To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done read more

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 Lord, forgive -- That I have dwelt too long on Golgotha, read more

Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 Lord, forgive -- That I have dwelt too long on Golgotha, My wracked eyes fixed On Thy poor, tortured human form upon the cross, And have not seen The lilies in Thy dawn-sweet garden bend To anoint Thy risen feet; nor known the ways Thy radiant spirit walks abroad with men.

Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878 Is it not plain that all spiritual apathy read more

Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878 Is it not plain that all spiritual apathy comes not from over-trust but from unbelief, either doubting that sin is present death, or else that holiness is life and that Jesus has a gift to bestow, not in heaven, but promptly, which is better to gain than all the world? Therefore salvation is linked with faith, which earns nothing but elicits all, like the touch that evokes electricity but which no man supposes to have made it.

Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 When we look at the history of the read more

Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 When we look at the history of the Church, at the reckless fashion in which we have squandered our strength and time in fratricidal struggles between sect and sect, in embittered bickerings over matters often of secondary moment, while the world about us lies unwon, and the Church's great commission remains plainly unfulfilled, surely we can understand that outburst of Erasmus, when he cried that he wished that we would cease from our disputings altogether, and put all that energy and zeal that we are wasting upon them into the carrying of the Gospel to the heathen! Or recall the infinite pains that have been taken, down the centuries, to preserve minute orthodoxy in all points of mental belief while ugly evils flaunt along the streets and are accepted meekly as part of the makeup of things! Or recollect how easy it is to assume that we, ourselves, are Christian people. Why? Oh, well, just the usual reasons: we say our prayers, when we are not too sleepy; and we come to church, when there is nothing much to do; and so, of course, there is no doubt of it, although our tempers may remain uncurbed, and our characters are not the least like Jesus Christ's, nor growing any nearer it! Do we not need that solemn warning that Christ gives us when He tells us bluntly that many people lose their lives and souls, because they are always laying the emphasis and stress on the wrong points?

Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles You cannot escape Christ, do what You will. You reject His divinity, but, read more

Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles You cannot escape Christ, do what You will. You reject His divinity, but, so doing, you have not evaded Him. If He is a man just like us, then obviously you must be a man like Him.

Palm Sunday I bind my heart, this tide, to the Galilean's side, To the wounds of Calvary, to the read more

Palm Sunday I bind my heart, this tide, to the Galilean's side, To the wounds of Calvary, to the Christ who died for me. I bind my soul this day to the brother far away And the brother near at hand, in this town and in this land. I bind my heart in thrall to God, the Lord of all.-- To God, the poor man's friend, and the Christ whom He did send. I bind myself to peace, to make strife and envy cease. God, knit Thou sure the cord of my thralldom to my Lord!

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Christ was common to all in love, in teaching, in read more

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Christ was common to all in love, in teaching, in tender consolation, in generous gifts, in merciful forgiveness. His soul and his body, his life and his death and his ministry were, and are, common to all. His sacraments and his gifts are common to all. Christ never took any food or drink, nor anything that his body needed, without intending by it the common good of all those who shall be saved, even unto the last day.

Pentecost The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit read more

Pentecost The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. But the mere fact that the Holy Spirit's first recorded action in the gospels is an expression of redeeming love should cause us to suspect a teaching which represents His work as primarily, if not solely, the sanctification of our own souls to the practical exclusion of His activity in us towards others. It is important to teach of Him as the Spirit of holiness; it is also important to teach of Him as the Spirit which in us labours for the salvation of men everywhere.

Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 "I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee, I have not read more

Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 "I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee, I have not thirsted for Thee: And now cold billows of death surround me, Buffeting billows of death astound me, Wilt Thou look upon, wilt Thou see Thy perishing me?" "Yea, I have sought thee, yea, I have found thee, Yea, I have thirsted for thee, Yea, long ago with love's bands I bound thee: Now the Everlasting Arms surround thee, Through death's darkness I look and see And clasp thee to Me.".