Baillie: that the Spirit may rule

Saturday, May 5, 2012
Meditation:
    Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
    —Romans 14:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    O Thou whose tender mercies are over all Thy works, humbly and sorrowfully I crave Thy forgiveness for the sins of this day;
    For every weakening and defiling thought to which my mind has given harbour;
    for every word spoken in hastiness or passion;
    For every failure of self-control;
    For every stumbling-block which by deed or example I have set in another’s way;
    For every opportunity lost;
    For every blessing thanklessly received;
    For loitering feet and procrastinating will;
    For this ...
    And this ...
    And this ...
And grant that, as the days go by, Thy Spirit may more and more rule in my heart, giving me victory over these and all other sinful ways.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 23 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Amen. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Figgis: the intolerant Lord

Friday, May 4, 2012
    Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
    “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”
    —Luke 6:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If you serve Christ, He will be content with nothing less than the whole of you. The service means taking up the Cross; being hard where others find it easy, being regarded by some as unintelligent, by others as bigoted, by others as uncharitable—for Christ’s lordship is intolerant. We are His sworn men and owe Him “life and limb and earthly worship” and service against all other lords; and we cannot reduce our faith into mere commonplace morals or respectable citizenship.
    ... John Neville Figgis (1866-1919), The Gospel and Human Needs, London: Longman’s, Green & Co., 1911, p. 153 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may hold nothing back that You desire to use. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillotson: fact or fiction?

Thursday, May 3, 2012
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
    —Matthew 26:56 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is by no means necessary to salvation to believe that St. Matthew wrote ... the gospel, but only to believe what he wrote.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IX, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, p. 231 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have made the truth about Jesus available to us all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Athanasius: the divine body

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.
    —Galatians 3:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Word was not degraded by receiving a body... Rather, he deified what he put on; and, more than that, he bestowed this gift upon the race of men.
    ... St. Athanasius (293?-373), from Contra Arianos, i.42, in The Early Christian Fathers, Henry Scowcroft Bettenson, London: Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 384 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the heir to all, and by Your grace, we are co-heirs with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Amiel: his own nothingness

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.
When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the earth.
    —Psalm 104:29-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    At the bottom of the modern man there is always a great thirst for self-forgetfulness, self-distraction; he has a secret horror of all which makes him feel his own littleness; the eternal, the infinite, perfection, therefore scare and terrify him. He wishes to approve himself, to admire and congratulate himself; and therefore he turns away from all those problems and abysses which might recall to him his own nothingness.
    ... Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881), The Journal Intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel, tr. Mrs. Humphry Ward, New York: Macmillan, 1885, p. 169 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, without Your grace, I am nothing at all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Basil: inspiration

Monday, April 30, 2012
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    [Jesus to the Pharisees and teachers of the law:] “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
    —Mark 7:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every word or matter ought to be accredited by the testimony of inspired Scripture. Nor ought anyone to dare to annul or add anything. For if everything which is not of faith is sin, as the Apostle says, and faith by hearing, and hearing by the word of God: everything outside inspired Scripture not being of faith is sin.
    ... St. Basil the Great (330?-379), Moralia, xxvi. & lxxix. 22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people hold fast to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Catherine of Siena: speaking peace

Sunday, April 29, 2012
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.”
    —Luke 10:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The obedient man speaks words of peace all his life, and at his death receives that which was promised him at his death by his superior, that is to say, eternal life, the vision of peace, and of supreme and eternal tranquillity and rest, the inestimable good which no one can value or understand, for, being the infinite good, it cannot be understood by anything smaller than itself.
    ... Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dialog of Catherine of Siena [1378], Treatise of Obedience, ix. (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You grant Your people true peace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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