de Caussade: personal surrender

Sunday, June 16, 2024
    Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253
    Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
    —Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Since God offers to manage our affairs for us, let us once and for all hand them over to His infinite wisdom, in order to occupy ourselves only with Himself and what belongs to Him.
    ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence, II.ii.1 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:31-34; Ps. 55:22; Pr. 3:9-10; Matt. 4:4; Luke 12:29-31; John 6:27,51; 1 Pet. 5:7;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I yield my cares to You, trusting in Your goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: the music of calling

Saturday, June 15, 2024
    Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941
Meditation:
    Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
    —1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As our life comes to maturity we discover to our confusion that human ears can pick up from the Infinite many incompatible tunes, but cannot hear the whole symphony. And the melody confided to our care, the one which we alone perhaps can contribute and which taxes our powers to the full, has in it not only the notes of triumph but the notes of pain. The distinctive mark therefore is not happiness but vocation: work demanded and power given, but given only on condition that we spend it and ourselves on others without stint.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Life of the Spirit and the Life of Today, E.P. Dutton, 1922, p. 225 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 4:10; Matt. 20:25-28; Mark 9:35; 1 Cor. 7:20,24; 13:9-10,12; 2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 6:7-8; Phil. 3:12; Heb. 3:1-2; Jas. 1:23-24; 2 Pet. 1:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Am I spending my life as God has called me to? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baxter: more than our own salvation

Friday, June 14, 2024
    Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
Meditation:
    I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
    —Philippians 1:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have greater work here to do than mere securing our own salvation. We are members of the world and church, and we must labour to do good to many. We are trusted with our Master’s talents for his service, in our places to do our best to propagate his truth, and grace, and church; and to bring home souls, and honour his cause, and edify his flock, and further the salvation of as many as we can. All this is to be done on earth, if we will secure the end of all in heaven.
    ... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), “Dying Thoughts upon Philippians 1:23”, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, v. XVIII, London: J. Duncan, 1830, p. 245 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:23-24; John 15:26; 16:7; Acts 2:33; Rom. 13:11; Phil. 2:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me alert to the work You have called me to. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chesterton: new ideals for old

Thursday, June 13, 2024
    Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
Meditation:
    For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
    —2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the modern world we are primarily confronted with the extraordinary spectacle of people turning to new ideals because they have not tried the old. Men have not got tired of Christianity; they have never found enough Christianity to get tired of.
    ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), What’s Wrong with the World, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1912, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Pr. 1:32; Jer. 6:16-17; Luke 18:8; John 3:19-21; Acts 17:21; Tit. 1:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 4:1,7; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 1:16; 2:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, recover this generation, to Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Campbell: Christianity is Christ

Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Meditation:
    Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
    Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
    —John 14:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How can we know that what Jesus has shown us of God is the truth; ... how do we know when we look into the face of Jesus that we are looking into the face of God? ...
    The answer is so plain and simple that it is a marvel how intelligent men can manage to miss it as they do... Look at what Christ has done for the soul of man: that is your answer. Christianity is just Christ—nothing more and nothing less. It is a way of life, and He is that way. It is the truth about human destiny, and He is that truth. It is the offer of life lived in the sunshine of eternal love, and He is that life. To know this is to know God, and every need is satisfied in that one word.
    ... R. J. Campbell (1867-1956), The Call of Christ, London: Skeffington & Son, n.d. (before 1932), p. 89-90 (see the book)
    See also John 14:8-9; Ps. 51:10; Luke 10:21, John 14:5-6; 16:6-7; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 5:17; Col. 1:21-22; 3:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Focus my life on Christ-likeness, I pray. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Amiel: the gate

Tuesday, June 11, 2024
    Feast of Barnabas the Apostle
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
    —Luke 15:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    By saying “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance,” [Jesus] made humility the very gate into paradise.
    ... Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881), The Journal Intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel, tr. Mrs. Humphry Ward, New York: Macmillan, 1885, p. 263 (see the book)
    See also Luke 15:4-7; Pr. 3:34; Matt. 11:29; 18:12-14; Luke 1:52; 5:32; Eph. 4:2; Jas. 1:9; 4:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the humility of Your heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Thomas a Kempis: self-examination

Monday, June 10, 2024
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
    “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
    —Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth to good purpose.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.xiv.1, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:1-5; Ps. 4:4; 26:2; 119:59; 139:23-24; Lam. 3:40; Hag. 1:7; 1 Cor. 11:28,31; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 6:3-5; 1 John 3:19-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Have I examined myself in the light of Christ? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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