Feast of Joseph of Nazareth Men today do not, perhaps, burn the Bible, nor does the Roman Catholic read more

Feast of Joseph of Nazareth Men today do not, perhaps, burn the Bible, nor does the Roman Catholic Church any longer put it on the Index, as it once did. But men destroy it in the form of exegesis: they destroy it in the way they deal with it. They destroy it by not reading it as written in normal, literary form, by ignoring its historical-grammatical exegesis, by changing the Bible's own perspective of itself as propositional revelation in space and time, in history.

Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963 read more

Feast of Timothy and Titus, Companions of Paul Commemoration of Dorothy Kerin, Founder of the Burrswood Healing Community, 1963 The Christian Mission is what the New Testament calls a 'mystery'. It is what St. Paul calls the mystery -- a secret hidden within God even before the creation of the world, but now made known to men and women of faith, whereby all nations are to be gathered up and presented to God through Jesus Christ. This gathering up takes place in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ. The mystery has been unfolded according to a divine plan; prepared by the vocation of the Jewish people; and substantially realized by the mission of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who by His Ascension introduced human nature for all eternity into the sphere of the life of the Divine Trinity: and this plan is to be accomplished among the various peoples of the world, during the time between Pentecost and the Second Coming. [Continued].

When religion is in the hands of the mere natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds read more

When religion is in the hands of the mere natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds a bad heat to his own dark fire and helps to inflame his four elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath. And hence it is that worse passions, or a worse degree of them are to be found in persons of great religious zeal than in others that made no pretenses to it. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and devotion who have fallen into great delusions and deceived both themselves and others. The occasion of their fall was this: ... They considered their whole nature as the subject of religion and divine graces; and therefore their religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man was as busy and as much delighted in it as the new.

Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 I had one brother almost of my own age, whom I read more

Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 I had one brother almost of my own age, whom I loved best... We used to read the lives of the Saints together. And when I read of the martyrdoms which they suffered for the love of God, I used to think that they had bought their entry into God's presence very cheaply. Then I fervently longed to die like them, not out of any conscious love for Him, but in order to attain, as quickly as they had, those joys which, as I read, are laid up in Heaven. I used to discuss with my brother ways and means of becoming martyrs, and we agreed to go together to the land of the Moors, begging our way for the love of God, so that we might be beheaded there. I believe that our Lord had given us courage enough even at that tender age, if only we could have seen a way. But our parents seemed to us a very great hindrance.

In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and read more

In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth to good purpose.

If monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery; if stupid people fret me and the little ruffles set me read more

If monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery; if stupid people fret me and the little ruffles set me on edge; if I make much of the trifles of life, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

At the very moment when the pulpit has fallen strangely silent about sin, fiction can talk of little except evil, read more

At the very moment when the pulpit has fallen strangely silent about sin, fiction can talk of little except evil, not indeed viewed as sin, but apparently as the invariable ways of a peculiarly repulsive insect, which it can't help, poor thing; and there is no manner of use expecting anything from it, except the nastiness natural to it.

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is read more

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of His own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to Him on such a footing, casting away his own poor performances or goodnesses, and relying implicitly upon the free love of Him who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 Two movements merge in the real act of communion. First, the read more

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 Two movements merge in the real act of communion. First, the creature's profound sense of need, of incompleteness: its steadfast desire... Next, a humble and loving acceptance of God's answer to that prayer of desire, however startling, disappointing, and unappetizing it may be.