Ambrose: God seeking man

Saturday, May 11, 2019
Meditation:
Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Look to the LORD and his strength;
    seek his face always.
    —Psalm 105:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), De Paradiso (see the book)
    See also Gen. 3:9; Ps. 105:3-4; Matt. 6:31-33; 7:7-8; Heb. 4:12; 11:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have found me, for Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: a fragile concentration

Friday, May 10, 2019
Meditation:
    Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up...
    [Jesus:] “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
    —Luke 18:1,7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A memory of yesterday’s pleasures, a fear of tomorrow’s dangers, a straw under my knees, a noise in mine ear, a light in mine eye, an any thing, a nothing, a fancy, a chimera in my brain, troubles me in my prayers.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon LXXX, p.477 (see the book)
    See also Luke 18:1-7; Matt. 7:7; Luke 11:5-13; John 11:21; Rom. 8:26; 1 John 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen me, for my attention to prayer is so weak. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wright & Fuller: seeing through the miracles

Thursday, May 9, 2019
Meditation:
    The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.”
    —Mark 8:11-12
Quotation:
    Biblical man did not look upon a miracle quite as we do. He did not have such a word in his vocabulary. He spoke of “signs and wonders.” Any unusual or spectacular happening that was a sign of the direct working of God—this was his miracle. If a modern man could have stood beside him and given a rational explanation of all the events through which he passed, he would not have been particularly impressed. His question would always have been, “Well, why did they happen at exactly this time in this way and secure this result?” To us the major focus of attention in the matter of miracle is to explain how it could have happened without setting aside natural law. With him the point was rather what was happening, what was going on, what result God achieved through the unusual.
    ... George Ernest Wright (1909-1974) & Reginald Fuller (1915-2007), The Book of the Acts of God, London: Doubleday, 1957, p. 78 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:1-4; 4:23; 11:4-6; Mark 8:11-12; John 2:11; 5:36; 9:1-7; 10:24-26; 11:3-4; 12:37-38
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the sign we have received. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Juliana of Norwich: not overcome

Wednesday, May 8, 2019
    Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417
    Commemoration of Dallas Willard, Teacher, Spiritual Writer, 2013
Meditation:
    You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
    —1 John 4:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be distressed; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome.
    ... Juliana of Norwich (1342?-1417), Revelations of Divine Love, Grace Harriet Warrack, ed., Methuen, 1901, xviii.ii (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:4; John 16:33; Rom. 12:21; 2 Cor. 4:8-10; Jas. 1:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Increase our faith, Lord! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Teresa of Avila: how to love God better

Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Meditation:
    “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
    —Mark 12:29-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot know whether we love God, although there may be strong reason for thinking so; but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbor or no. Be sure that, in proportion as you advance in fraternal charity, you are increasing your love of God, for His Majesty bears so tender an affection for us that I cannot doubt He will repay our love for others by augmenting, in a thousand different ways, that which we bear for Him.
    ... Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), The Interior Castle [1577], tr., E. Allison Peers, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961, p. 128 (see the book)
    See also Mark 12:29-31; Lev. 19:18; Luke 10:36-37; John 13:34-35; 15:12; Rom. 12:9-10; Gal. 5:6; 1 Pet. 4:8; 1 John 3:14; 4:11,19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown us what love is. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pinnock: another retreat from reality

Monday, May 6, 2019
Meditation:
    For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
    —2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There has been a tendency of late to interpret alienation from faith in intellectual rather than experiential terms. Academically oriented Christians especially tend to think that the barriers to faith should be removed by repackaging the content of the message in a way more congenial to the modern outlook. But it is quite possible that we are dealing not so much with a failure of intellect, as with a failure of experience, an alienation from the experiential roots of Christianity itself so amply attested in the New Testament.
    ... Clark H. Pinnock (1937-2010), Reason Enough, Exeter: Paternoster, 1980, p. 48-49 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Isa. 28:11-12; Matt. 11:16-19; 24:12; John 8:45-47; Gal. 4:16; 2 Tim. 3:1-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make Your presence known to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studdert Kennedy: the only satisfaction

Sunday, May 5, 2019
Meditation:
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
    so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
    when shall I come and appear before God?
    —Psalm 42:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    If I am a son of God, nothing but God will satisfy my soul; no amount of comfort, no amount of ease, no amount of pleasure, will give me peace or rest. If I had the full cup of all the world’s joys held up to me, and could drain it to the dregs, I should still remain thirsty if I had not God.
    ... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 38-39 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 42:1-2; 63:1-2; 84:2; Isa. 26:8-9; Hag. 2:6-7; Matt. 5:6; Eph. 2:19; 1 John 3:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thirst for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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