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Carol Saye
07 February 2030 @ 03:52 pm
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11 September 2029 @ 04:19 pm
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14 November 2026 @ 12:01 pm
09 February 2010 @ 12:15 pm
Keep A Tight Grasp
Even though we commit many faults through human weakness, we should not become upset. While detesting the fact that we have offended God, we can still experience a certain joy in humility and a kind of delight in our miseries. In the midst of all the occupations of each day, see to it that you do not become too absorbed in material things. Keep a tight grasp of Christ's hand. Whenever you find yourself with more than you can handle, do not panic, but look to Christ.
St. Francis de Sales
________________________________________
Quotation:
See in the meantime that your faith bringeth forth
obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth
peace.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX
[1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R.
Carter amp Bros., 1851, p. 563
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs304
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Keep my footsteps in the right path, Lord, that I may
receive Your peace.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Even though we commit many faults through human weakness, we should not become upset. While detesting the fact that we have offended God, we can still experience a certain joy in humility and a kind of delight in our miseries. In the midst of all the occupations of each day, see to it that you do not become too absorbed in material things. Keep a tight grasp of Christ's hand. Whenever you find yourself with more than you can handle, do not panic, but look to Christ.
St. Francis de Sales
________________________________________
Quotation:
See in the meantime that your faith bringeth forth
obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth
peace.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX
[1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R.
Carter amp Bros., 1851, p. 563
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs304
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Keep my footsteps in the right path, Lord, that I may
receive Your peace.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Current Mood: 
good
good08 February 2010 @ 12:55 pm
Conflict
What if I’m involved in a conflict that seems impossible to resolve?
GOD’S RESPONSE
After some time Paul said to Barnabas, "Let's return to each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are getting along." Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly .... Their disagreement over this was so sharp that they separated. Acts 15:35-38
Paul chose Silas, and the believers sent them off, entrusting them to the Lord's grace. So they traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there. Acts 15:39-40
— Jesus clearly stated that we should make every effort to resolve conflicts with one another. If you both have the same end goal, see if you can compromise on how to get there. Sometimes, you may have to agree to disagree. Do so with respect and love, agreeing to honor God even in your disagreement. God will then use both your efforts for good. Paul and Barnabas disagreed so sharply that they decided to separate, yet God used this separation to double their effort and create two strong missionary teams. God can work his will through conflicts in ways you may not see.
GOD'S PROMISE
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. MATTHEW 5:9
from the The One Year Mini Devotional For Men
________________________________________
Quotation:
Rich men now-a-days will have their monuments in
churches... But if I were a priest or a bishop, I would put it
into the heads of those thick-skulled courtiers or merchants,
that if they would atone for their sins to Almighty God, they
should privately bestow their liberality upon the relief of the
poor.
... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), The Colloquies of
Erasmus, v. I, tr. N. Bailey & ed. E. Johnson,
London: Reeves & Turner, 1878, p. 190
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs303
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, I acknowledge that all I have is as a stewardship for
You.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Prayer of the Day
Current Mood: good
good07 February 2010 @ 02:21 pm
Video entry for Sun 07 Feb 2010
07 February 2010 @ 12:50 pm
Stability
How should I respond to life's troubling circumstances?
GOD’S RESPONSE
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains. Habakkuk 3: 17-19
— A spirit of gratitude and praise changes the way you look at life. Complaining connects you to your unhappiness. Gratitude and praise connect you to the source of real joy. When you make thanksgiving a regular part of your life, you stay focused on all God has done for you and continues to do for you. Expressing gratitude for God's help is a form of worship.
GOD’S CHALLENGE
Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. JAMES 1:2-3
from the The One Year Mini Devotional For Men
________________________________________
Quotation:
In the "dynamic" religion that we are being promised for
tomorrow, no ascetic discipline or special humbleness will any
longer be required. It will be a hot-water bottle kind of piety
with none of that gritty old morality it in. It will be a brand
of faith that has been synthetized, vitaminized, homogenized,
and capsulized, and it will be as ready-made for effortless
consumption as that magically bleached, cottony, crustless,
already sliced white bread which is the symbol of the modern
American's massive superiority over the pagan bushwhacker.
... Curtis Cate (1924-2006), "God and Success", in The
Atlantic Monthly, January/June 1957, p. 76
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs300
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, send Your Spirit to guard and defend Your church.
