Thomas a Kempis: reading the Scriptures

Friday, July 24, 2026
    Commemoration of Thomas à Kempis, priest, spiritual writer, 1471
Meditation:
    Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...
    —Luke 24:44-45 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought for in Holy Scripture. Each part of the Scripture is to be read with the same Spirit wherewith it was written. We should rather search after profit in Scriptures, than subtilty of speech. We ought to read plain and devout books as willingly as high and profound. Let not the authority of the writer offend thee, whether he be of great or small learning; but let the love of pure truth draw thee to read. Search not who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.v.1, p. 37 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:44-45; Matt. 6:25-34; Mark 12:36; John 5:39-40; Acts 17:11; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 John 4:4-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Send Your Spirit to open the Scriptures to me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Donne: simplicity and truth

Thursday, July 23, 2026
    Commemoration of Bridget of Sweden, Abbess of Vadstena, 1373
Meditation:
    Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
    —Genesis 2:1-2 (KJV)
Quotation:
    That earth and that heaven, which spent God himself, Almighty God, six days in furnishing, Moses sets up in a few syllables, in one line: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. If a Livie or a Guicciardine, or such extensive and voluminous authors, had had this story in hand, God must have made another world, to have made them a library to hold their books, of the making of this world. Into what wire would they have drawn out this earth? Into what leaf-gold would they have beat out these heavens? It may assist our conjecture herein to consider, that amongst those men, who proceed with a sober modesty, and limitation in their writing, and make a conscience not to clog the world with unnecessary books; yet the volumes which are written by them, upon this beginning of Genesis, are scarce less than infinite. God did no more but say, Let this and this be done; and Moses doth no more but say, that upon God’s saying it was done. God required not Nat ure to help him to do it; Moses required not Reason to help him to be believed.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. IV, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon CIX, p. 491 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 2:1-2; 1:26; Eccl. 12:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word prevails. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: goodness

Wednesday, July 22, 2026
    Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles
Meditation:
    Let all that you do be done in love.
    —1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The more vigor you need, the more gentleness and kindness you must combine with it... All stiff, harsh goodness is contrary to Jesus.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fénelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 79,47 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 16:14; Gal. 5:22-23; Phil. 4:5; Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to be aware of the little wounds I make, and give me a gentle spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hastings: behind it all

Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Meditation:
    If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
    —Matthew 21:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    True prayer is something more than desire. It is no mere subjective instinct—no blind outreach. If it met no response, no answer, it would soon be weeded out of the race... Prayer has stood the test of experience. In fact the very desire to pray is in itself prophetic of a Heavenly Friend. So this native need of the soul rose out of the divine origin of the soul, and it has steadily verified itself as a safe guide to reality.
    In the first instance it is not asking for anything, it is not petition; all it seeks is God Himself. When it makes a request, there is always a preface: Let me find Thee, let me know Thee, then I will ask of Thee.
    ... James Hastings (1852-1922), The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, Edinbugh: T. & T. Clark, 1915, p. 30-31 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 21:22; 7:7; Mark 11:24; John 14:13-14; 15:7; Heb. 4:15-16; Jas. 1:5-6; 1 John 3:21-22; 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek to know You in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Inge: the source of joy

Monday, July 20, 2026
    Commemoration of Bartolomè de las Casas, Apostle to the Indies, 1566
Meditation:
    We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
    —2 Corinthians 8:1-2 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Joy was a characteristic of the Christian community so long as it was growing, expanding, and creating healthfully. The time came when the Church ceased to grow, except externally in wealth, power, and prestige; and these are mere outward adornments, or hampering burdens, very likely. They do not imply growth, or creativeness. The time came when dogmatism, tyranny, and ignorance strangled the free intellectual activity of the Church, and worldliness destroyed its moral fruitfulness. Then Joy spread her wings and flew away. The Christian graces care nothing for names and labels; where the Spirit of the Lord is, there they abide, but not in great Churches that have forgotten Him. How little of Joy there is in the character of the religious bigot or fanatic, or in the prudent ecclesiastical statesman! A show of cheerfulness they may cultivate, as they often do; but it is like the crackling of thorns under a pot: we cannot mistake it for the joy of the Lord wh ich is the strength of the true Christian.
    ... William R. Inge (1860-1954), Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion, London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1924, p. 66 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 8:1-2; John 14:16-18; Acts 20:24; 1 Thess. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive the joy of Your Spirit’s presence in my life and the church around me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Drummond: Christ changes men

Sunday, July 19, 2026
    Feast of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, & his sister Macrina, Teachers, c.394 & c.379
Meditation:
    Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...
    —Philippians 2:5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Souls are made sweet not by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in—a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This only can eradicate what is wrong, ... renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner man. Will-power does not change men. Time does not change men. Christ does. Therefore “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
    ... Henry Drummond (1851-1897), “The Greatest Thing in the World”, in Addresses, H. Altemus, 1891, p. 45-46 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 2:5; Rom. 8:35-39; 12:1-2; Eph. 3:16-19; 1 Tim. 1:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Christ, I seek Your mind. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Emrich: giving

Saturday, July 18, 2026
Meditation:
    For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”
    —2 Corinthians 8:12-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Living for others, commitment to God’s redeeming purposes, is a means of grace. We give because of our faith, and our faith deepens as we give. If we permit ourselves and our people to give casually, we are really teaching contempt.
    ... Richard S. Emrich (1910-1997), “Stewardship,” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 170 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 8:12-15; Matt. 6:1-4; Acts 20:35; 2 Cor. 9:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a loving and giving heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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