Phillips: the reliability of the Resurrection

Saturday, April 16, 2022
    Holy Saturday
Meditation:
    And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith... But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
    —1 Corinthians 15:14,20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is, of course, impossible to exaggerate the importance of the historicity of what is commonly known as the Resurrection. If, after all His claims and promises, Christ had died and merely lived on as a fragrant memory, He would only be revered as an extremely good but profoundly mistaken man. His claims to be God, His claims to be Himself the very principle of life, would be mere self-delusion. His authoritative pronouncements on the nature of God and Man and Life would be at once suspect. Why should He be right about the lesser things if He was proved to be completely wrong in the greater?
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Your God is Too Small [1953], Simon and Schuster, 2004, p. 110 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 15:14,20; Luke 24:38-43; John 8:58; 14:8-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, place my feet on the firm foundation of Your promises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Weil: the good thief

Friday, April 15, 2022
    Good Friday
Meditation:
    And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved...
    —Joel 2:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of all the beings other than Christ of whom the Gospel tells us, the good thief is by far the one I most envy.
    ... Simone Weil (1909-1943), Waiting for God, Emma Craufurd, tr., Putnam, 1951, p. 59 (see the book)
    See also Joel 2:32; Luke 23:39-43; Rom. 8:1-2; 1 Cor. 1:18; Gal. 2:19-20; Eph. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have received Your grace through no merit of mine. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Crashaw: Matt. 27, And He answered them nothing

Thursday, April 14, 2022
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
    And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
    —Matthew 27:12 (KJV)
Quotation:
And He answered them nothing.

Mighty Nothing! unto thee,
Nothing, we owe all things that be.
God spake once when He all things made,
He saved all when He Nothing said.
The world was made of Nothing then;
’Tis made by Nothing now again.
    ... Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, London: J. R. Smith, 1858, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 27:12; Gen. 1:2-3; Acts 8:32-33
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, from nothing You made us and loved us.

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Kilmer: My shoulders ache beneath my pack

Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Meditation:
    And being in anguish, [Jesus] prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
    —Luke 22:44 (NIV)
Quotation:
My shoulders ache beneath my pack
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His back).

I march with feet that burn and smart
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart).

Men shout at me who may not speak
(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek).

I may not lift a hand to clear
My eyes of salty drops that sear.

(When shall my fickle soul forget
The Agony of Bloody Sweat!)

My rifle hand is stiff and numb
(From Thy pierced palms red rivers come).

Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.

So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen.
    ... Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), Joyce Kilmer: Memoir and Poems, v. I, New York: George H. Doran Company, 1918, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also Luke 22:44; Matt. 27:22-32; Mark 15:12-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen me with the memory of Your suffering.

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Bernard: Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts

Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
    —John 6:51 (NIV)
Quotation:
Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts,
Thou fount of life, thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still;
We drink of Thee, the Fountain-head,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

O Jesus, ever with us stay,
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Chase the dark night of sin away,
Shed o’er the world Thy holy light.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), ascribed, included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 248 (see the book)
    See also John 6:51; Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people are sustained by You.

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Thomas a Kempis: obscurity

Monday, April 11, 2022
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
    —Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is better for a man to be obscure and to attend to his salvation than to neglect it and work miracles.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xx..6, p. 61 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:21-23; Ex. 7:10-12; Deut. 13:1-4; Matt. 24:23-24; Acts 8:9-11,18-23; 2 Thess. 2:9-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I be ambitious only to receive and follow Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: modern Jesus?

Sunday, April 10, 2022
    Palm Sunday
    Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
    Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
    Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
Meditation:
    On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
    The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
    —Mark 11:15-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Whatever else is true, it is emphatically not true that the ideas of Jesus of Nazareth were suitable to his time, but are no longer suitable to our time. Exactly how suitable they were to his time is perhaps suggested in the end of his story.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), The Everlasting Man, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1925, Wilder Publications, 2008, p. 123 (see the book)
    See also Mark 11:15-18; 1 Kings 22:8; Ps. 69:8-9; Isa. 56:6-7; Jer. 7:11; John 2:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak with wisdom and power to all times. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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