Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: Good Friday

Thursday, April 2, 2026
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
    When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
    —John 21:15-17 (ESV)
Quotation:
Good Friday in my heart! Fear and affright!
My thoughts are the disciples when they fled,
My words the words that priest and soldier said,
My deed the spear to desecrate the dead.
And day, Thy death therein, is changed to night.

Then Easter in my heart sends up the sun.
My thoughts are Mary, when she turned to see.
My words are Peter, answering, “Lov’st thou me?”
My deeds are all Thine own drawn close to Thee.
And night and day, since thou dost rise, are one.
    ... Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907), Poems, London: Elkin Mathews, 1908, p. 148-149 (see the book)
    See also John 21:15-17; Ps. 51:7; Isa. 53:2-11; Matt. 26:56; Mark 14:50; John 16:32; 19:34
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I return Your love to me.

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Watt: an Easter vow

Wednesday, April 1, 2026
    Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Meditation:
    But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
    —Romans 6:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
I bind my heart, this tide
To the Galilean’s side,
To the wounds of Calvary—
To the Christ who died for me.

I bind my soul this day
To the brother far away
And the brother near at hand,
In this town and in this land.

I bind my heart in thrall
To God, the Lord of all,
To God, the poor man’s Friend,
And the Christ whom He did send.

I bind myself to peace,
To make strife and envy cease.
God, knit Thou sure the cord
Of my thralldom to my Lord.
    ... Lauchlan MacLean Watt (1867-1957), included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 373 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 6:17-18; Deut. 6:13; 10:20; Josh. 24:14-15; 1 Sam. 12:24; Isa. 56:6-7; John 3:34
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, to You I owe all loyalty because of Your death and resurrection.

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Donne: sleep and death

Tuesday, March 31, 2026
    Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Meditation:
    But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
    —1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Though natural men, who have induced secondary and figurative consideration, have found out this... emblematical use of sleep, that it should be a representation of death, God, who wrought and perfected his work, before Nature began, (for Nature was but his Apprentice, to learn in the first seven days, and now is his foreman, and works next under him) God, I say, intended sleep only for the refreshing of man by bodily rest, and not for a figure of death, for he intended not death itself then. But man having induced death upon himself, God hath taken man’s creature, death, into his hand, and mended it; and whereas it hath in itself a fearfull form and aspect, so that Man is afraid of his own creature, God presents it to him, in a familiar, in an assiduous, in an agreeable, and acceptable form, in sleep, that so when he awakes from sleep and says to himself, shall I be no otherwise when I am dead, than I was even now, when I was asleep, he may be ashamed of his waking dreams, and of his melancholy fancying out a horrid and an affrightful figure of that death which is so like sleep. As then we need sleep to live out our threescore and ten years, so we need death, to live that life which we cannot outlive.
    ... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Devotions XV, p. 566 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 4:13-15; John 11:11-13; 1 Cor. 15:17-22,51-57
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, when I sleep, may I always awaken in Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Berdyaev: the entrance to heaven

Monday, March 30, 2026
Meditation:
    For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison...
    —1 Peter 3:18-19 (ESV)
Quotation:
    For Christian consciousness, paradise is the Kingdom of Christ and is unthinkable apart from Christ. But this changes everything. The cross and the crucifixion enter into the bliss of paradise. The Son of God and the Son of Man descends into hell to free those who suffer there... To conquer evil, the good must crucify itself.
    ... Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948), The Destiny of Man, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1937, Hyperion Press, 1979, p. 292 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 3:18-19; Luke 23:43; Matt. 16:21; John 14:2-3; 19:11; Heb. 9:23-26; Rev. 2:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have ransomed me, at what a cost! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: the heavenly duty

Sunday, March 29, 2026
    Palm Sunday
    Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
Meditation:
    Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
    —Revelation 5:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), for Oct. 30, Morning by Morning, New York: Sheldon & Co., 1867, p. 304 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 5:11-12; Ps. 9:1; 96:1; 149:1; Isa. 6:2-3; Rev. 4:8-9; 5:9; 7:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I sing Your praises. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hanson: the final rebellion

Saturday, March 28, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
    —Matthew 23:37-39 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Here [in Matthew 23] is an interpretation of Israel’s history according to which God’s people have always been disobedient and rebellious: their alienation from God, it is clearly implied, is to reach its climax in the murder of the Messiah himself.
    ... Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Church of the Servant, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 36 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 23:37-39; 12:39; 16:4; 17:17; Mark 8:12,38; 9:19; Luke 9:41; 11:29-30
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extinguish the rebellious Jerusalem inside me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Short: the testimony of witnesses

Friday, March 27, 2026
Meditation:
    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
    —Romans 15:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The New Testament is an intensely personal document. It is not the effort of a group of men who are out to prove something to us by the force of their rational arguments. But it is the testimony, or testament, of a group of witnesses... who are bent on simply reporting to us the experience of a love that overtook them and overwhelmed them, a peace that passed all their understanding, and a peace that they in turn would pass on to us.
    ... Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 249 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 15:13; John 21:24; Acts 14:15-17; Phil. 4:7; 1 Cor. 2:1-2; 1 John 5:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive Your Testament. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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