John Chrysostom: thrown into security

Saturday, September 13, 2014
    Feast of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407
Meditation:
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
    —Psalm 51:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The devil then lies in wait [during prayer], deceiver that he is. For since he sees very great gain accruing to us from prayer, then most he assails us, in order that he may disable us from our defence; that he may send us off home emptyhanded... The devil, when he has seen us coming to the judge, drives us away to a distance, not by any staff, but through our own slackness. For he knows, he knows clearly, that if they have come to him in a sober spirit, and have told the sins committed, and have mourned with their soul fervent, they will depart having received full forgiveness; for God loves mankind; and on this account [the devil] is beforehand with them, and debars them from access, in order that they may obtain no one of the things which they need, [doing so] with no compulsion, but by deceiving us, and throwing us into security.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), A, Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. IX, New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889, p. 237 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:7; 32:5; Matt. 7:7-8; John 8:44; 1 John 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never be slack about my sins. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: holding the tongue

Friday, September 12, 2014
Meditation:
A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
    and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
    —Proverbs 17:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Thou wilt never be spiritually minded and godly unless thou art silent concerning other men’s matters and take full heed to thyself.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, II.v.2, p. 91 (see the book)
    See also Prov. 17:27; Col. 3:22-24; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to focus on the work You have given to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: it might be so

Thursday, September 11, 2014
Meditation:
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.
    —Psalm 46:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Partisan Review, a journal of literary opinion representing a section of advanced secular thought, recently published a series of papers answering the question, “Why has there been a turn toward religion among intellectuals?” The asking of the question is significant. Few writers dispute the fact implied by it. Most of the contributors, whether they count themselves among those who have “turned to religion” or not, find the principal reason for it in the collapse of the optimistic hope that modern science and human good will would bring the world into an era of peace and justice. The confidence in that outcome has been so violently shaken that men must ask whether there are not higher resources than man’s to sustain courage and hope. The faith of the Bible points to such sources. God works within the tragic destiny of human efforts with a healing power, and a reconciling spirit. Even those who have felt completely superior to all “outworn” religious notions, must look today at least wistfully to the possibility that such a God lives and works.
    ... Daniel Day Williams (1910-1973), Interpreting Theology, 1918-1952, Daniel Day Williams, London: SCM Press, 1953, ed. 3, under alternative title, New York: Harper, 1959, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 46:6-7; 2:1-4; Isa. 8:9-10; Nah. 1:5; Hab. 3:5-6; 2 Pet. 3:10-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself as the only true source of hope. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kraemer: the deep-freeze of the Church

Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Meditation:
    Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
    —1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In all our criticism and near-despair of the institutional Church, it should never be forgotten that many powers and possibilities really exist in it, but often in captivity; they exist as frozen credits and dead capital.
    ... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965), A Theology of the Laity, London: Lutterworth Press, 1958, p. 176 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Deut. 5:29; Matt. 24:12-13; Mark 13:33; Rom. 12:11; Heb. 6:10-12; Rev. 2:4-5; 3:1-3,15-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, liberate Your Church with Your life-giving word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the candle of the Lord

Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Meditation:
    For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
    —Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is no life so humble that, if it be true and genuinely human and obedient to God, it may not hope to shed some of His light. There is no life so meager that the greatest and wisest of us can afford to despise it. We cannot know at all at what sudden moment it may flash forth with the life of God.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Candle of the Lord [1881], E. P Dutton & Co., New York, 1903, p. 9 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 57:15; Ps. 37:11; 147:6; Isa. 29:19; 66:2; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 5:3; 11:29; 18:2-4; 23:12; Mark 9:35-37; 10:43-44; Luke 22:26-27; John 13:14-16; Rom. 12:3; Eph. 5:21; Phil. 2:3-11; Jas. 1:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never ignore one of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: turning to God for peace

Monday, September 8, 2014
    Commemoration of Søren Kierkegaard, Teacher and Philosopher, 1855
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
    —John 14:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To thee, O God, we turn for peace; but grant us, too, the blessed assurance that nothing shall deprive us of that peace, neither ourselves, nor our foolish, earthly desires, nor my wild longings, nor the anxious cravings of my heart.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 85 (see the book)
    See also John 14:27; Ps. 85:8; Luke 2:14; John 16:33; Rom. 5:1-2; 8:6; 14:17; 15:33; 1 Cor. 14:33; Eph. 2:14-18; Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, calm my desires with Your peace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: leave the future to God

Sunday, September 7, 2014
    Commemoration of Douglas Downes, Founder of the Society of Saint Francis, 1957
Meditation:
    Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
    —Matthew 6:34 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Sufficient for every day is the good and the evil thereof. This daily doing of the will of God is the coming of his kingdom within us, and at the same time our daily bread. We should be faithless indeed, and guilty of heathen distrust, did we desire to penetrate the future, which God has hidden from us; leave it to Him: let Him make it short or long, bitter or sweet; let Him do with it even as it shall please Himself.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Spiritual Progress: or, Instructions in the Divine Life of the Soul, New York: M. W. Dodd, 1853, p. 79 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:34; Ps. 37:3; 55:22; Luke 12:28-31; John 14:27; 16:33; 2 Cor. 12:9; 1 Thess. 3:8; 1 Pet. 5:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I place all concerns for the future in Your hands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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