Savonarola: wonders

Sunday, June 7, 2026
Meditation:
    What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
    —James 2:14-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If you believe, where are your works? Your faith is something everyone knows, for everyone knows that Christ was [crucified], and that everywhere men pray to Him. The whole world knows that His glory has not been spread by force and weapons, but by poor fishermen. O wise man, do you think the poor fishermen were not clever enough for this? Where they worked, there they made hearts better; where they could not work, there men remained bad; and therefore was the faith true and from God. The signs which the Lord had promised followed their teaching: in His name they drove out the devil; they spoke in new tongues; if they drank any deadly drink, they received therefrom no harm. Even if these wonders had not occurred, there would have been the wonder of wonders, that poor fishermen without any miracle could accomplish so great a work as the faith. It came from God, and so is Christ true, and Christ is thy God, who is in heaven and awaits thee.
    ... Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), The World’s Orators, Guy Carleton Lee, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900, p. 60 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:14-17; 2 Kings 4:39-41; Acts 4:13; Matt. 17:20; Mark 16:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let mine not be a dead faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: becoming spiritual

Saturday, June 6, 2026
    Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
    —John 14:12 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Life and letters of Phillips Brooks, v. III, Alexander V. G. Allen, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1901, p. 502 (see the book)
    See also John 14:12-14; Matt. 21:21-22; Acts 4:9-12; 14:8-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cannot attain what I have undertaken. I pray that you send Your Spirit with power to remove all obstacles and fulfill Your will for me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Drummond: love without thought of return

Friday, June 5, 2026
    Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754
Meditation:
    But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
    —Luke 6:35 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Instead of allowing yourself to be so unhappy, just let your love grow as God wants it to grow. Seek goodness in others. Love more persons more—love them more impersonally, more unselfishly, without thought of return. The return, never fear, will take care of itself.
    ... Henry Drummond (1851-1897), a letter (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:35; Lev. 19:18; 25:35-37; Luke 6:27-31; 18:14; Phil. 2:3-4; 1 Pet. 5:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, fill me with Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: will and intent

Thursday, June 4, 2026
Meditation:
    When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
    —James 1:13-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Even though I never did an evil deed, yet, if I have the will to do evil, I have the sin as if I had done the deed; and I could, by a total will, do as great a sin as if I had killed the whole world, though I never actually did anything. Why, would the same not be possible to a good will? Yes, indeed, and even much more so. Surely, I can do all things with the will. I can bear the sorrow of all men and feed all the poor and do the work of all men and whatever else you may think of. If it be not the will that fails you, but only the power, then truly, before God, you have done it all, and no man can take it from you or even hinder you for a moment; for to will to do as soon as I can is the same before God as having done it.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Treatises and Sermons, Harper, 1958, p. 74-75 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 1:13-15; Matt. 5:27-28,48; 19:21; Mark 9:41; Gal. 6:9; Jas. 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant in me Your will for good. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Temple: know them by their fruits

Wednesday, June 3, 2026
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
Meditation:
Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
    and by him deeds are weighed.
    —1 Samuel 2:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To put it shortly, the Church forgets that Christianity is not an attitude of mind, but a type of life: a man’s spirit is not known by his opinion (creeds etc.) but by his action and general conduct.
    ... William Temple (1881-1944), William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury: his life and letters, Frederic Athelwold Iremonger, Oxford University Press, 1948, p. 99 (see the book)
    See also 1 Sam. 2:3; Ps. 62:11-12; 94:4; Matt. 5:16; 7:24; 16:27; 25:34-46; Gal. 5:6; 6:7-8; Col. 4:6; Jas. 1:22; 1 John 3:23-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, conform my actions to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: second things put first

Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Meditation:
    Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
    —1 Corinthians 1:13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In church government... our primary concern is to reflect the nature of God. Christ became man in order that He might redeem men from their fallen state, from their selfishness and self-isolating divisions from God and from each other; so that, gathered together in one in Him, man may offer to God that likeness to Himself in love for which he was created. Church government is primarily concerned with this: with worship, with the drawing of the whole life of the whole world into this reflection of the nature of God. It is secondly—and only secondly—concerned with the quarrels and peccadilloes of those who are not, as a matter of fact, imitating God’s nature very faithfully.
    ... Michael Bruce, “The Layman and Church Government”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 64-65 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:13; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 1:10; 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church is to be in the image of Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: God with us!

Monday, June 1, 2026
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
    “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
    —Luke 12:49 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God with us! That is too strong a contradiction, not only over against our sins and sufferings but also against the nature of our existence even down to the very deepest depths of its roots. God with us! That conflicts too much, not only with our unrighteousness, but more yet, with our righteousness; not only with the atrocities of history, but more yet with history’s supposed progress and achievements; not only with the misery on earth, but more yet, with the supposed happiness and satisfaction on earth. God with us! That subjects our total human nature to a judgment, to a No, that will leave nothing left of us, and will bow us under a grace, a Yes, that we cannot comprehend. God with us! That is not only a better man, but a new man; not only a beautiful world, but an other world; not only a higher life, but an eternal life. God with us!
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 118 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:49; Isa. 7:14; 8:8; Joel 2:30-31; Matt. 1:23; Luke 12:51-52; Eph. 2:13-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Emmanuel, we yield! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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