Yelchaninov: lost childhood

Sunday, September 29, 2024
    Feast of Michael & All Angels
Meditation:
    And [Jesus] said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
    —Matthew 18:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Childlikeness is lost in life and recovered in holiness.
    ... Alexander Yelchaninov (1881-1934), Fragments of a Diary: 1881-1934, in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, Georgii Petrovich Fedotov, ed., Nordland, 1975, p. 450 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 18:3-4; Isa. 11:2-3; Matt. 10:16; Mark 10:14-15; Luke 18:16-17; Rom. 16:19; 1 Cor. 14:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I be as a child in Your sight. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Isaac of Syria: the infirmity of Adam

Saturday, September 28, 2024
Meditation:
    Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
    —Jude 1:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Love sinners, but hate their works; and do not despise them for their faults, lest you be tempted by the same. Remember that you share the earthly nature of Adam and that you are clothed with his infirmity.
    ... St. Isaac of Syria (d. c. 700), Homilies 5, in Ascetical Homilies, p. 51 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:22-23; Matt. 9:13; Luke 6:36; Rom. 14:1; 15:1; 1 Cor. 10:12; Gal. 6:1; Col. 3:12-13; Heb. 12:13; Jas. 5:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart of mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Croucher: please Christ first

Friday, September 27, 2024
    Feast of Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists), 1660
Meditation:
What the wicked dreads will overtake him;
    what the righteous desire will be granted.
    —Proverbs 10:24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Above all, desire to please Christ; dread his disapproval above everything else.
    ... Rowland Croucher (b. 1937), Sunrise, Sunset, San Francisco: Harper, 1997 (see the book)
    See also Pr. 10:24; Luke 16:13; John 16:24; 2 Cor. 5:10-11; Heb. 10:26-27; 1 John 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my desire is to please You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rashdall: coming in penitence

Thursday, September 26, 2024
    Commemoration of Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942
Meditation:
    If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
    —1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It does not make a very great difference what side of Christ’s work attracts us and appeals to us most. Doubtless Christ has many ways of drawing men to Himself. One side of Christ’s work will appeal most to one mind, another to another. The mistake that is often made by those who speak most about Christian experience is that they are so apt to insist upon everyone else’s experience—on penalty of its utter worthlessness—being exactly the same as their own. The great thing is that we should be attracted by Christ in some way, that we should come to God in that spirit of penitence which Christ taught was the one condition of acceptance with Him, and with that steady purpose of amendment which is, as he always taught, a part of true penitence.
    ... James Hastings Rashdall (1858-1924), Principles and Precepts, Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1927, p. 126-127 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:14-27; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:9-10; Matt. 3:8; 4:17; Mark 6:12; Luke 18:10-14; Acts 8:22; 17:30; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, dispel all envy and pride of position from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Andrewes: seeing Jesus

Wednesday, September 25, 2024
    Feast of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, Spiritual Writer, 1626
    Commemoration of Sergius of Radonezh, Russian Monastic Reformer, Teacher, 1392
Meditation:
    Therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us, every weight having put off, and the closely besetting sin, through endurance may we run the contest that is set before us, looking to the author and perfecter of faith—Jesus, who, over-against the joy set before him—did endure a cross, shame having despised, on the right hand also of the throne of God did sit down...
    —Hebrews 12:1-2 (YLT)
Quotation:
    What is more kindly to behold “the Author” of faith, than faith? or more kindly for faith to behold, than her “Author” here at first, and her “Finisher” there at last? Him to behold first and last, and never to be satisfied with looking on Him, Who was content to buy us and our eye at so dear a rate.
    ... Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), preached March 29, 1605, on Good Friday, Ninety-six Sermons, v. II, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841, p. 177 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 12:1-3; Ps. 138:8; John 8:56; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 6:19-20; 7:23; Eph. 1:18-19; 2 Tim. 4:8; Heb. 7:18-19; 11:27; 1 Pet. 1:17-18; 1 John 1:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people will see You in the flesh. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nouwen: divestiture

Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
    —Matthew 19:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is the act by which we divest ourselves of all false belongings and become free to belong to God and God alone.
    ... Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), originally in “Letting go of all things” in Sojourners8, May 1979, p. 5-6, The Only Necessary Thing, p. 39
    See also Matt. 19:21; 6:6; 10:37-38; 16:24-25; Mark 8:34; 10:21; Luke 9:34-35; 14:26; Rom. 8:26; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 3:7-9;
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my belief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Muggeridge: the Lamb

Monday, September 23, 2024
Meditation:
    The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
    —John 1:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The cross for the first time revealed God in terms of weakness and lowliness and suffering; even, humanly speaking, of absurdity. He was seen thenceforth in the image of the most timid, most gentle and most vulnerable of all living creatures—a lamb. Agnus Dei! [The Lamb of God!]
    ... Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Jesus Rediscovered, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969, p. xi (see the book)
    See also John 1:29; Ex. 12:3-4; Matt. 11:29; John 1:36; 10:17-18; 2 Cor. 13:4; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have taken our weakness on Yourself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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