Thomas a Kempis: love to the limit

April 11, 2009
    Holy Saturday
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
    -- Luke 14:27 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly Kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. He hath many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation. Many love Jesus so long as no adversities befall them.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ, II.xi. [1418] (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must bear me as I bear my cross.

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Law: the terrible wrath of man

April 10, 2009
    Good Friday
    Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
    Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
    Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
    -- John 3:36 (NIV)

Quotation:
    There is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not His own, God gave His only begotten Son to be made man. God has no more wrath in Himself now than He had before the creation, when He had only Himself to love... And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary; because nothing but a life and birth, derived from Him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a self-tormenting fire into an amiable image of the Holy Trinity as it was at first created.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration, par. 110-112 [1739] (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your sacrifice has restored Your image in mankind.

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Bonhoeffer: the narrow way

April 9, 2009
    Maundy Thursday
    Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
    -- John 16:33 (NIV)

Quotation:
    There remains for us only the very narrow way, often extremely difficult to find, of living every day as though it were our last, and yet living in faith and responsibility as though there were to be a great future.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), "After Ten Years" in A testament to freedom, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 484 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I have no expectations save Your promises.

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Phillips: where our treasure is

April 8, 2009
    Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
    -- Matthew 24:30,31 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Now, if our hopes, whatever we protest, really lie in this world instead of in the eternal order, we shall find it difficult to accept the New Testament teaching of the Second Coming. In our eyes the job is not yet done, and such an action would be, though we would not put it so, an interference. But suppose our hope rests in the purpose of God, then we safely leave the timing of the earthly experiment to Him. Meanwhile we do what we were told to do—to be alert and to work and to pray for the spread of His Kingdom.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), New Testament Christianity [1956], chapt. v. (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me focused on Your purposes.

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van Dyke: time

April 7, 2009

Meditation:
    Love is patient...
    -- 1 Corinthians 13:4a (NIV)

Quotation:
        Time is
    Too Slow for those who Wait,
    Too Swift for those who Fear,
    Too Long for those who Grieve,
    Too Short for those who Rejoice;
        But for those who Love,
            Time is not.
    ... Henry van Dyke (1852-1933), The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, C. Scribner's Sons, 1920, p. 259 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may never begrudge time to one in need.

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Carlyle: illusion and reality

April 6, 2009
    Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564

Meditation:
    Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
    -- Proverbs 9:8 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Sweep away the illusion of Time; glance, if thou have eyes, from the near moving-cause to the far-distant Mover. The stroke that came transmitted through a whole galaxy of elastic balls, was it less a stroke than if the last ball only had been struck, and sent flying? Oh, could I transport thee direct from the Beginnings to the Endings, how were thy eyesight unsealed, and thy heart set flaming in the Light-sea of celestial wonder! Then sawest thou that this fair Universe, were it in the meanest province thereof, is in very deed the star-domed City of God; that through every star, through every grass-blade, and most through every Living Soul, the glory of a present God still beams. But Nature, which is the Time-vesture of God, and reveals Him to the wise, hides Him from the foolish.
    ... Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Sartor Resartus, 2nd ed., Philadelphia: Munroe & Co., 1837, p. 267 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I witness Your hand in the universe.

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Williams: effective sending

April 5, 2009
    Palm Sunday

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
    -- Luke 12:11,12 (NIV)

Quotation:
    No man ever did, nor ever shall, truly go forth to convert the nations, nor to prophesy in the present state of witnesses against Antichrist, but by the gracious inspiration and instigation of the Holy Spirit of God... I prejudice not an external test and call, which was at first and shall be again in force at the resurrection of the churches, ... but in the present state of things I cannot but be humbly bold to say that I know no other true sender but the most Holy Spirit. And when He sends, His messengers will go, His prophets will prophesy, though all the world should forbid them.
    ... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), The Hireling Ministry [1652], pp. 3-4 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I know the touch of Your Spirit.

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