Pascal: impossible?

Saturday, June 3, 2023
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
    —Matthew 22:31-32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What reason have [atheists] for saying that we cannot rise from the dead? What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be again? Is it more difficult to come into existence than to return to it?
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #222, p. 80 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 22:31-32; Gen. 18:14; Luke 1:37; 18:27; John 5:28-29; Acts 4:2; 26:8; 17:30-32; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:12-14; Phil. 3:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we have Your promise of resurrection. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Faber: Why dost Thou love me so?

Friday, June 2, 2023
Meditation:
    As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
    —John 15:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
Jesus! why dost Thou love me so?
What hast Thou seen in me
To make my happiness so great,
So dear a joy to Thee?
    ... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Hymns, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1877, p. 171 (see the book)
    See also John 15:9; Eph. 3:16-18; 5:1-2; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 12:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have loved me even though I have not loved You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Drummond: the easy yoke

Thursday, June 1, 2023
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
    —Matthew 11:29-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite. It is to make its burden light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plow would be intolerable. Worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is an instrument of mercy. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle device to make hard labor light... [Christ] knew the difference between a smooth yoke and a rough one, a bad fit and a good one... The rough yoke galled, and the burden was heavy; the smooth yoke caused no pain, and the burden was lightly drawn. The badly fitted harness was a misery; the well fitted collar was “easy.”
    And what was the “burden”? It was not some special burden laid upon the Christian, some unique infliction that they alone must bear. It was what all men bear. It was simply life, human life itself, the general burden of life which all must carry with them from the cradle to the grave. Christ saw that men took life painfully. To some it was a weariness, to others failure, to many a tragedy, to all a struggle and a pain. How to carry this burden of life had been the whole world’s problem. And here is Christ’s solution: “Carry it as I do. Take life as I take it. Look at it from My point of view. Interpret it upon my principles. Take my yoke and learn of me, and you will find it easy. For my yoke is easy, works easily, sits right upon the shoulders, and therefore my burden is light.”
    ... Henry Drummond (1851-1897), “Pax Vobiscum”, in Addresses, H. Altemus, 1891, p. 124,127-129 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 11:29-30; 7:24; 17:5; John 14:21; 15:10-14; 2 Cor. 10:5; Heb. 5:8-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, place Your yoke on me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luccock & Brentano: criticism of the church

Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Meditation:
    [The Lord:] “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.”
    —Isaiah 1:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Expressions of sharp and even violent criticism of religion and the church have been welcomed [in this collection], for they usually imply sincerity of thought. If caustic criticism of religious institutions and practices is irreligious, then Amos, Isaiah, and Jesus were very irreligious men. In fact, that is exactly what many of their contemporaries took them to be.
    ... Halford E. Luccock (1885-1960) & Frances Brentano, The Questing Spirit, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 42 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 1:13-17; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; Pr. 21:27; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:7-8; Matt. 9:13; 12:1-3; 23; 26:64-66; John 19:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, raise my eyes up to see You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hoskyns: substitute for faith

Tuesday, May 30, 2023
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
A voice says, “Cry out.”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All men are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
    Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God stands forever.”
    —Isaiah 40:6-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To have heard the Bible speak is to be prepared not for maturity, balance, poise, riches, but for the poverty and distress and uncertainty of thought and action that are so desperately characteristic of human life. The Bible takes human mortality seriously, that mortality which the preacher does not hide from you even when you stand on the threshold of life. To wrestle with the theme of the Scriptures is your proper preparation for the rough things of human life, as we see it, and observe it, and are immersed in it. The Truth which is being spoken to you most clearly in the Scriptures is your only protection against cynicism and skepticism, just as it is your only protection against that false romanticism which is the modern cruel substitute for faith in God.
    ... Sir Edwyn C. Hoskyns (1884-1937), We are the Pharisees, London: SPCK, 1960, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 40:6-8; Job 13:15; Ps. 90:5-6; 102:11-12; Matt. 24:35; 1 Cor. 1:20-21; Jas. 1:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word banishes the darkness of this world’s wisdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the Lord does all

Monday, May 29, 2023
Meditation:
    To [the saints] God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
    —Colossians 1:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    You feed on Christ and then go and live your life, and it is Christ in you that lives your life, that helps the poor, that tells the truth, that fights the battle, and that wins the crown.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Candle of the Lord [1881], E. P Dutton & Co., New York, 1903, p. 246 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:27; Luke 17:20-21; John 6:56; 14:20; Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 3:16; 9:25; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17; 4:22-24; Col. 3:11; 2 Tim. 4:8; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 John 4:4; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen Your presence within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eliot: The dove descending breaks the air

Sunday, May 28, 2023
    Pentecost
    Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
Meditation:
    Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”
    —John 1:32-33 (NIV)
Quotation:
The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre—
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.
    ... T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), from Four Quartets, The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1952, p. 143-144 (see the book)
    See also John 1:23-33; Deut. 4:24; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:2-3; Heb. 12:28-29
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You burn within me.

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