess our sins in order to obtain pardon; but we must see our sins in order to confess. How few of those who think that they have confessed and been pardoned have ever seen their sin!

"What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt." I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in read more

"What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt." I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in my mother tongue than be master of all the languages in Europe.

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 The term "baptism in (or of) the read more

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 The term "baptism in (or of) the Spirit" conjures up the idea of a separate initiatory experience which every Christian ought to enjoy, whereas evangelicalism is noted for its stress upon a "conversion" experience which marks the beginning of the believer's relationship to his Lord. Too often, alas, conversion has been the end as well as the beginning, with the result that some Christians have looked back, with mingled delight and wistfulness to a past event that now seems to have diminished relevance to daily living. We can fully understand, then, the appeal of a movement which promises a new dimension of Christian living, there in the New Testament, and now available in everyday experience.

Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330 The kingdom of heaven is not come even when read more

Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330 The kingdom of heaven is not come even when God's will is our law; it is fully come when God's will is our will.

Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304 Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988 The read more

Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304 Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988 The belief in baptismal regeneration of infants, which had... become almost universal [in the middle ages], and the reliance on mysterious sacramental efficacy for sanctification and heavenly admission, strongly militated against regeneration and spiritual reality within the Church. The complete professionalization of a priestly ministry largely eliminated laymen from direct evangelism and robbed them of the missionary spirit, since they were not to be trusted to teach and could not validly administer the saving symbols. The reliance on organization and ceremonial grace, along with the growing concept of the representative relation of the Pope on earth to the Christ in heaven, involved a practical ignoring of the Holy Spirit as the divinely ordained Counterpart of the Christ and the informing soul of the Church... The vast territorial extent of Christianity and the very general ignorance of world geography made it possible for Christians to lose sight of the non-Christian world and to feel, even if somewhat vaguely, that the Christian task was complete, so far as its world occupation was concerned. The Mohammedan growth had encircled the Christian territories. The relations between Christendom and the Mohammedan world fostered anything else than a spirit of helpfulness and a disposition to give the blessings of the one to the other. Christian information about the heathen world was largely cut off by... Mohammedanism; and in order to reach the heathen, missionaries would have to make their way through Mohammedan territory.

Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460 It is generally true that all that is read more

Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460 It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe God for any blessing is that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.

Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 I hear men praying everywhere for read more

Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109 I hear men praying everywhere for more faith, but when I listen to them carefully, and get to the real heart of their prayer, very often it is not more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change from faith to sight. Faith says not, "I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it," but, "God sent it, and so it must be good for me." Faith, walking in the dark with God, only prays Him to clasp its hand more closely.