Augustine: whose is truth?

Saturday, April 30, 2016
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    ... to [false brothers] we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
    —Galatians 2:5 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The truth is neither mine nor his nor another’s; but belongs to us all whom Thou callest to partake of it, warning us terribly, not to account it private to ourselves, lest we be deprived of it.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions [397], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886, XII.xxv, p. 342 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 2:5; John 14:6; 1 Cor. 14:4; Gal. 4:16; Eph. 1:13; 2 Pet. 1:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Praise be to You, Lord, for Your truth that illuminates Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Clark: the school of happiness

Friday, April 29, 2016
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.
    —Psalm 145:9 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Among Christians so much prominence has been given to the disciplinary effects of sorrow, affliction, bereavement, that they have been in danger of overlooking the other and more obvious side: that by every joy, by every favor, by every sign of prosperity—yea, and by these chiefly—God designs to educate and discipline His children. This one-sided view of the truth has made many morbid, gloomy Christians, who look for God’s hand only in the lightning and never think of seeing it in the sunlight.
    ... F. E. Clark (1851-1927), included in Leaves of Gold, Evan S. Coslett & Clyde Francis Lytle, ed. [1948], Honesdale, Pa.: Coslett Publishing Company, 1938, p. 84 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 107:8; 65:9-13; 145:9; Nahum 1:7; Matt. 5:44-45; Acts 14:17; 17:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, as You cause me to be sorrowful for my sins, You fill my heart with gladness at my salvation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tauler: cold, modern hearts

Thursday, April 28, 2016
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
    —1 Peter 4:13-14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is no longer the fashion to suffer for the sake of God, and to bear the Cross for Him; for the diligence and real earnestness, that perchance were found in man, have been extinguished and have grown cold; and now no one is willing any longer to suffer distress for the sake of God.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XXII (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:13-14; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10-11; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 5:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, place Your holy fire in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rossetti: Love is strong as death

Wednesday, April 27, 2016
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
    He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.
    —Psalm 23:1-3 (KJV)
Quotation:
Love is strong as death

“I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee,
    I have not thirsted for Thee:
And now cold billows of death surround me,
Buffeting billows of death astound me,—
    Wilt Thou look upon, wilt Thou see
    Thy perishing me?”

“Yea, I have sought thee, yea, I have found thee,
    Yea, I have thirsted for thee,
Yea, long ago with love’s bands I bound thee:
Now the Everlasting Arms surround thee,
    Thro’ death’s darkness I look and see
    And clasp thee to Me.”
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 372 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 23; 22; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15-16; 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, without You, my case is hopeless; with You, I am safe.

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Thomas a Kempis: what to look for in Scripture

Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Meditation:
    I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
    —2 Timothy 4:1-4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It is Truth which we must look for in Holy Writ, not cunning of words. All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit in which it was written. We must rather seek for what is profitable in Scripture, than for what ministereth to subtlety in discourse.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.v.1, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:1-4; Ps. 19:8; 119:105; Pr. 6:23; John 8:45; 1 Cor. 2:4; Col. 1:28-29; 1 Thess. 5:20; 2 Pet. 1:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never win an argument at the risk of wounding a soul. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Patmore: all that God can give

Monday, April 25, 2016
    Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
    —John 15:13 (KJV)
Quotation:
    To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it seems as far as it was prudent to bid man go. The “greater love than this” of which our Lord speaks, though He does not command it, is to give oneself for one’s friends. And when one does this, or is ready to do this, prayer even for “us” seems too selfish—and it is unnecessary, for we then possess all that God Himself can give us. The easy renunciation of self for the Beloved becomes the very breath of life.
    ... Coventry Patmore (1823-1896), Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore, v. II, London: George Bell & Sons, 1900, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also John 15:13; Lev. 19:18; John 10:11-15; Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 4:7-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I might know the reality of sacrifice for the Body. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: utopianism vs. hope

Sunday, April 24, 2016
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you...
    —1 Peter 3:14-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Utopias of historical progress cannot seduce those who believe in Christ. Utopias are the straws to which those cling who have no real hope; utopias are as unattractive as they are incredible, for those who know what real hope is. Utopias are not a consequence of true hope but a poor substitute for it and therefore a hindrance and not a help. The hope that is in Jesus Christ is different from all utopias of universal progress. It is based on the revelation of the crucified one. It is, therefore, not an uncertain speculation about the future but a certainty based upon what God has already revealed. One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without knowing for certain that God’s victory over all powers of destruction, including death, is the end towards which the time process moves as its own end.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 111 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 3:14-15; Col. 1:27; Tit. 1:1-2; Heb. 3:6; 6:18-19; 1 Pet. 1:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I partake in Your victory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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