Brunner: utopianism vs. hope

Sunday, May 3, 2026
Meditation:
    But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you...
    —1 Peter 3:14-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Utopias of historical progress cannot seduce those who believe in Christ. Utopias are the straws to which those cling who have no real hope; utopias are as unattractive as they are incredible, for those who know what real hope is. Utopias are not a consequence of true hope but a poor substitute for it and therefore a hindrance and not a help. The hope that is in Jesus Christ is different from all utopias of universal progress. It is based on the revelation of the crucified one. It is, therefore, not an uncertain speculation about the future but a certainty based upon what God has already revealed. One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without knowing for certain that God’s victory over all powers of destruction, including death, is the end towards which the time process moves as its own end.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 111 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 3:14-15; Col. 1:27; Tit. 1:1-2; Heb. 3:6; 6:18-19; 1 Pet. 1:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I partake in Your victory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: partaking of Christ's nature

Saturday, May 2, 2026
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.”
    —Matthew 10:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian’s life is lived in the open, not in a pious cubby-hole. As Christ gives Himself to feed us, so we have to incarnate something of His all-loving, all-sacrificing soul. If we do not, then we have not really received Him. That is the plain truth. It has been said that there are many ways and degrees of receiving the Blessed Sacrament. It really depends on how wide we open our hearts. A spiritually selfish communion is not a communion at all.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Light of Christ, New York: Longmans, Green, 1949, p. 89 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 10:26-27; Matt. 5:37; Acts 5:20; 2 Cor. 3:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I live to know and follow Your example. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lubbock: goodness and pleasure

Friday, May 1, 2026
    Feast of Philip & James, Apostles
Meditation:
    Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
    —Philippians 4:4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Many worthy people, and many good books, with no doubt the best intentions, ... have represented a life of sin as a life of pleasure; they have pictured virtue as self-sacrifice, austerity as religion... Even in everyday life we meet with worthy people who seem to think that whatever is pleasant must be wrong, that the true spirit of religion is crabbed, sour, and gloomy; that the bright, sunny, radiant nature which surrounds us is an evil and not a blessing; a temptation devised by the Spirit of Evil and not one of the greatest delights showered on us in such profusion by the Author of all Good.
    ... Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913), The Use of Life, Macmillan & Co., 1894, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 4:4; Matt. 6:16-18; Rom. 8:13; 12:12; Phil. 3;1; 1 Thess. 5:16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant me a joyful heart, Lord, to give thanks for all the good things You give in life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Anselm: from grace to holiness

Thursday, April 30, 2026
    Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
    —Luke 11:9-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and seeking find Thee; and so finding Thee may love Thee; and loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed us.
    ... St. Anselm (1033-1109), included in The New Christian Year, Charles Williams, London: Oxford University Press, 1958, p. 44 (see the book)
    See also Luke 11:9-10; Ps. 27:8; 34:4; 105:3-4; Jas. 4:8; Rev. 3:20; 21:6; 22:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I found You, seeking me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Troutman: why we can pray

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
    Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
Meditation:
    For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
    —Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The criterion for our intercessory prayer is not our earnestness, nor our faithfulness, nor even our faith in God, but simply God Himself. He has taken the initiative from the beginning, and has built our prayers into the structure of the universe. He then asks us to present these requests to Him that He may show His gracious hand.
    ... Charles H. Troutman (1914-1990)
    See also Eph. 3:14-19; Ps. 38:9; Matt. 6:8,32; Luke 12:30; John 16:23-27; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; 1 John 5:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank you for being the Answer to prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Holland: untouched

Tuesday, April 28, 2026
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    ... We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.
    —1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A man may carry the whole scheme of Christian truth in his mind from boyhood to old age without the slightest effect upon his character and aims... It has had less influence than the multiplication table.
    ... J. G. Holland (1819-1881), in an editorial entitled, “American Sunday-Schools”, Scribner’s Monthly, v. II, New York: Scribner & Co., 1871, p. 548 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 8:1-3; Pr. 26:12; Matt. 23:2-3,15,23; Rom. 1:22-26; Gal. 6:3; 1 Tim. 1:5-7; 6:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the humility and wisdom to seek first the knowledge of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rossetti: Love is strong as death

Monday, April 27, 2026
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
    He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.
    —Psalm 23:1-3 (KJV)
Quotation:
Love is strong as death

“I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee,
    I have not thirsted for Thee:
And now cold billows of death surround me,
Buffeting billows of death astound me,—
    Wilt Thou look upon, wilt Thou see
    Thy perishing me?”

“Yea, I have sought thee, yea, I have found thee,
    Yea, I have thirsted for thee,
Yea, long ago with love’s bands I bound thee:
Now the Everlasting Arms surround thee,
    Thro’ death’s darkness I look and see
    And clasp thee to Me.”
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 372 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 23; 22; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15-16; 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, without You, my case is hopeless; with You, I am safe.

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