CQOD: 07/25/07 -- Kirk: the exclusive fraternity

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 25, 2007

Feast of James the Apostle

Meditation:
    Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
    "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
    -- Mark 3:31-36 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    When Jesus calls his disciples “brothers” and “friends,” he is contradicting general Jewish usage and breaking through into a new concept of brotherhood which is not tribal, but open to any person.
    ... David Kirk (b.1935), Quotations from Chairman Jesus, p. 106-107 [1969]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a true brother.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/24/07 -- Thomas à Kempis: loving the unlovely

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 24, 2007

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

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
    -- Matthew 5:46,47 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    It is no great matter to associate with the good and gentle; for this is a naturally pleasing to all, and everyone willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable thing.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ, II.iii. [1418]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me patience and perseverance towards those whom I would rather avoid.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/23/07 -- Dale: why Christ came

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 23, 2007

Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373

Meditation:
    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
    -- John 3:17 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Christ came, not so much to preach the Gospel, as that there might be a Gospel to preach.
    ... R. W. Dale (1829-1895)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your presence within is the Gospel.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/22/07 -- Houston: focused on God

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 22, 2007

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles

Meditation:
    LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
    -- Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us to worship God, filling our inner being with a fullness we would never have thought possible. Awe prepares the way in us for the power of God to transform us and this transformation of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and obedience toward God.
    ... James Houston (b.1922), The Transforming Power of Prayer [1996]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prostrate my heart before You.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/21/07 -- Merton: the most personal contact

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 21, 2007Meditation:
    In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
    -- Psalms 118:5,6 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Prayer is the movement of trust, of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow, that places us before God, seeing both Him and ourselves in the light of His infinite truth, and moves us to ask Him for the mercy, the spiritual strength, the material help, that we all need. The man whose prayer is so pure that he never asks God for anything does not know who God is, and does not know who he is himself: for he does not know his own need of God. All true prayer somehow confesses our absolute dependence on the Lord of life and death. It is, therefore, a deep and vital contact with Him whom we know not only as Lord but as Father. It is when we pray truly that we really are. Our being is brought to a high perfection by this.
    ... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man Is an Island [1955]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, wring from me the prayer of the heart.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/20/07 -- Gossip: prayer that is answered

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 20, 2007

Commemoration of Bartolomè de las Casas, Apostle to the Indies, 1566

Meditation:
    I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.
    -- Psalms 30:1-3 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Of course, it all depends upon what we are praying for. If we are whimpering, and sniveling, and begging to be spared the discipline of life that is sent to knock some smatterings of manhood into us, the answer to that prayer may never come at all. Thank God! Though, indeed, it is not easy to say that, with honesty. Still, it may never come at all, thank God. But if you have attained as far as Epictetus—pagan though you would call him—whose daily prayer was this: “O God, give me what Thou desirest for me, for I know that what Thou choosest for me is far better than I could choose;” if you are not bleating to get off, but asking to be given grace and strength to see this through with honor, “the very day” you pray that prayer, the answer always comes.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope [1944]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me always to choose what You desire in prayer.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/19/07 -- John Chrysostom: humility

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 19, 2007Meditation:
    For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
    -- Romans 12:3 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my pride is the enemy of the humility that is Your desire for me.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 07/18/07 -- Ambrose: Jesus, the way

Christian Quotation of the Day

July 18, 2007Meditation:
    [Jesus:] I and the Father are one.
    -- John 10:30 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Jesus is our mouth, through which we speak to the Father; He is our eye, through which we see the Father; He is our right hand through which we offer ourselves to the Father. Unless He intercedes, there is no intercourse with God.
    ... St. Ambrose (339-397)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Bless You, Lord, for revealing the Father to us.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com