Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379 Many people have a very read more

Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379 Many people have a very strangely childish notion, that "praying in the name of Christ" means simply the addition of the words "through Jesus Christ our Lord" at the end of their prayers. But depend upon it, they do not by adding these words, or any words, bring it about that their prayers should be in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as represents Christ. The representative always must speak in the spirit and meaning of those for whom he speaks. If Christ is our representative, that must be because He speaks our wishes, or what we ought to make our wishes; and if we are to pray in the name of Christ, that means that we are, however far off, expressing His wishes and intentions.

Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099 Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of read more

Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099 Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance.

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 Continuing a short series on authenticity: There is one growing read more

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 Continuing a short series on authenticity: There is one growing persuasion of the present age which I hope this book may somewhat serve to stem -- not by any argument, but by... a healthy up stirring ... of the imagination and the conscience. In these days, when men are so gladly hearing afresh that "in Him there is no darkness at all"; that God, therefore could not have created any man if He knew that he must live in torture to all eternity; and that His hatred to evil cannot be expressed by injustice, itself the one essence of evil, -- for certainly it would be nothing less than injustice to punish infinitely what was finitely committed, no sinner being capable of understanding the abstract enormity of what he does, -- in these days has a arisen another falsehood, less, yet very perilous: thousands of half-thinkers imagine that, since it is declared with such authority that hell is not everlasting, there is then no hell at all. To such folly, I, for one, have never given enticement or shelter. I see no hope for many, no way for the divine love to reach them, save through a very ghastly hell. Men have got to repent; there is no other escape for them, and no escape from that.

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I've no time to be read more

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I've no time to be A saint by doing lovely things, or watching late with Thee, Or dreaming in the dawn-light, or storming Heaven's gates, Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates. Although I must have Martha's hands, I have a Mary mind, And when I black the boots and shoes, Thy sandals, Lord, I find. I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor: Accept this meditation, Lord, I haven't time for more. Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace; Forgive me all my worrying, and make my grumbling cease. Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the sea, Accept this service that I do -- I do it unto Thee.

God has set in the midst of you, as the ever present witness and figure of heaven, His holy House read more

God has set in the midst of you, as the ever present witness and figure of heaven, His holy House of Prayer. There it stands, built for no earthly purpose, different in shape, and in all things belonging to it, from earthly habitations; speaking only of heaven, and heavenly uses, and heavenly gifts, and heavenly blessings; the gate of heaven when we are brought into it as little children to Christ; the gate of heaven, if so God grant us, when we are brought to it, and pass through it the last time on our way to our grave beside it. And here we meet our God.

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr The man who will not act until he knows all will read more

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr The man who will not act until he knows all will never act at all.

"They shall return unto me with their whole heart." "Ye shall search for me with all your heart." He makes read more

"They shall return unto me with their whole heart." "Ye shall search for me with all your heart." He makes a direct call to us for single-mindedness: a single-minded longing for Him -- no lesser aim will do; no desire to be good, no striving to measure up to some standard we have set for ourselves, to correct some failure we have been shown in our way of life. These may be temporarily necessary, but they will turn to dust and ashes, they will end in a grim dryness, unless at the back of them all is what He asks of us --a never-ending search for a real knowledge of Him, for a sense of His reality, a confidence in His companionship, a joy and delight in the very person of God Himself. It is for this that we must learn to long and long, till our prayers for it become not just a form of words, but a stretching out of our whole being to Him. ... The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn November 27, 1999 When God finished man He breathed into the human form the divine life, "and man became a living soul." Man is created to be a witness and likeness of God. God and man are so near to one another that it was possible for the Eternal Word to become Man without ceasing to be God, to re-ascend to the Highest without dehumanizing the Manhood which He had assumed; so near that the believer may say in the fullest meaning of the words, "I live, yet not I, but Christ".

Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no read more

Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith.

Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650 I belong to the "Great-God Party", and read more

Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex, 650 I belong to the "Great-God Party", and will have nothing to do with the "Little-God Party." Christ does not want nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible.