Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285 If some Christians that have been complaining of their ministers read more

Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285 If some Christians that have been complaining of their ministers had said and acted less before men and had applied themselves with all their might to cry to God for their ministers -- had, as it were, risen and stormed heaven with their humble, fervent, and incessant prayers for them -- they would have been much more in the way of success.

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle We may suffer the sins of our brother; we do not need to read more

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle We may suffer the sins of our brother; we do not need to judge. This is a mercy for the Christian; for when does sin ever occur in the community that he must not examine and blame himself for his own unfaithfulness in prayer and intercession, his lack of brotherly service, of fraternal reproof and encouragement -- indeed, for his own personal sin and spiritual laxity, by which he has done injury to himself, the fellowship, and the brethren? Since every sin of a member burdens and indicts the whole community, the congregation rejoices, in the midst of all the pain and the burden that the brother's sin inflicts, that it has the privilege of bearing and forgiving.

Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life read more

Feast of Edmund of the East Angles, Martyr, 870 Commemoration of Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876 The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself.

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 If we with earnest effort could succeed To make our life one long, read more

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 If we with earnest effort could succeed To make our life one long, connected prayer, As lives of some, perhaps, have been and are; If, never leaving Thee, we have no need Our wandering spirits back again to lead Into Thy presence, but continued there Like angels standing on the highest stair Of the Sapphire Throne: this were to pray indeed!

When the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil -- not because read more

When the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil -- not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked. Therefore it is not an inferior thing which has made the will evil, but it is itself which has become so by wickedly and inordinately desiring an inferior thing.

This coherence of the Bible itself, and of the Bible and the Church, is a coherence and a unity set read more

This coherence of the Bible itself, and of the Bible and the Church, is a coherence and a unity set in opposition to the world existing beyond its borders and outside its influence, so that there comes into being a tension between the world as it actually is and the Church, in so far as the Church rests upon the Biblical revelation of God. But this tension is not something that concerns the Church and the world as though they are things which exist outside us and apart from us, which we can consider and observe and discuss and have theories about. The tension between the Church and the world exists within us and is the very fiber of our being, and neither the one nor the other is superficial or trivial. For we are, all of us, of the earth, earthy; and we are also baptized members of Christ and His Church. It is precisely because we belong to two worlds that our lives consist in insecurity -- that we are, in fact, a drama, the final act of which, the judgement of reward or punishment, heaven or hell, is hidden from us.

Whatever, therefore, is foolish, ridiculous, vain, or earthly, or sensual, in the life of a Christian is something that ought read more

Whatever, therefore, is foolish, ridiculous, vain, or earthly, or sensual, in the life of a Christian is something that ought not to be there; it is a spot and a defilement that must be washed away with tears of repentance. But if anything of this kind runs all through the course of our life, if we allow ourselves in things that are either vain, foolish, or sensual, we renounce our profession. For as sure as Jesus Christ was wisdom and holiness, as sure as He came to make us like Himself and to be baptized into His Spirit, so sure is it that none can be said to keep to their Christian profession but they who, to the utmost of their power, live a wise and holy and heavenly life. This, and this alone, is Christianity, a universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of the world but turning all worldly enjoyments into means of piety and devotion to God.

The reconciliation of man to God begins when God accepts the child of man, exactly as he is, into a read more

The reconciliation of man to God begins when God accepts the child of man, exactly as he is, into a relationship with himself -- "this grace wherein we stand". This He does for the sake of what man is to inherit, to become. And for the means, He gives him over to a Person, Christ, and a community, the Church; and in attachment to these, personality grows, freedom is attained, sin is forgiven, estrangement is ended, capacities for relationship extend. Reconciliation is the Spirit's liberating work of love, exercised through a Person and a community of persons.

His Christianity was muscular.

His Christianity was muscular.