Marshall: why the Church didn't work

Saturday, January 25, 2020
    Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Meditation:
    [Jesus in prayer:] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
    —John 17:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In [Father Smith’s] opinion the leaders of the Church had grown so used to the spectacle of the world neglecting the wisdom of Christ that they had ceased to be shocked by it and what was wanted was a renewal of the apostolic spirit among cardinals and archbishops and papal nuncios. It was no use preaching the gospel only to those who came to church to hear it. The gospel ought to be preached to those who didn’t want to hear it as well: to industrialists in their offices, to clubmen in their windows, to workers in their yards and factories, to bibbers in their taverns, to harlots in their doorways, to all those should the sweet tidings of Christ be taught. It was a sorry matter for reflection that it was only heretics who dared to brave the sneers of the mob by crying aloud the Name of Jesus at street corners and in the market place.
    ... Bruce Marshall (1899-1987), The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1945, p. 127 (see the book)
    See also John 17:8; Ps. 119:169-172; Matt. 9:12-13; 13:15-16; Luke 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Let all the world hear Your Gospel, Lord! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: the believer's lot

Friday, January 24, 2020
    Feast of François de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Teacher, 1622
Meditation:
    For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
    —1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We must not be unjust and require from ourselves what is not in ourselves... Do not desire not to be what you are, but desire to be very well what you are.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Spiritual Maxims, Longmans, Green, 1954, p. 138,114 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Matt. 3:2; 19:11-12; 12:1; Rom. 6:11-14; 14:6-8; Col. 3:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the grace to be Your servant in the role You have ordained. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: pray for powers

Thursday, January 23, 2020
    Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
    —John 4:48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you yourself shall be the miracle.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Twenty Sermons, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1887, p. 330 (see the book)
    See also John 4:48-53; Luke 18:30; John 20:29; Rom. 15:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have already created the miracle of salvation in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: demonstrated in Jesus' life

Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Meditation:
    Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior...
    —Titus 1:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not in our life that God’s help and presence must still be proved, but rather God’s presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is, in fact, more important for us to know what God did to Israel and to His Son Jesus Christ, than to seek what God intends for us today.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 62 (see the book)
    See also John 1:17-18; Rom. 1:1-4; Tit. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:1-2; 13:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have reigned supreme over all history. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: the evil threatened

Tuesday, January 21, 2020
    Feast of Agnes, Child Martyr at Rome, 304
Meditation:
    By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
    —Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is one thing to fear God as threatening, with a holy reverence, and another to be afraid of the evil threatened.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. XI ff, in Works of John Owen, v. XXIV, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1855, p. 50 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 11:7; Ps. 23:4; 119:120; Hab. 3:16; Mal. 2:5; Heb. 4:1; 5:7-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, assist Your people, so that they may reach the world while there is still time. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rolle: three degrees of love

Monday, January 20, 2020
    Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
    —John 15:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    That thou mayest win to the sweetness of God’s love, I set here three degrees of love, in the which thou shouldst be aye waxing. The first is called insuperable, the second inseparable, the third singular. Thy love is insuperable when nothing may overcome it, that is, neither weal, nor woe, nor anguish, just of flesh nor the liking of this world... Thy love is inseparable when all thy thoughts and thy wills are gathered together and fastened wholly in Jesus Christ, so that thou mayest no time forget Him, but aye thou thinkest on Him... Thy love is singular when all thy delight is in Jesus Christ and in no other thing finds joy and comfort.
    ... Richard Rolle (1290?-1349), The Commandments, in English Spirituality in the Age of Wyclif, David Lyle Jeffrey, tr., Regent College Publishing, 1988, p. 156 (see the book)
    See also John 15:9-12; 14:21; 15:17-19; 16:33
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have accepted us into the bonds of love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brother Lawrence: what sinners are capable of

Sunday, January 19, 2020
    Commemoration of Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095
Meditation:
    Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
    —Romans 12:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As for the miseries and sins he heard of daily in the world, he was so far from wondering at them that, on the contrary, he was surprised that there were not more, considering the malice sinners were capable of. For his part, he prayed for them; but, knowing that God could remedy the mischiefs they did when He pleased, he gave himself no further trouble.
    ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, First Conversation, p. 8-9 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 12:19-21; Luke 6:27-28; Acts 7:60; Rom. 12:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You dismiss the evil from the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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