Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of 'Save the Children', 1928 The less you feel and the more read more

Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of 'Save the Children', 1928 The less you feel and the more firmly you believe, the more praiseworthy is your faith and the more it will be esteemed and appreciated; for real faith is much more than a mere opinion of man. In it we have true knowledge: in truth, we lack nothing save true faith.

If you were to rise early every morning, as an instance of self-denial, as a method of renouncing indulgence, as read more

If you were to rise early every morning, as an instance of self-denial, as a method of renouncing indulgence, as a means of redeeming your time and of fitting your spirit for prayer, you would find mighty advantages from it. This method, though it seem such a small circumstance of life, would in all probability be a means [toward] great piety. It would keep it constantly in your head that softness and idleness were to be avoided and that self-denial was a part of Christianity... It would teach you to exercise power over yourself, and make you able by degrees to renounce other pleasures and tempers that war against the soul.

Feast of Antony of Egypt, Abbot, 356 Commemoration of Charles Gore, Bishop, Teacher, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, read more

Feast of Antony of Egypt, Abbot, 356 Commemoration of Charles Gore, Bishop, Teacher, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, 1932 Continuing a short series on Romans 8: [Of vv. 11,17,23-25] The counterpart of this withdrawal of Christ [the ascension] from the reach of the senses was the gift to the apostles of the Holy Spirit by whom Christ was made present to them in a new way. They now knew him no more by sight and after the flesh; they had His Spirit. And this "having" is both a real possession and a foretaste, an earnest of what is in store... The Spirit assures us that we are heirs of a kingdom yet to be revealed (Rom. 8:17). The Spirit wars in us against the flesh (Gal. 5:17) and gives us assurance that even our mortal bodies shall be quickened (Rom. 8:11). Meanwhile the very mark of the Spirit's presence is that we groan waiting for our adoption (Rom. 8:23) and hoping for that which we do not yet see (Rom. 8:24,25).

Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690 To pass from estrangement from God to be a son read more

Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690 To pass from estrangement from God to be a son of God is the basic fact of conversion. That altered relationship with God gives you an altered relationship with yourself, with your brother man, with nature, with the universe. You are no longer working against the grain of the universe; you're working with it... You have been forgiven by God and now you can forgive yourself. All self hate, self-despising, self-rejection, drop away, and you accept yourself in God, respect yourself, and love yourself... You cease to move into yourself, away from others. You give up your antagonism. You begin to move toward others in love. God moved toward you in gracious, outgoing love, and you move toward others in that same outgoing love.

The scientific age with its urban-industrial culture is, for all its magnificent achievements and intoxicating success, in a very real read more

The scientific age with its urban-industrial culture is, for all its magnificent achievements and intoxicating success, in a very real sense a dark age. Its complete bondage to nature has enclosed the mind and spirit of man in a fast prison out of which, try as he may, he can find no way of escape. The inability to perceive any longer the reality of things invisible and unseen is a sickness of the soul which cries out to be cured. The only way to dispel the darkness of the present age and liberate it from the prison within which it has become bound is to restore the proper relationship of nature to supernature and of time to eternity as an essential feature of external reality. Until this can be accomplished, there is really very little that the Church or Christianity in general has to offer to this age.

Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles The desire for unity has haunted me all my life through; I read more

Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles The desire for unity has haunted me all my life through; I have never been able to substitute any desire for that, or to accept any of the different schemes for satisfaction of that men have desired.

By a man's reaction to Jesus Christ, that man stands revealed. By his reaction to Jesus Christ his houl is read more

By a man's reaction to Jesus Christ, that man stands revealed. By his reaction to Jesus Christ his houl is laid bare. If he regards Christ with love, even with wistful yearning, for him there is hope; but if in Christ he sees nothing lovely he has condemned himself. He who was sent in love has become to the man, judgment.

What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our Joy, read more

What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our Joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in foreknowing and predestinating us; but that joy was not in us, because we did not then exist; it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed; which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.

I sought Him where my logic led. "This friend is always sure and right; His lantern is sufficient read more

I sought Him where my logic led. "This friend is always sure and right; His lantern is sufficient light -- I need no star," I said. I sought Him in the city square. Logic and I went up and down The marketplace of many a town, And He was never there. I tracked Him to the mind's far rim. The valiant Intellect went forth To east and west and south and north, And found no trace of Him. We walked the world from sun to sun, Logic and I, with little Faith, But never came to Nazareth, Or found the Holy One. I sought in vain. And finally, Back to the heart's small house I crept, And fell upon my knees, and wept; And lo! -- He came to me!