Mother Teresa: true holiness

Saturday, May 25, 2019
    Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
    Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
Meditation:
    “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
    —John 4:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Make sure that you let God’s grace work in your souls by accepting whatever He gives you, and giving Him whatever He takes from you. True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile.
    ... Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (1910-1997), A Gift for God: prayers and meditations, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also John 4:34; Jos. 24:15; Ps. 40:8; Luke 19:10; John 6:38; 17:4; Rom. 12:6-8; Heb. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me cheerfulness in Your service. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wesley: why the gifts declined

Friday, May 24, 2019
    Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
Meditation:
    But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
    —1 Corinthians 12:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The cause of [the cessation of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost] was not, ... “because there was no more occasion for them,” because all the world was become Christians... The real cause was, “the love of many,” almost of all Christians, so called, was “waxed cold.” The Christians had no more of the Spirit of Christ, than the other heathens. The Son of man, when he came to examine his church, could hardly “find faith upon earth.” This was the real cause, why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church; because the Christians were turned heathens again, and had only a dead form left.
    ... John Wesley (1703-1791), Sermons on Several Occasions, v. II, New York: Carlton & Phillips, 1855, Sermon XCIV. “The More Excellent Way,” vol. 2, p. 266 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 24:12-13; 1 Cor. 12:1-7,31; 14:1; Phil. 3:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we turn away from dead tradition towards Your living word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: alms

Thursday, May 23, 2019
    Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
Meditation:
    Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
    —James 2:15,16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I shall not value his prayers at all, be he never so earnest and frequent in them, who gives not alms according to his ability.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), I.3 in The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually Minded [1681], in Works of John Owen, v. VII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 296 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:15-16; Acts 10:31; Gal. 2:10; Jas. 1:27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, set Your fire within my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: the devotion of God

Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Meditation:
    Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
    —Matthew 16:22-23 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [God] is ever seeking to get down to us—to be the divine man in us. And we are ever saying, “That be far from Thee, Lord!” We are careful, in our unbelief, over the divine dignity, of which He is too grand to think. Better pleasing to God ... is the audacity of Job, who, rushing into His presence, and flinging the door of His presence-chamber to the wall, like a troubled—it may be angry—but yet faithful child, calls aloud in the ear of Him whose perfect Fatherhood he has yet to learn, “Am I a sea or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?”... The devotion of God to His creatures is perfect; He does not think about Himself, but about them; He wants nothing for Himself, but finds His blessedness in the outgoing of blessedness.
    Ah! it is a terrible—shall it be a lonely glory, this? We will draw near with our human response, our abandonment of self in the faith of Jesus. He gives Himself to us—shall we not give ourselves to Him? Shall we not give ourselves to each other whom He loves?
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Child in the Midst”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 20-21 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:22-23; Job 7:12; John 3:16; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the grace to give myself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: holding both sides together

Tuesday, May 21, 2019
    Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Meditation:
    But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
    —Romans 6:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The truth is that so long as we hold both sides of the proposition together they contain nothing inconsistent with orthodoxy, but as soon as one is divorced from the other, it is bound to prove a stumbling-block. “Only those who believe obey” is what we say to that part of a believer’s soul which obeys, and “only those who obey believe” is what we say to that part of the soul of the obedient which believes. If the first half of the proposition stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of cheap grace, which is another word for damnation. If the second half stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of salvation through works, which is also another word for damnation.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 68 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:17-18; Ps. 116:16; 119:32,45; John 8:32; 1 Cor. 7:22; Gal. 5:1; 1 Pet. 2:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Keep my eyes on You, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tertullian: how can Christians be evil?

Monday, May 20, 2019
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
    —Matthew 5:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Evil-doers delight in hiding themselves; shun appearing; are bewildered when discovered; being accused, deny; not even when tortured, readily or always confess; certainly mourn when condemned; sum up against themselves, impute either to fate or to the stars the impulses of a wicked mind; for they will not have that to be their own, which they acknowledge to be evil. But what doth the Christian like this? None is ashamed, none repenteth, save indeed that he was not such long ago. If he be marked down, he glorieth; if accused, maketh no defense; being questioned, confesseth even of his own accord; being condemned, giveth thanks. What manner of evil is this, which hath not the natural marks of evil, fear, shame, shrinking, penitence, sorrow? What manner of evil is this, whereof he that is accused rejoiceth?
    ... Tertullian (Quintus S. Florens Tertullianus) (160?-230?), Tertullian: Apologetic and practical treatises [2nd-3rd century], Oxford: J. H. Parker, 1842, p. 3-4 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:38-39; Ps. 35:19; 69:4; Isa. 66:5; Matt. 5:11-12; Acts 7:59-60; 1 Pet. 2:21-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your people gentleness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Adams: who is my true brother?

Sunday, May 19, 2019
    Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
Meditation:
    We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
    —1 John 3:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Who belongs to the Church? Who is my true brother? We cannot always tell whether or not a man believes in Christ; but we can always ask—Christianity is not a secret society. And if a man says he loves the Lord, why should I not treat him as my brother? If I should happen to welcome one who is only a professing Christian, who has not given his heart to Christ, what harm has it done? I will have offered the love of God to one who rejects it, and I will have given a few hours of my life to an enemy—but our Father holds out His hands all day long to a rebellious people, and our Savior gave His life for me when I was His enemy.
    ... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Receiving One Another” (see the book)
    See also 1 John 3:14; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 5:18-20; 1 Pet. 3:18-19; 1 John 4:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me faithful to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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