Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 The very activities for which we were created are, while we live read more

Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 The very activities for which we were created are, while we live on earth, variously impeded: by evil in ourselves or in others. Not to practice them is to abandon our humanity. To practice them spontaneously and delightfully is not yet possible. This situation creates the category of duty, the whole specifically moral realm. It exists to be transcended. Here is the paradox of Christianity. As practical imperatives for here and now, the two great commandments have to be translated "Behave as if you loved God and man". For no man can love because he is told to. Yet obedience on this practical level is not really obedience at all. And if a man really loved God and man, once again this would hardly be obedience; for if he did, he would be unable to help it. Thus the command really says to us, "Ye must be born again". Till then, we have duty, morality, the Law. A schoolmaster, as St. Paul says, is to bring us to Christ. We must expect no more of it than of a schoolmaster; we must allow it no less.

Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899 Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop read more

Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899 Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons, 664 Continuing a short series on prayer: All outward power that we exercise in the things about us is but a shadow in comparison of that inward power that resides in our will, imagination, and desires; these communicate with eternity and kindle a life which always reaches either Heaven or hell... Here lies the ground of the great efficacy of prayer, which when it is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of faith, has a kindling and creating power, and forms and transforms the soul into everything that the desire reaches after: it has the key to the Kingdom of Heaven and unlocks all its treasures; it opens, extends and moves that in us which has its being and motion in and with the divine nature. and so it brings us into real union and Communion with God.

Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 What can I give Him Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, read more

Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 What can I give Him Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would give Him a lamb, If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part, -- But what I can, I give Him, Give my heart.

The trouble with some of us is that we have been inoculated with small doses of Christianity which keep us read more

The trouble with some of us is that we have been inoculated with small doses of Christianity which keep us from catching the real thing.

It is to be feared lest our long quarrels about the manner of His presence cause the matter of His read more

It is to be feared lest our long quarrels about the manner of His presence cause the matter of His absence, for our want of charity to receive Him.

Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873 For Christian consciousness, paradise is the Kingdom of read more

Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873 For Christian consciousness, paradise is the Kingdom of Christ and is unthinkable apart from Christ. But this changes everything. The cross and the crucifixion enter into the bliss of paradise. The Son of God and the Son of Man descends into hell to free those who suffer there... To conquer evil, the good must crucify itself.

Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189 The minister is the servant of his people, read more

Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189 The minister is the servant of his people, who has to help them discern for themselves the will of God for their real work in the real world. It will often be his duty, therefore, to establish a certain economy in the internal life of the Church, so that people are released to give time and energy to fulfilment of their Christian duty in the worlds of industry or politics or business or professional life, where their most determinative decisions have to be taken. A new puritanism is urgently needed in most churches, which cuts away ruthlessly from their life all organizations and activities which prevent their members from grappling with their real task.

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Even the most traditional theologian will be anxious read more

Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary Even the most traditional theologian will be anxious to point out that the classical images which have been used, with more or less success, to depict different aspects of the Redemption -- the winning of a battle, the liberation of captives, the payment of a fine or debt, the curing of a disease, and so on -- are not to be interpreted literally, any more than, when we say that the eternal Word "came down from Heaven", we are describing a process of spatial translation. For here we are dealing with processes and events which, by the nature of the case, cannot be precisely described in everyday language... The matter is quite different with such a statement as that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary; for, whatever aspects of the Incarnation outstrip the descriptive power of ordinary language, this at least is plainly statable in it. It means that Jesus was conceived in his mother's womb without previous sexual intercourse on her part with any male human being, and this is a straightforward statement which is either true or false. To say that the birth... of Jesus Christ cannot simply be thought of as a biological event, and to add that this is [not] what the Virgin Birth means, is a plain misuse of language; and no amount of talk about the appealing character of the "Christmas myth" can validly gloss this over.

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.