CQOD: 07/31/06 -- Ignatius of Loyola: personal evangelism

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 31, 2006Meditation:
    Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
    -- Ephesians 6:11,12 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    As the devil showed great skill in tempting men to perdition, equal skill ought to be shown in saving them. The devil studied the nature of each man, seized upon the traits of his soul, adjusted himself to them and insinuated himself gradually into his victims’s confidence—suggesting splendors to the ambitious, gain to the covetous, delight to the sensuous, and a false appearance of piety to the pious—and a winner of souls ought to act in the same cautious and skillful way.
    ... Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we know the enemy opposes evangelism. Grant us wisdom in telling the Gospel.

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CQOD: 07/30/06 -- Wilberforce: a false economy

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 30, 2006

Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833

Meditation:
    Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
    -- Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    It is indeed a most lamentable consequence of the practice of regarding religion as a compilation of statutes, and not as an internal principle, that it soon comes to be considered as being conversant about external actions rather than about habits of mind. This sentiment sometimes has even the hardiness to insinuate and maintain itself under the guise of extraordinary concern for practical religion; but it soon discovers the falsehood of this pretension, and betrays its real nature. The expedient, indeed, of attaining to superiority in practice by not wasting any of the attention on the internal principles from which alone practice can flow, is about as reasonable, and will answer about as well, as the economy of an architect who should account it mere prodigality to expend any of his materials in laying foundation, from an idea that they might be more usefully applied to the raising of the superstructure. We know what would be the fate of such an edifice.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View [1958]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make a strong foundation in me.

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CQOD: 07/29/06 -- Dodd: Paul on baptism

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 29, 2006

Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord

Meditation:
    What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
    -- Romans 6:1-3 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    [Paul] makes use of the symbolism of baptism, which in the East was performed by the complete immersion of the believer in water. “We were buried with Christ through our baptism (and so entered) into a state of death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the splendor of the Father, we too might walk in the newness which belongs to (real) life.” To the rite as such Paul did not attach overwhelming importance. “Christ,” he says, “did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.”
    Paul recognized in the idea a most suggestive figure for the change wrought by faith in Christ. He found it necessary to guard against the crude sacramentalism which found in the mere physical process, as such, the actual impartation of new life, quite apart from anything taking place in the realm of inward experience. The Israelites in the wilderness ... received baptism in the Red Sea and in the cloud which overshadowed them; and yet they were disobedient, “the majority of them God did not choose,” and they perished miserably. The inference is plain. No sacramental act achieves anything unless it is an outward symbol of what really happens inwardly in experience. The test of that is the reality of the new life as exhibited in its ethical consequences. “How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in sin?” If baptism is a real dying and rising again, then it is indeed a profound revolution in the personal life, a revolution which is simply bound to show itself in a new moral character.
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for Today [1920]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we acknowledge Your power and grace in sacraments, as You directed.

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CQOD: 07/28/06 -- Baouardy: Sleepers, awake!

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 28, 2006

Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750

Meditation:
    Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!
    -- Revelation 5:11-12 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Let us go and wake up the universe... and sing His praises.
    ... Mariam Baouardy (1846-1878)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Awaken my soul to the praise of Your glory as well, Lord.

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CQOD: 07/27/06 -- Westcott: the danger of understanding

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 27, 2006

Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901

Meditation:
    And you shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.'
    -- Jeremiah 7:28 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The idea of “conviction” is complex. It involves the concepts of authoritative examination, of unquestionable proof, of decisive judgment, of punitive power. Whatever the final issue may be, he who “convicts” another places the truth of the case in dispute in a clear light before him, so that it must be seen and acknowledged as truth. He who then rejects the conclusion which the exposition involves, rejects it with his eyes open and at his peril. Truth seen as truth carries with it condemnation to all who refuse to welcome it.
    ... Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), The Gospel According to St. John [1882]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that ____ and ____ shall receive Your truth and embrace it, to eternal life.

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CQOD: 07/26/06 -- Whitefield: such feeble return

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 26, 2006

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Meditation:
    But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
    -- Philippians 3:7 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    Gladly shall I come whenever bodily strength will allow to join my testimony with yours in Olney pulpit, that God is love. As yet I have not recovered from the fatigues of my American expedition. My shattered bark is scarce worth docking any more. But I would fain wear, not rust, out. Oh! my dear Mr. Newton, indeed and indeed I am ashamed that I have done and suffered so little for Him that hath done and suffered so much for ill and hell-deserving me.
    ... George Whitefield (1714-1770), letter to John Newton

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, nothing can match Your presence in my life.

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CQOD: 07/25/06 -- Underhill: the spiritual life

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 25, 2006

Feast of James the Apostle

Meditation:
    In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
    -- 1 John 4:9-10 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence, but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God, and bear the cost.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, remove my impulse to retreat, and show me how to engage with the world.

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CQOD: 07/24/06 -- Thomas à Kempis: reading the Scriptures

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 24, 2006

Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471

Meditation:
    Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...
    -- Luke 24:44-45 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought for in Holy Scripture. Each part of the Scripture is to be read with the same Spirit wherewith it was written. We should rather search after profit in Scriptures, than subtilty of speech. We ought to read plain and devout books as willingly as high and profound. Let not the authority of the writer offend thee, whether he be of great or small learning; but let the love of pure truth draw thee to read. Search not who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ, I.v. [1418]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Send Your Spirit to open the Scriptures to me.

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CQOD: 07/23/06 -- Marshall: the only way

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 23, 2006

Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373

Meditation:
    For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
    -- Matthew 6:14,15 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    If the wounds of millions are to be healed, what other way is there except through forgiveness? Jesus, at least, leaves us no alternative. The command is stern. The terms are set: “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
    ... Catherine Marshall (1914-1983)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me whom I have not forgiven, that I may more fully obey You.

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CQOD: 07/22/06 -- Fénelon: goodness

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 22, 2006

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles

Meditation:
    Let all that you do be done in love.
    -- 1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The more vigor you need, the more gentleness and kindness you must combine with it. All stiff, harsh goodness is contrary to Jesus.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to be aware of the little wounds I make.

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CQOD: 07/21/06 -- de Sales: praying well

CQOD: 07/21/06 -- de Sales: praying well

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 21, 2006Meditation:
    And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
    -- Isaiah 30:20-21 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank You for Your continual presence.

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