Stevenson: making people good?

Saturday, October 3, 2009
    Commemoration of William Morris, Artist, Writer, 1896
    Commemoration of George Kennedy Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958
Meditation:
    Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
    —1 Corinthians 10:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good. One person I have to make good: myself. But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy—if I may.
    ... Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, v. XII, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1922, p. 396 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, humble my heart to service.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: an idol of will

Friday, October 2, 2009
Meditation:
    But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
    Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
    “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
    —John 4:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Verily, we know not what an evil it is to indulge ourselves, and to make an idol of our will... Once I would make much ado, if I saw not the world carved and set in order to my liking; now I am silent, when I see God... is fattening and feeding the children of perdition. I pray God, I may never find my will again.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Feb. 20, 1637, p. 192 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my will is swallowed up in Yours.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Therese of Lisieux: to know no fear

Thursday, October 1, 2009
    Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
    Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
Meditation:
    John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
    —Luke 3:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
To live of love, it is to know no fear;
    No memory of past faults can I recall;
No imprint of my sins remaineth here;
    The fire of Love divine effaces all.
O sacred flames! O furnace of delight!
    I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove.
In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night.
        I live of love!
    ... Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Poems of St. Teresa, Carmelite of Lisieux, Boston, Angel Guardian Press, 1907, “To Live of Love”, n. 6 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Send the fire of Your love into my heart, Lord!CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Butler: off the table

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Meditation:
    First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
    —2 Peter 3:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule.
    ... Joseph Butler (1692-1752), The Analogy of Religion [1736], New York: Ivison, Blakeman Taylor & Co., 1872, p. 27 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me grace and courage to speak against the popular beliefs of culture.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: the Law as surgeon

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
    Feast of Michael & All Angels
Meditation:
    So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
    —Galatians 3:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), from Sermon no. 37, 1855 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only Your grace can cure the sickness and sin within me.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: nothing to worry about

Monday, September 28, 2009
Meditation:
    But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
    —Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    At the resurrection the substance of our bodies, however disintegrated, will be united. We must not fear that the omnipotence of God cannot recall all the particles that have been consumed by fire or by beast, or dissolved into dust and ashes, or decomposed into water, or evaporated into air.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The City of God, v. II, as vol. 2 of The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Edinbugh: T & T Clark, 1871, XII.xx, p. 515 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in You is our eternal hope.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Smith: the curse of war

Sunday, September 27, 2009
    Feast of Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists), 1660
Meditation:
    In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.
    —Isaiah 7:20-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The greatest curse which can be entailed upon mankind is a state of war. All the atrocious crimes committed in years of peace—all that is spent in peace by the secret corruptions or by the thoughtless extravagances of nations, are mere trifles compared with the gigantic evils which stalk over the world in a state of war. God is forgotten in war—every principle of Christian charity is trampled upon.
    ... Sydney Smith (1771-1845), Wit and wisdom of the Rev. Sydney Smith, New York: Redfield, 1856, p. 276 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that Your people’s love shall not grow cold.CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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