Johnson: prayer against loose thoughts and idleness

Saturday, December 13, 2025
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
    —1 Thessalonians 4:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast created and preserved me, have pity on my weakness and corruption. Deliver me from habitual wickedness and idleness; enable me to purify my thoughts, to use the faculties which Thou hast given me with honest diligence, and to regulate my life by thy holy word.
    Grant me, O Lord, good purposes and steady resolution, that I may repent my sins, and amend my life. Deliver me from the distresses of vain terror, and enable me, by thy grace, to will and to do what may please Thee; that when I shall be called away from this present state, I may obtain everlasting happiness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, April 22, 1764, p. 43-44 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 4:7; Ps. 31:1-2; 69:14; 109:21; Rom. 7:24-25; Phil. 3:10-11; 2 Tim. 1:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make this my prayer for Your honor and glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: meeting Jesus

Friday, December 12, 2025
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
    —Revelation 3:20 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality. He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing. He confronts you in every person that you meet. Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people. He walks on the earth as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you and makes his demands. That is the greatest seriousness and the greatest blessedness of the Advent message. Christ stands at the door. He lives in the form of the person in our midst. Will you keep the door locked or open it to him?
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), A Testament to Freedom: the essential writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Geffrey B. Kelly, F. Burton Nelson, eds., HarperCollins, 1995, p. 196 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 3:20; Matt. 10:40-42; 25:35-40; Luke 14:12-14; 2 Cor. 9:7; Heb. 6:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enter. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neale: O come, O come, Emmanuel

Thursday, December 11, 2025
Meditation:
    Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
    —Matthew 1:23 (KJV)
Quotation:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
    ... Anonymous & John Mason Neale (1818-1866), Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, London: Joseph Masters, 1863, p. 171 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 1:23; Ps. 46:7; Isa. 7:14; 53:5; Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 1:14; 10:14-15; Rom. 3:24-26; Eph. 1:7; 5:1-2; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 9:15; Rev. 5:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the atonement. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Merton: God's enemy?

Wednesday, December 10, 2025
    Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
Meditation:
    Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
    —1 Peter 2:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men.
    ... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), New Seeds of Contemplation [1961], New Directions Publishing, 1972, p. 177 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 2:12; Matt. 5:14-16,43-45; Luke 6:27-28,35; Rom. 12:14,20-21; 2 Cor. 9:13; 1 Pet. 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, warm my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Buechner: our longing for him

Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Meditation:
    Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
    —Hebrews 2:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive year after year in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the child who was born that day may yet be born again even in us and our own snowbound, snowblind longing for him.
    ... Frederick Buechner (1926-2022), Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, Zondervan, 2007, p. 96 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 2:11; Ps. 119:81; Pr. 13:12; Luke 2:8-14; 2 Cor. 5:1-4; Heb. 11:13-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have come to be present within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Laubach: compassion was born at Christmas

Monday, December 8, 2025
Meditation:
My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
    but I have put my hope in your word.
My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
    I say, “When will you comfort me?”
Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
    I do not forget your decrees.
    —Psalm 119:81-83 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When compassion for the common man was born on Christmas Day, with it was born new hope among the multitudes. They feel a great, ever-rising determination to lift themselves and their children out of hunger and disease and misery, up to a higher level. Jesus started a fire upon the earth, and it is burning hot today. The fire of a new hope is in the hearts of the hungry multitudes.
    ... Frank C. Laubach (1884-1970), The World is Learning Compassion, NJ: Revell, 1958, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:81-83; Matt. 25:34-36; Luke 1:46-55; Rom. 15:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You give purpose to life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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