Auden: faith without sight vs. sight without faith

Saturday, May 20, 2023
Meditation:
    For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
    —2 Peter 1:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ did not enchant men; He demanded that they believe in Him: except on one occasion, the Transfiguration. For a brief while, Peter, James, and John were permitted to see Him in His glory. For that brief while they had no need of faith. The vision vanished, and the memory of it did not prevent them from all forsaking Him when He was arrested, or Peter from denying that he had ever known Him.
    ... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World, London: Faber and Faber, 1971, p. 150 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:17-18; Matt.13:58; 17:1-8; 26:33-35,69-75; Mark 6:5-6; 9:2-9; 14:29-31,66-72; Luke 9:28-36; 22:31-34,55-62; John 1:14; 13:36-38; 18:17-18,25-27; Rom. 11:19-21; Heb. 3:12; Rev. 1:13-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Heavenly Father, You are Lord of my ordinary times. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Adams: God's truth is safe

Friday, May 19, 2023
    Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
Meditation:
    However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
    —1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I have a Christian friend who is a Roman Catholic, another who belongs to the Church of Christ, others who hold this theology, that loyalty, or the other affiliation... Can I associate, as a Christian, with any of these without endangering my witness to the truth I have received? Because I believe in the Holy Ghost, I believe that I can, because I believe that He will be with me. I may fail to make clear to my Roman Catholic friend the true nature of salvation in Christ, or to my Campbellite friend the true place of the Scriptures in the Christian life; but God’s truth will remain. It may not be safe in my hands, but it is safe in His.
    ... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Receiving One Another” (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Joel 2:28-29; John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:13; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 John 2:20,27; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your people hold all truth in common. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: Christian suffering

Thursday, May 18, 2023
    Ascension
Meditation:
    But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
    —1 Peter 4:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:13-14; Mark 8:31-38; Acts 9:15-16; Rom. 8:18; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:29-30; 3:10-11; Col. 1:24; Jas. 1:2-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit leads Your people through all trials. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: our expectations of God

Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Meditation:
But [the Israelites] soon forgot what he had done
    and did not wait for his counsel.
In the desert they gave in to their craving;
    in the wasteland they put God to the test.
So he gave them what they asked for,
    but sent a wasting disease upon them.
    —Psalm 106:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    From the crude cry which we have so often heard during the war years: “If there is a God, why doesn’t He stop Hitler?,” to the unspoken questioning in many a Christian heart when a devoted servant of Christ dies from accident or disease at what seems to us a most inopportune moment, there is this universal longing for God to intervene, to show His hand, to vindicate His purpose. I do not pretend to understand the ways of God any more than the next man; but it is surely more fitting as well as more sensible for us to study what God does do and what He does not do as He works in and through the complex fabric of this disintegrated world, than to postulate what we think God ought to do and then feel demoralized and bitterly disappointed because He fails to fulfill what we expect of Him.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 106:13-15; 3:1-3; Lam. 3:33; Rom. 8:18; 2 Tim. 3:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to receive You as You truly are. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Faber: patience for progress

Tuesday, May 16, 2023
    Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877
Meditation:
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
    —Psalm 51:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Neither must we be in a hurry to forget past sin, and to force our way into the sunshine. If God gives us quite a depressing sense of sin, let us cherish it and stagger on beneath the burden. Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders. In a word, patience with self is almost a condition of spiritual progress.
    ... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Growth in Holiness, London: Thomas Richardson & Son, 1860, third edition, p. 114 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:2-3; 38:4-6; Lam. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:19-22; 1 John 3:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You persist when I falter. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Babcock: watching for mercies

Monday, May 15, 2023
    Commemoration of Charles Williams, Spiritual Writer, 1945
Meditation:
How can I repay the LORD
    for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD.
    —Psalm 116:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them will we see. Blessings brighten when we count them. Out of the determination of the heart the eyes see.
    ... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 107 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 116:12-13; 103:2; Luke 17:15-18; Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Phil. 4:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I see Your blessings in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: resisting depression

Sunday, May 14, 2023
    Feast of Matthias the Apostle
Meditation:
Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
    —Psalm 71:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Moderate bodily discipline is useful in resisting depression, because it rouses the mind from dwelling on itself; and frequent Communion is specially valuable; the Bread of Life strengthens the heart and gladdens the spirits.
    It may be useful, too, to lay bare all the feelings, thoughts, and longings which are the result of your depression before some spiritual advisor, in all humility and faithfulness; to seek the society of spiritually minded people, and to frequent such as far as possible while you are suffering. And finally, resign yourself into God’s hands, endeavouring to bear this harassing depression patiently.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, IV.xii, p. 322 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 71:20; Song of Solomon 2:16; Ps. 119:82; John 6:35; Rom. 8:18,35-37; 1 Pet. 1:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me strength for the trials. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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