Poor souls are apt to think that all those whom they read of or hear of to be gone to read more

Poor souls are apt to think that all those whom they read of or hear of to be gone to heaven, went thither because they were so good and so holy... Yet not one of them, not any man that is now in heaven (Jesus Christ alone excepted), did ever come thither any other way but by forgiveness of sins. And that will also bring us higher, though we come short of many of them in holiness and grace...

Feast of All Saints What changed these very ordinary men (who were such cowards that they did not dare read more

Feast of All Saints What changed these very ordinary men (who were such cowards that they did not dare stand too near the cross in case they got involved) into heroes who would stop at nothing? A swindle? Hallucination? Spooky nonsense in a darkened room? Or Somebody quietly doing what He said He'd do -- walk right through death? What do YOU think?

This power of being outwardly genial and inwardly austere, which is the real Christian temper, depends entirely upon the time read more

This power of being outwardly genial and inwardly austere, which is the real Christian temper, depends entirely upon the time set apart for personal religion. It is always achieved if courageously and faithfully sought; and there are no heights of love and holiness to which it cannot lead.

Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, & John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535 I desire now to read more

Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, & John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535 I desire now to make no more pleas with Christ; verily, he hath not put me to a loss by what I suffer; he oweth me nothing; for in my bonds, how sweet and comfortable have the thoughts of him been to me, wherein I find a sufficient recompense of reward!

Nothing burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore it hath been said, Put off thine own will, and there will be read more

Nothing burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore it hath been said, Put off thine own will, and there will be no more hell.

Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226 Be not afraid that thou art read more

Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226 Be not afraid that thou art tempted, for the more thou art assailed by temptations, the greater friend and servant of God do I hold thee, and the greater love do I bear thee. Verily, I say to thee, let no man deem himself the perfect friend of God until he have passed through many temptations and tribulations... I am ready to endure patiently all things that my Lord would do with me.

Continuing a short series on education: What are the gifts of biblical faith to the secular university? Education read more

Continuing a short series on education: What are the gifts of biblical faith to the secular university? Education can receive from the Bible a faith concerning man far more realistic than the naive faith by which education has tried to live. Not man as "pure reason": his reason is not pure. Not man as incipient angel: he can turn any structure... to good or to demonic purpose. Not man with his steps on the highroad called evolution: he is relatively free and, therefore, can and does wreck any evolution unless some Grace constantly renews his onward journey. Not man who by his science is sure to fashion a "brave new world"; by science he can destroy the world. Not man as centrally and characteristically a reasonable creature who needs only that his mind shall be educated to build a reasonable world. Not man regarded in any naive faith, but man as potentially divine and potentially unworthy, who stands always in need of help from beyond the confines of the natural order. If education confronts this faith, education will know that the mind's adventure also, like all things human, stands in need of redemption; and it can then proceed with lowliness, and thus with the power and light which are the reward of the lowly.

It may seem absurd to some that all desires by which man is by nature affected are so completely condemned read more

It may seem absurd to some that all desires by which man is by nature affected are so completely condemned -- although they have been bestowed by God himself, the author of nature. To this I reply that we do not condemn those inclinations which God so engraved upon the character of man at his first creation, that they were eradicable only with humanity itself; but only those bold and unbridled impulses which contend against God's control.

Holy Saturday When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a read more

Holy Saturday When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world.