Augustine: evil in a good world

Sunday, May 4, 2025
    Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
Meditation:
    Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
    He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
    —Matthew 17:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The heavens and the earth, and the waters, and the things that are therein, the fish, and birds, and trees, are not evil. All these are good: but it is evil men who make this evil world. Yet as we cannot be without evil men, let us, as I have said, whilst we live pour out our groans before the Lord our God, and endure the evils, that we may attain to the things that are good. Let us not find fault with the Master of the household; for He is loving to us. He beareth us, and not we him. He knoweth how to govern what He made; do what He hath bidden, and hope for what He hath promised.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Sermon XXX [Ben 80], in Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, v. I, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1844, p. 243-244 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 17:15-21; Gen. 1:31; Ps. 94:18; Matt. 18:7; Luke 17:5; John 1:14; Rom. 8:22,26
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, increase my trust in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Alexander: the assessment of society

Saturday, May 3, 2025
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
    —Matthew 5:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For Jesus, a realistic assessment of human society in general flowed directly from his radical analysis of human nature. He held out no glib hopes for this world. He saw the problems of society as being rooted in the selfishness of man. The problems of society are like large-scale paintings of the problems of each individual... The teaching of Jesus was centred not on vague recommendations for mankind at large, but on specific remedies for the needs of individuals.
    ... Denis Alexander (b. 1945), Beyond Science, Berkhamsted: Lion Pub., 1972, reprint, A. J. Holman Co., 1973, p. 166-167 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:20; Ps. 51:10; Isa. 55:7; Eze. 18:31; Matt. 23:12,25-26; Luke 6:41-42; 14:11; 18:10-14; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, erase the selfishness in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Erasmus: the great plan

Friday, May 2, 2025
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    It was revealed to [the prophets] that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
    —1 Peter 1:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It was [on the world He created] that the angels sang Glory to God in the highest, as at the most amazing work of God. They behold lowest humility and recognize the highest sublimity. This plan to redeem the human race is Christ’s life, Christ’s teaching, Christ’s miracles. It is His passion, cross, resurrection, appearance, ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit—the transformation of the earth by a few humble and ignorant men. It is a plan, replete with miracles, that even the angelic spirits could not fathom.
    ... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), The Essential Erasmus, J. P. Dolan, ed., New York: New American Library, 1964, p. 232 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 1:12; Matt. 11:25; Mark 9:35; Luke 2:13-14; John 7:15-16; 13:14-16; Acts 4:13; 1 Cor. 1:27; Phil. 2:5-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Your answer to our sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: Christian liberty

Thursday, May 1, 2025
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
    Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
    —Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Paul, in matters of Christian liberty, commendeth the unity of their faith in the Holy Spirit, giving order that we should not judge nor condemn one another, in difference of judgment and practice of such things where men live to God on both sides, even though there were some error on one side. How much less in things indifferent, where there may be no error on either side.
    ... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), The Bloudy Tenent [1644], London: J. Haddon, 1848, p. 224 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 4:3; Rom. 14:1-6,21; 1 Cor. 1:10; 12:12-13; Gal. 5:1; Col. 3:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, assist me to set aside all objections about style and superficialities. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Mascall: the shrunken Gospel

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
    —Hebrews 4:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Enough has... been said to show that the impoverished secularised versions of Christianity which are being urged upon us for our acceptance today rest not upon the rigid application of the methods of scientific scholarship nor upon a serious intuitive appreciation of the Gospels as a whole in their natural context, but upon a radical distaste for the supernatural.
    ... E. L. Mascall (1905-1993), The Secularization of Christianity, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966, p. 282 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:2; Isa. 59:1-2; Matt. 13:58; Mark 6:5-6; 9:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me against unbelief. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robertson: the purpose of prayer

Tuesday, April 29, 2025
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;
    in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
    —Psalm 5:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Divine Wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it.
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons, v. IV, Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1866, p. 34 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 5:7; 85:8; Luke 22:43; Rom. 8:34; 2 Cor. 12:10; Eph. 3:16; 2 Thess. 3:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make my heart into a heart of prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hammarskjold: listening?

Monday, April 28, 2025
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
    —Psalm 73:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How can you expect to keep your powers of hearing when you never want to listen? That God should have time for you, you seem to take as much for granted as that you cannot have time for Him.
    ... Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings, tr. Leif Sjöberg & W. H. Auden, (q.v.), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 (post.), p.12 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 73:23-24; 37:7; Hab. 2:1; John 1:1-2; Eph. 2:17; Heb. 12:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me to be patient like You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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