27 July 2024
Faith has to do with daily reception from God. Daily discipleship therefore
involves daily prayer.
John Kleinig
Father, Son and Holy Ghost
25 July 2024
You have professed your faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do not abandon this deposit; the Father— origin of all; the Son— Only begotten, begotten of Him, very God, Perfect of Perfect, living image, showing the whole Father in Himself; the Holy Ghost, having His subsistence of God, the fount of holiness, power that gives life, grace that makes perfect, through Whom man is adopted, and the mortal made immortal, conjoined with Father and Son in all things in glory and eternity, in power and kingdom, in sovereignty and godhead; as is testified by the tradition of the baptism of salvation.
St. Basil the Great
You have professed your faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do not abandon this deposit; the Father— origin of all; the Son— Only begotten, begotten of Him, very God, Perfect of Perfect, living image, showing the whole Father in Himself; the Holy Ghost, having His subsistence of God, the fount of holiness, power that gives life, grace that makes perfect, through Whom man is adopted, and the mortal made immortal, conjoined with Father and Son in all things in glory and eternity, in power and kingdom, in sovereignty and godhead; as is testified by the tradition of the baptism of salvation.
St. Basil the Great
The Good Shepherd
24 July 2024
If we are sheep, we conquer; if we are wolves, we are overcome. So long as we continue to behave as sheep, we are victorious. Even if ten thousand wolves surround us, we conquer and are victorious. But the moment we become wolves, we are conquered, for we lose the help of the Shepherd. He is the Shepherd of sheep, not wolves.
St. John Chrysostom
If we are sheep, we conquer; if we are wolves, we are overcome. So long as we continue to behave as sheep, we are victorious. Even if ten thousand wolves surround us, we conquer and are victorious. But the moment we become wolves, we are conquered, for we lose the help of the Shepherd. He is the Shepherd of sheep, not wolves.
St. John Chrysostom
Empty Hands
23 July 2024
When a pastor stands at the altar and prays, he stands like this - with his hands open, empty, and up, waiting for an answer, waiting for his hands to be filled with whatever our Lord wishes to bestow. It is recognition that Jesus can only do his best for us when we have empty hands.
Scott Bruzek
When a pastor stands at the altar and prays, he stands like this - with his hands open, empty, and up, waiting for an answer, waiting for his hands to be filled with whatever our Lord wishes to bestow. It is recognition that Jesus can only do his best for us when we have empty hands.
Scott Bruzek
The Eucharist
22 July 2024
Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.
Saint Augustine
Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.
Saint Augustine
Gifts
21 July 2024
Jesus does not coerce. His way is the way of gifts, of bounty, of always more. That is the way of His love. Jesus does not pull out a scale and weigh out three ounces bread and 1 ¼ ounces of fish. "That is enough for you. Move on, eat it, go away." He keeps on giving, so all thought of calculation of what is your just portion is left behind and you have Him going on giving, more and left over.
Norman Nagel
Jesus does not coerce. His way is the way of gifts, of bounty, of always more. That is the way of His love. Jesus does not pull out a scale and weigh out three ounces bread and 1 ¼ ounces of fish. "That is enough for you. Move on, eat it, go away." He keeps on giving, so all thought of calculation of what is your just portion is left behind and you have Him going on giving, more and left over.
Norman Nagel
The Fount of Truth
20 July 2024
Though they do not stand by the gospel and discipline and law of Christ,
they call themselves Christians. Though they are walking in darkness, they
think they are in the light, through the deceitful flattery of the adversary
who, as the apostle said, transforms himself into an angel of light and adorns
his ministers as ministers of righteousness. They call night day, death
salvation, despair hope, perfidy faith, antiChrist Christ, cunningly to
frustrate truth by their lying show of truth. That is what happens, brothers,
when we do not return to the fount of truth, when we are not looking to the
head and keeping the doctrine taught from heaven.
St. Cyprian of Carthage
Celebrating the Liturgy
19 July 2024
I die when I am not celebrating the Liturgy… There is no true life in us without the Source of Life – Jesus Christ. The Liturgy is the source of true life, because God Himself is in it; The Lord of life gives Himself as food and drink to the believers, gives to His communicants life in abundance, as He himself says: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (John 6:54).
