Phillips: the coincidence of the material and the spiritual

Saturday, August 4, 2012
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
    —1 Corinthians 10:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As every pilgrim in the spiritual life knows, it is hard to hold the unseen in our mental and spiritual grasp. Visions of eternal truth, crystal-clear at the time, have a disconcerting way of fading from our memory. But here I may reassure myself. Here I know that Christ Himself, taking pity on our blindness, and understanding our limitations, is allowing the seen and the unseen, the material and the spiritual, to coincide. Here, by His appointment, I can receive and absorb things that are physical and know that they are really things which are spiritual. It is no mere piece of bread or sip of wine that I receive—I receive the very Body and Blood of Christ into my own imperfect self.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Appointment with God, New York, Macmillan, 1954, p. 36 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive You by the bread and wine. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kirk: no Christian revolution?

Friday, August 3, 2012
Meditation:
    [Christ Jesus] came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
    —Ephesians 2:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is never a “Christian revolution”. Our task is not to set up Christian states or societies, but to humanize the secular order... The coming of the Kingdom confronts Christianity and society with the dynamic principle of a society always reforming. If revolution means “change of relationships”, “new life”, “new men”, etc., these are clearly Christian concepts.
    ... David Kirk (1935-2007), Quotations from Chairman Jesus, Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1969, p. 53 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enable Your people to speak Your peace to the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay: redemption eternally

Thursday, August 2, 2012
Meditation:
    ... for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
    —1 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To speak of the pre-existence of the Son is to say that God did not begin to redeem men when Jesus Christ came into this world, but that throughout all ages the redeeming power and the sacrificial work of God had been at work. To speak of the pre-existence of the Son means that the love which was demonstrated on Calvary is an eternal movement of the heart of God to men.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Mind of St. Paul, Harper & Row, 1975, p. 59 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have provided for us from all eternity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: the word from His mouth

Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Meditation:
    Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
    —2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If the anointing which we bear come not from the Lord of hosts we are deceivers, and since only in prayer can we obtain it, let us continue instant, constant, fervent in supplication... Think not to be a messenger of grace to others till you have seen the God of grace for yourselves, and had the word from his mouth.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), Lectures to My Students, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1890, p. 80-81 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, speak continually within me, that I may always listen for Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ignatius: returning the gifts

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
    My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
    —John 10:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I now return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and grace, for this is sufficient for me.
    ... St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491/5-1556), The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Random House, Inc., 2000, p. 80 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Amen and amen. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilberforce: gospel vs. philosophy

Monday, July 30, 2012
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    I meditate on your precepts
    and consider your ways.
    —Psalm 119:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures would discover to us our past ignorance. We should cease to be deceived by superficial appearances, and to confound the gospel of Christ with the systems of philosophers; we should become impressed with the weighty truth, so much forgotten in the present day, that Christianity calls on us, as we value our immortal souls, not merely in general, to be religious and moral, but specially to believe the doctrines, imbibe the principles, and practise the precepts of Christ.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 80 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have written Your law on the hearts of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: leaving the victory to God

Sunday, July 29, 2012
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.
    ...
    “Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
    —Acts 5:34,38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To hold your truth, to believe it with all your heart, to work with all your might, first to make it real to yourself and then to show its preciousness to other men, and then—not till then, but then—to leave the questions of when and how and by whom it shall prevail, to God; that is the true life of the true believer. There is no feeble unconcern and indiscriminateness there, and neither is there any excited hatred of the creed, the doctrine, or the Church which you feel wholly wrong. You have not fled out of the furnace of bigotry to freeze on the open and desolate plains of indifference. You believe, and yet you have no wish to persecute.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Sermons, v. III, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1883, Sermon XII, p. 257 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make calm my mind and strengthen my heart to trust You in all things. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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