Easter Because upon the first glad Easter day The stone that sealed His tomb was rolled away, So, through the read more

Easter Because upon the first glad Easter day The stone that sealed His tomb was rolled away, So, through the deepening shadows of death's night, Men see an open door ... beyond it, light.

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 God in His providence has not allowed the read more

Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203 God in His providence has not allowed the survival of actual physical objects. But we have infinitely more than this, for instead of dead relics, however "authentic" and well preserved, we have a living life-line, stretching unbroken to Christ Himself. We have all the comfort and security that comes from historic tradition, but instead of being given the sad nostalgia of looking at an object and saying, "Look, how wonderful! This is what He touched then," we are given an evergreen memorial [in communion] which says, "This is what He touches now.".

Feast of Mark the Evangelist To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it read more

Feast of Mark the Evangelist To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it seems as far as it was prudent to bid man go. The "greater love than this" of which our Lord speaks, though He does not command it, is to give oneself for one's friends. And when one does this, or is ready to do this, prayer even for "us" seems too selfish -- and it is unnecessary, for we then possess all that God Himself can give us. The easy renunciation of self for the Beloved becomes the very breath of life.

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 To pious and peaceable persons [Augustine] gives this advice: read more

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 To pious and peaceable persons [Augustine] gives this advice: that they should correct in mercy whatever they can; that what they cannot, they should patiently bear, and affectionately lament, till God either reform and correct it, or, at the harvest, root up the tares and sift out the chaff. All pious persons should study to fortify themselves with these counsels, lest, while they consider themselves as valiant and strenuous defenders of righteousness, they depart from the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the only Kingdom of righteousness. For since it is the will of God that the communion of his church should be maintained in this external society, those who, from an aversion of wicked men, destroy the token of that society, enter on a course in which they are in great danger of falling from the communion of the saints. .

Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its read more

Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us.

Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274 The tendency of the religions of all time read more

Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274 The tendency of the religions of all time has been to care more for religion than for humanity: Christ cared more for humanity than for religion -- rather, His care for humanity was the chief expression of His religion. He was not indifferent to observances, but the practices of the people bulked in His thoughts before the practices of the Church. It has been pointed out as a blemish on the immortal allegory of Bunyan that the Pilgrim never did anything -- anything but save his soul. The remark is scarcely fair, for the allegory is designedly the story of a soul in a single relation; and, besides, he did do a little. But the warning may well be weighed. The Pilgrim's one thought, his work by day, his dream by night, was escape. He took little part in the world through which he passed. He was a Pilgrim travelling through it; his business was to get through safe. Whatever this is, it is not Christianity.

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 We can have no power from Christ unless we read more

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own.

Commemoration of Richard Meux Benson, Founder of the Society of St John the Evangelist, 1915 When law and read more

Commemoration of Richard Meux Benson, Founder of the Society of St John the Evangelist, 1915 When law and sin ceased to be distinguished in Israel, compassion induced Him to appoint judges again. If these are gifted with heroic qualities, to vanquish the oppressors of Israel, it is nevertheless not this heroism that forms their principal characteristic. That consists in judging. They restore... the authority of the law. For this reason, God raises up judges, not princes. The title sets forth both their work and the occasion of their appointment. Israel is free and powerful when its law is observed throughout the land.

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 read more

Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 God generally gives spiritual blessings and deliverances as He does temporal ones; that is, by the mediation of an active and vigorous industry. The fruits of the earth are the gift of God, and we pray for them as such; but yet we plant, and we sow, and we plough, for all that; and the hands which are sometimes lift up in prayer must at other times be put to the plough, or the husbandman must expect no crop. Everything must be effected in the way proper to its nature, with the concurrent influence of the divine grace, not to supersede the means, but to prosper and make them effectual.