St John of Kronstadt
I die when I am not celebrating the Liturgy… There is no true life in us without the Source of Life – Jesus Christ. The Liturgy is the source of true life, because God Himself is in it; The Lord of life gives Himself as food and drink to the believers, gives to His communicants life in abundance, as He himself says: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (John 6:54).
St John of Kronstadt
On Worship
18 July 2024
Before the people leave the place of worship, the Lord bestow on them his blessing which protect them from evil, enliven them to live as his children, and empowers them to do his work.
John Kleinig
Before the people leave the place of worship, the Lord bestow on them his blessing which protect them from evil, enliven them to live as his children, and empowers them to do his work.
John Kleinig
A Loving Heart
16 July 2024
God reveals Himself most clearly to a loving heart. A loving heart is
uncompromising, energized by truth, and always defaulting to mercy.
Joshua Genig
Real Presence
15 July 2024
After this you hear the singing which invites you with a divine melody to the Communion of the Holy Mysteries, and which says, 'Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Do not trust to the judgment of the bodily palate - no, but to unwavering faith. For they who are urged to taste do not taste of bread and wine, but to the antitype, of the Body and Blood of Christ.
St. John Chrysostom
After this you hear the singing which invites you with a divine melody to the Communion of the Holy Mysteries, and which says, 'Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Do not trust to the judgment of the bodily palate - no, but to unwavering faith. For they who are urged to taste do not taste of bread and wine, but to the antitype, of the Body and Blood of Christ.
St. John Chrysostom
The Gospel
14 July 2024
The Gospel makes no sense at all. It takes God to do it. This little
blob of earth, a speck in the universe, and you for a few years a speck upon
it, that the Lord would think you worth going through Calvary for. If you can
swallow that you can swallow anything. Actually it is not a matter of
swallowing, but of hearing. What is the sound of that eardrum listening? The
answer, my friend, is not blowing in the wind, but in the breath of Jesus, into
words, into earholes. Calvary and everything that’s somehow bound up with it we
are given with the words given by the Spirit of Jesus of whom Jesus said, “He
will take of mine and give it to you.” The Spirit gave the words, and is alive in the words to bestow the gifts
they say, that is to create faith where and when He pleases in those who hear
the Gospel, the words that are possible only because of Jesus.
Norman Nagel
The Paschal Meal
13 July 2024
The unbroken connection with apostolic times is also revealed in the external forms of the liturgy. The altar is today the only place in our modern life where, with unbroken tradition, the vestments are still used which were worn by people in that olden day. Within the walls of the church one can still hear musical settings that preserve something of the very tones of that hymn of praise which our Lord and His disciples sang when they ate the paschal meal. The church is the one place in the modern world where one can still hear the best of medieval music and see the choicest treasures of medieval art as a living part of our culture. There is nothing in all the world today which embraces so much of an ancient culture or so many revered traditions as our chief liturgical service.
Bo Giertz
The unbroken connection with apostolic times is also revealed in the external forms of the liturgy. The altar is today the only place in our modern life where, with unbroken tradition, the vestments are still used which were worn by people in that olden day. Within the walls of the church one can still hear musical settings that preserve something of the very tones of that hymn of praise which our Lord and His disciples sang when they ate the paschal meal. The church is the one place in the modern world where one can still hear the best of medieval music and see the choicest treasures of medieval art as a living part of our culture. There is nothing in all the world today which embraces so much of an ancient culture or so many revered traditions as our chief liturgical service.
Bo Giertz
The Eucharist
12 July 2024
You have noted those who teach heterodox things about the grace of Jesus Christ which came to us. How they are contrary to the mind of God! They are not concerned about love, neither the widow, the orphan, the afflicted—whether bound or free, the hungry nor the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from [set times of] prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, that flesh which suffered for our sins but which the Father raised in his kindness. Those who contradict the gift of God with strife will die.
