Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle If you make a habit of sincere prayer, your life will be very noticeably read more

Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle If you make a habit of sincere prayer, your life will be very noticeably and profoundly altered. Prayer stamps with its indelible mark our actions and demeanor. A tranquillity of bearing, a facial and bodily repose, are observed in those whose inner lives are thus enriched. Within the depths of consciousness a flame kindles. And man sees himself. He discovers his selfishness, his silly pride, his fears, his greeds, his blunders. He develops a sense of moral obligation, intellectual humility. Thus begins a journey of the soul toward the realm of grace... [Continued tomorrow].

Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 The great thing, and the only thing, is to adore and read more

Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 The great thing, and the only thing, is to adore and praise God.

Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the read more

Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543 As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the patient, so the great test of preaching is that it converts and builds up the hearers.

Trinity Sunday The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is wholly practical; it is revealed to us, to discover to read more

Trinity Sunday The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is wholly practical; it is revealed to us, to discover to us our high origin and the greatness of our fall, and to show us the deep and profound operation of the triune God in the recovery of the divine life in our souls: that by the means of this mystery thus discovered, our piety may be rightly directed, our faith and prayer have their proper objects, [and] the workings and aspiring of our own hearts may cooperate and correspond with that triune life in the Deity, which is always desiring to manifest itself in us.

God wanted to redeem men and open the way of salvation to those who seek Him. But men make themselves read more

God wanted to redeem men and open the way of salvation to those who seek Him. But men make themselves so unworthy of it that it is only just that God should refuse to some because of the hardness of heart what He gives to others from a compassion that they do not deserve. If He had wanted to overcome the obstinacy of the most hardened, He could have done so by revealing Himself to them so obviously that they could not have doubted the truth of His Being -- just as He will appear at the last day with such a clap of thunder and such an upheaval of nature that the dead will revive and the blindest will see. It is not in this way, however, that He willed to appear at His gentle coming: because so many men had made themselves unworthy of His mercy, He willed to leave them deprived of the good which they did not desire. And so it would not have been fair for Him to have appeared in an obviously divine manner, absolutely capable of convincing all men. But also it would not have been fair for Him to appear in a manner so hidden that even those who were sincerely seeking Him should not be able to recognize Him... So He has tempered His knowledge, by giving marks of Himself which were visible to those who seek Him, and not to those who seek Him not.

Jesus will prevail. His Church will prevail. Everything else is just passing away. Our current leadership [of the Episcopal Church read more

Jesus will prevail. His Church will prevail. Everything else is just passing away. Our current leadership [of the Episcopal Church USA] will die one day, as will you and I. It is not for us to condemn others, but to witness to them of Him who is in our lives. Even now, the enemy is at work, but Jesus will prevail. I know a God whose mercy knows no limits and whose power has no restraints.

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be read more

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world: at least, we should be better enabled to bear them.

Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each read more

Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550 In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship.

The defense, for myself and for those for whom I am responsible, must be a conscious defense. We cannot assume read more

The defense, for myself and for those for whom I am responsible, must be a conscious defense. We cannot assume that, because we are Christians, in the full biblical sense, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, automatically we shall be free from the influence of what surrounds us. The Holy Spirit can do what He will, but the Bible does not separate His work from knowledge; nor does the work of the Holy Spirit remove our responsibility as parents, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, or teachers.