Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in read more

Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light.

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 I think that most Christians would be better pleased if the Lord read more

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 I think that most Christians would be better pleased if the Lord did not inquire into their personal affairs too closely. They want Him to save them, to keep them happy, and to take them off to heaven at last, but not to be too inquisitive about their conduct or services.

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 Devotion signifies a life given, read more

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871 Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God. He therefore is the devout man, who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life, parts of piety, by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to His glory.

Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100 One can believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and feel read more

Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100 One can believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and feel no personal loyalty to Him at all -- indeed, pay no attention whatever to His commandments and His will for one's life. One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.

I do not believe anyone ever yet humbly, genuinely, thoroughly gave himself to Christ without some other finding Christ through read more

I do not believe anyone ever yet humbly, genuinely, thoroughly gave himself to Christ without some other finding Christ through him.

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 Orthodoxy is, in the Church, very much what prejudice read more

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 Orthodoxy is, in the Church, very much what prejudice is in the single mind. It is the premature conceit of certainty. It is the treatment of the imperfect as if it were the perfect.

The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the read more

The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us.

Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 I can see no intellectual objection to the statement that God's power read more

Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 I can see no intellectual objection to the statement that God's power is not limited by anything outside His own creative purpose: in that sense He is omnipotent, but it is even impossible for Him to exercise that power in certain ways without thereby ceasing to be our Father. In that sense God is not omnipotent: He is limited by His own nature, by His perfect goodness and mercy; for the omnipotence of God means nothing apart from His Fatherly love. In particular, this limitation of the power of God is to be found in the measure of freedom which, as His children, we enjoy. God shares His power with us so that, for a time at least, if we so determine, we can break His laws and frustrate His plans, but also so that we can give to Him, if we choose, the free allegiance of our hearts and minds, and become children at His Family Table, drawn together by the compulsion of His love, and not the exercise of His might.

In my intellect, I may divide [faith and works], just as in the candle I know there is both light read more

In my intellect, I may divide [faith and works], just as in the candle I know there is both light and heat; yet put out the candle, and both are gone.