Ignatius of Antioch
You have noted those who teach heterodox things about the grace of Jesus Christ which came to us. How they are contrary to the mind of God! They are not concerned about love, neither the widow, the orphan, the afflicted—whether bound or free, the hungry nor the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from [set times of] prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, that flesh which suffered for our sins but which the Father raised in his kindness. Those who contradict the gift of God with strife will die.
Ignatius of Antioch
On Love
11 July 2024
Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.
Anthony the Great
Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.
Anthony the Great
Confession
10 July 2024
To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything he doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
Frederick Buechner
To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything he doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
Frederick Buechner
Scripture Alone Is Final Authority
9 July 2024
We have known the method of our salvation by no other means than those
by whom the gospel came to us; which gospel they truly preached; but afterward,
by the will of God, they delivered to us in the Scriptures, to be for the
future the foundation and pillar of our faith.
Irenaeus
The Nature of God
8 July 2024
God's true nature is to love people who are troubled, have mercy on those who are broken-hearted, forgive those who have fallen, and refresh those who are exhausted.
Martin Luther
God's true nature is to love people who are troubled, have mercy on those who are broken-hearted, forgive those who have fallen, and refresh those who are exhausted.
Martin Luther
Deus Caritas Est (18)
7 July 2024
Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by
the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I
love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place
on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a
communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this
other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective
of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. Going beyond exterior appearances, I
perceive in others an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. This I
can offer them not only through the organizations intended for such purposes,
accepting it perhaps as a political necessity. Seeing with the eyes of Christ,
I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them
the look of love which they crave. Here we see the necessary interplay between
love of God and love of neighbour which the First Letter of John speaks of with
such insistence. If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I
cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of
seeing in him the image of God. But if in my life I fail completely to heed
others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious
duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely
“proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show
him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbour can my
eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me. The
saints—consider the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta—constantly renewed
their capacity for love of neighbour from their encounter with the Eucharistic
Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its real- ism and depth in their
service to others. Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they
form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us
first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from
without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience
of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with
others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and
unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which
transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all”
(1 Cor 15:28).
Pope Benedict XVI
The Passion of Christ
6 July 2024
Amongst all the marvels of the passion what we should most dwell upon is the unspeakable love with which Christ suffered for us, that we may love Him more and suffer with Him more sweetly. But chiefly that we may imitate Him, and be conformed to His image.
Saint Louis de Blois
Amongst all the marvels of the passion what we should most dwell upon is the unspeakable love with which Christ suffered for us, that we may love Him more and suffer with Him more sweetly. But chiefly that we may imitate Him, and be conformed to His image.
Saint Louis de Blois
The Eucharist
5 July 2024
Let’s learn to open our heart to Jesus, even if sometimes we feel tired
and wounded, to free ourselves from the weight of our sin through the only
medicine able to heal the deepest wounds of our lives: the Eucharist. Only by
shaping our actions on the Word of Jesus and nourishing ourselves with him will
we find that peace and joy that we need so much.
Mother Elvira Petrozzi
On Baptism
4 July 2024
Even as when he [the priest] baptizes, not he does baptize you, but it
is God that possesses your head with invisible power, and neither angel nor
archangel nor any other dare draw near and touch you; even so now also. For
when God begets, the gift is His only.
St. John Chrysostom
True Peace
3 July 2024
So I saw that God is our true peace and that he is our true Preserver when we ourselves are not at peace. He continually works to bring us to eternal peace. And so when, by the action of his mercy and grace, we have become humble and gentle, we are really safe. When the soul is really at peace with itself, it is immediately united to God because there can be no anger in God.
Julian of Norwich
So I saw that God is our true peace and that he is our true Preserver when we ourselves are not at peace. He continually works to bring us to eternal peace. And so when, by the action of his mercy and grace, we have become humble and gentle, we are really safe. When the soul is really at peace with itself, it is immediately united to God because there can be no anger in God.
Julian of Norwich
Christ and Him Crucified
2 July 2024
Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He
volunteered.
R. C. Sproul
Holy Scripture
1 July 2024
The Holy Spirit wants to be found in the Word. There he reveals himself as God.
Hermann Sasse
The Holy Spirit wants to be found in the Word. There he reveals himself as God.
Hermann Sasse
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