Catherine of Siena: God loved us first

Thursday, October 7, 2010
Meditation:
    Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
    —1 John 4:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He has loved us without being loved... We are bound to Him, and not He to us, because before He was loved, He loved us... There it is, then: we cannot... love Him with this first love. Yet I say that God demands of us, that as He has loved us without any second thoughts, so He should be loved by us. In what way can we do this, then? ... I tell you, through a means which he has established, by which we can love Him freely; ... that is, we can be useful, not to Him—which is impossible—but to our neighbour... To show the love that we have for Him, we ought to serve and love every rational creature and extend our charity to good and bad, as much to one who does us ill service and criticizes us as to one who serves us. For, ... His charity extends over just men and sinners.
    ... Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Saint Catherine of Siena as seen in her letters, J. M. Dent, 1906, p. 83 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we can but reflect the love You have shown us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ambrose: God seeking man

Wednesday, October 6, 2010
    Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536
Meditation:
Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Look to the LORD and his strength;
    seek his face always.
    —Psalm 105:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397), De Paradiso
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have found me, for Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: the Holy Spirit's power over the subconscious

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Meditation:
    However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
    —1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives, then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be. Life is supplied with a basic adequacy...
    The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions. Many Christians are Christians in their actions—they don’t lie, steal, commit adultery, or get drunk; but they react badly to what happens to them—they react in anger, bad temper, self-pity, jealousy, and envy... When the depths are held by the Holy Spirit, then the reaction is Christian.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), Conversion, New York: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 233,235 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Spirit of God, reign within my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gore: Jesus, an inward presence

Monday, October 4, 2010
    Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226
Meditation:
    Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
    —Romans 8:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It was something more than a glorified Christ in the heavens in which [the Apostles] believed. At the beginning John the Baptist had taught his disciples to expect from the Christ the baptism, not of water only, as in his baptism, but of the Spirit. Before His death Jesus had sought to fill His disciples’ minds with the expectation of this gift... And that Spirit had come in sensible power upon them some ten days after Jesus had disappeared for the last time from their eyes... And this Spirit was the Spirit of God, but also and therefore the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus was not to them merely a past example, or a remote Lord, but an inward presence and power. A mere example in past history becomes in experience a feebler and feebler power... But the example of Jesus was something much more than a memory. For He who had taught them in the past how to live was alive in the heavenly places, and was working within them by His Spirit.
    ... Charles Gore (1853-1932), The Philosophy of the Good Life, J. Murray, 1930, p. 195 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we have received Your gift. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: He is here

Sunday, October 3, 2010
    Commemoration of William Morris, Artist, Writer, 1896
    Commemoration of George Kennedy Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958
Meditation:
    Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
    —Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The reason we can hope to find God is that He is here, engaged all the time in finding us. Every gleam of beauty is a pull toward Him. Every pulse of love is a tendril that draws us in His direction. Every verification of truth links the finite mind up into a Foundational Mind that undergirds us. Every deed of good will points toward a consummate Goodness which fulfills all our tiny adventures in faith. We can find Him because in Him we live and move and have our being.
    ... Rufus M. Jones (1863-1948), Pathways to the Reality of God, New York: Macmillan, 1931, p. xi-xii (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have planted signs of Your presence everywhere. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: the Bible leading to Christ

Saturday, October 2, 2010
Meditation:
    The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
    —Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sad, indeed, would the whole matter be if the Bible had told us everything God meant us to believe. But herein is the Bible greatly wronged. It nowhere lays claim to be regarded as the Word, the Way, the Truth. The Bible leads us to Jesus, the inexhaustible, the ever-unfolding Revelation of God. It is Christ “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” not the Bible, save as leading to Him.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Higher Faith”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 52-53 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the pure source of all knowledge. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bernard of Clairvaux: a dreadful offensiveness

Friday, October 1, 2010
    Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
    Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
Meditation:
[The LORD:] “I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
    I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.
    Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!”
    —Amos 5:21-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I do a great wrong in His sight, when I beseech Him that He will hear my prayer, which as I give utterance to it I do not hear myself. I entreat Him that He will think of me; but I regard neither myself nor Him. Nay, what is worse, turning over corrupt and evil thoughts in mine heart, I thrust a dreadful offensiveness into His presence.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Selections from His Letters, Meditations, Sermons, Hymns and Other Writngs, tr. Horatio Grimley, CUP Archive, n.d., p. 195 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, turn my heart towards righteousness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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