With what presumption have we dared to voice "Thank You for home (although we hold the deed), Our acre, trees, read more

With what presumption have we dared to voice "Thank You for home (although we hold the deed), Our acre, trees, and flowers (ours by choice), Our faithful dog and cat (though it's agreed No one can own the latter), each good book (A gift, or purchased), all else we foresaw That we should cherish, and have made to look Ours by possession (nine points of the law)." With what presumption have we called them ours, And even felt unselfish when we shared them-- When, if the truth be known, they have been Yours From the beginning, Lord! You have prepared them For us to borrow, using as our own: So thank You, Father, for this generous loan.

Commemoration of Maximilian Kolbe, Franciscan Friar, Priest, Martyr, 1941 What is said in the passage [James 2:14 ff.] is read more

Commemoration of Maximilian Kolbe, Franciscan Friar, Priest, Martyr, 1941 What is said in the passage [James 2:14 ff.] is like a two coupon train or bus ticket. One coupon says, "Not good if detached" and the other says, "Not good for passage". Works are not good for passage; but faith detached from works is not saving faith.

If a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained read more

If a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach.

If there had anywhere appeared in space Another place of refuge where to flee, Our hearts had read more

If there had anywhere appeared in space Another place of refuge where to flee, Our hearts had taken refuge from that place, And not with Thee. For we against creation's bars had beat Like prisoned eagles, through great worlds had sought Though but a foot of ground to plant our feet, Where Thou wert not. And only when we found in earth and air, In heaven or hell, that such might nowhere be That we could not flee from Thee anywhere, We fled to Thee. ... Richard Chevenix Trench April 8, 2000 Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877 It is the recognition of this divine necessity -- not to forgive, but to forgive in a way which shows that God is irreconcilable to evil, and can never treat it as other or less than it is -- it is the recognition of this divine necessity, or the failure to recognise it, which ultimately divides interpreters of Christianity into evangelical and non-evangelical, those who are true to the New Testament and those who cannot digest it.

I saw that a humble man, with the blessing of the Lord, might live on a little; and that where read more

I saw that a humble man, with the blessing of the Lord, might live on a little; and that where the heart is set on greatness, success in business did not satisfy the craving, but that commonly with an increase of wealth, the desire of wealth increased.

It's said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies - because you never know when you'll have to read more

It's said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies - because you never know when you'll have to work with them.

As I do no good action here, merely for the interpretation of good men, though that be one good and read more

As I do no good action here, merely for the interpretation of good men, though that be one good and justifiable reason of my good actions: so I must do nothing for my salvation hereafter, merely for the love I bear to mine own soul, though that also be one good and justifiable reason of that action; but the primary reason in both, as well as the actions that establish a good name, as the actions that establish eternal life, must be the glory of God.

Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877 Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God read more

Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877 Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.

Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Every true prayer has its background and its foreground. The foreground of prayer read more

Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Every true prayer has its background and its foreground. The foreground of prayer is the intense, immediate desire for a certain blessing which seems to be absolutely necessary for the soul to have; the background of prayer is the quiet, earnest desire that the will of God, whatever it may be, should be done. What a picture is the perfect prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane! In front burns the strong desire to escape death and to live; but behind there stands, calm and strong, the craving of the whole life for the doing of the will of God... Leave out the foreground, let there be no expression of the will of him who prays, and there is left a pure submission which is almost fatalism. Leave out the background, let there be no acceptance of the will of God, and the prayer is only an expression of self-will, a petulant claiming of the uncorrected choice of him who prays. Only when the two are there together, the special desire resting on the universal submission, the universal submission opening into the special desire, is the picture perfect and the prayer complete.