Rossetti: Heaven overarches earth and sea

Saturday, April 27, 2019
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
    But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
    —1 Chronicles 29:14-15 (KJV)
Quotation:
Heaven overarches earth and sea,
    Earth-sadness and sea-bitterness;
Heaven overarches you and me:
A little while and we shall be
(Please God) where there is no more sea
        Nor barren wilderness.

Heaven overarches you and me
    And all earth’s gardens and her graves:
Look up with me, until we see
The day break and the shadows flee;
What tho’ tonight wrecks you and me,
        If so tomorrow saves?
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 871 (see the book)
    See also 1 Chr. 29:14-15; Matt. 14:25-31; John 14:18; Acts 27:21-26; Rom. 8:18; 1 Cor. 10:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, from beyond this world, You have provided salvation.

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Francois de Sales: where patience is most needed

Friday, April 26, 2019
Meditation:
    Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
    —James 5:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them;—every day begin the task anew.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), The Beauties of St. Francis de Sales, London: Cowing, 1829, p. 220 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 5:7-8; Luke 8:15; Rom. 8:24-25; 15:14; 1 Cor. 16:13; Gal. 6:9; Col. 1:10-12; Heb. 3:6; 12:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me fresh courage each day to pursue Your will for me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Singh: motives for worship

Thursday, April 25, 2019
    Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
    There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
    —1 John 4:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, may He reveal Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence.
    ... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), Meditations on Various Aspects of the Spiritual Life [1926], London Macmillan & Co., 1926, p. 9-10 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:18; Ps. 88:15-16; Matt. 5:48; Luke 16:22-31; Rom. 2:7-8; Jas. 2:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, purify my love for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fuller: fear and humility

Wednesday, April 24, 2019
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
    —James 4:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Great is the difference betwixt a man’s being frightened at, and humbled for, his sins. One may passively be cast down by God’s terrors, and yet not willingly throw himself down as he ought at God’s footstool.
    ... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Conscience [1655], Dial. VI. (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:10; Job 9:28-31; Ps. 51:1-4; Isa. 1:15-17; Matt. 23:13-15; Mark 12:40
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, calm my fearful heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Therese of Lisieux: Dear Jesus! 'tis Thy Holy Face

Tuesday, April 23, 2019
    Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
    Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Meditation:
    As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
    —Luke 9:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
Dear Jesus! ’tis Thy Holy Face
    Is here the star that guides my way;
Thy countenance, so full of grace,
    Is heaven on earth, for me, to-day.
And love finds holy charms for me
    In Thy sweet eyes with tear-drops wet;
Through mine own tears I smile at Thee,
    And in Thy griefs my pains forget.
    ... Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Poems of St. Teresa, Carmelite of Lisieux, Boston, Angel Guardian Press, 1907, “Canticle to the Holy Face” (see the book)
    See also Luke 9:29; Isa. 42:3; Matt. 17:2; Luke 19:41-42; John 1:14; 11:35; 1 Cor. 13:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let me gaze on Your face. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Porter: the nails

Monday, April 22, 2019
Meditation:
    When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
    —Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    They haled him trembling to the Judgment Seat.
“O Lord, the man who made the nails that pierced Thy hands and feet!”
The Master laid a thin, scarred hand upon the shame-bowed head.
“They were good nails,” he said.
    ... Kenneth W. Porter (1905-1981), The High Plains: poems by Kenneth Porter, New York: John Day, 1938, p. 84 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:13-14; Matt. 5:44; Mark 15:39; Luke 6:27-28; 23:34,47-48; John 20:24-29, Acts 2:23; Rom. 12:14; 1 Pet. 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace is flowing to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Sadgrove & Wright: the point to the story

Sunday, April 21, 2019
    Easter
    Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”
    —Acts 3:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Modern attempts to get away from the sheer historical facts of the Resurrection are, at best, based on a total misunderstanding. The whole Bible proclaims the need for, and the achievement of, a salvation that will remake creation (not one that will ignore it or escape from it), and it is just such a salvation, at once supernatural and historical, that was won on Easter Day. If the Resurrection narratives are [merely] a subtle way of convincing us that God still loves us, or that there is a life (albeit, a non-material one) beyond death, they must be reckoned among the oddest and most ill-conceived stories ever written.
    ... Michael Sadgrove (b. 1950) & N. T. Wright (b. 1948), “Jesus Christ the Only Saviour”, in The Lord Christ [1980], John Stott, ed., vol. 1 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 73 (see the book)
    See also Acts 3:13-15; Matt. 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-11; John 20:11-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am healed through Your Resurrection. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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