________________________________________
Prayer of the Day
Current Mood: good
good06 February 2010 @ 04:45 pm
Video entry for Sat 02 Feb 2010
06 February 2010 @ 11:39 am
Perseverance
Perseverance is the most desirable gift we can hope for in this life; we can receive it only from the hand of God, for He alone can strengthen the weak and raise up those who fall. For this reason, we must unceasingly ask for perseverance through those means that God has provided for obtaining it: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, frequenting the sacraments, association with good companions, hearing and reading Holy Scripture. This previous gift does not come from our own power, yet it should be the object of desire by our will. It is likewise true that the grace of God is necessary to will to persevere, but heavenly grace is never lacking to those who really want to do good.
St. Francis De Sales
________________________________________
Quotation:
The invasion of the Church by the world is a menace to the
extension of Christ's Kingdom. In all ages conformity to the
world by Christians has resulted in lack of spiritual life and
a consequent lack of spiritual vision and enterprise. A
secularized or self-centered Church can never evangelize the
world.
... John R. Mott (1865-1955), The Evangelization of the
World in this Generation, New York: Student Volunteer
Movement for Foreign Missions, 1905, p. 44
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs299
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, reverse the decline of the church by the power of
Your Spirit.
________________________________________
Prayer of the Day
Current Mood: calm
calm04 February 2010 @ 05:52 pm
Video entry for Thu 4 Feb 2010 featuring Galena
04 February 2010 @ 01:04 pm
Divine Justice Truly Sets Us Free
The Christian Good News responds positively to man's thirst for justice, as St. Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: 'But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law ... the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by His blood, to be received by faith'.
"What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that 'expiation' flows from the 'blood' of Christ signifies that it is not man's sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God Who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the 'curse' due to man so as to give in return the 'blessing' due to God. But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his 'due'? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one's own need - the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship.
"So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good- feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from 'what is mine', to give me gratuitously 'what is His'. This happens especially in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ's action, we may enter into the 'greatest' justice, which is that of love, the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.
excerpt from the Lenten Message of 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
________________________________________
Quotation:
It is well to have specifically holy places, and things,
and days, for, without these focal points or reminders, the
belief that all is holy and "big with God" will soon dwindle
into a mere sentiment. But if these holy places, things, and
days cease to remind us, if they obliterate our awareness that
all ground is holy and every bush (could we but perceive it) a
Burning Bush, then the hallows begin to do harm. Hence both the
necessity, and the perennial danger, of "religion."
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on
Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 75
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs297
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Your whole creation is a holy place to You, Lord. Grant
that I may never despise it.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
The Christian Good News responds positively to man's thirst for justice, as St. Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: 'But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law ... the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by His blood, to be received by faith'.
"What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that 'expiation' flows from the 'blood' of Christ signifies that it is not man's sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God Who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the 'curse' due to man so as to give in return the 'blessing' due to God. But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his 'due'? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one's own need - the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship.
"So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good- feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from 'what is mine', to give me gratuitously 'what is His'. This happens especially in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ's action, we may enter into the 'greatest' justice, which is that of love, the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.
excerpt from the Lenten Message of 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
________________________________________
Quotation:
It is well to have specifically holy places, and things,
and days, for, without these focal points or reminders, the
belief that all is holy and "big with God" will soon dwindle
into a mere sentiment. But if these holy places, things, and
days cease to remind us, if they obliterate our awareness that
all ground is holy and every bush (could we but perceive it) a
Burning Bush, then the hallows begin to do harm. Hence both the
necessity, and the perennial danger, of "religion."
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on
Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 75
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs297
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Your whole creation is a holy place to You, Lord. Grant
that I may never despise it.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Current Mood: good
good03 February 2010 @ 04:16 pm
03 February 2010 @ 12:21 pm
A Crisis Purifies
The church is undergoing difficult times. Do not let yourselves be disturbed by gossip. You will hear about priests and nuns who abandon their vocations, about homes that are broken. Do not forget that there are thousands and thousands of faithful priests, nuns, and families.
This trial will purify the church of human illnesses, in order for it to arise more beautiful and authentic.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
________________________________________
Quotation:
No one uses instituted ways or forms of worship profitably,
but such as find communion with God in them, or are seriously
humbled because they do not.
... John Owen (1616-1683), Works of John Owen, v. IX,
London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, Sermons X-XIII, p.
170
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs296
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Prayer of the Day
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, bless my time in worship with Your presence.
________________________________________
The church is undergoing difficult times. Do not let yourselves be disturbed by gossip. You will hear about priests and nuns who abandon their vocations, about homes that are broken. Do not forget that there are thousands and thousands of faithful priests, nuns, and families.
This trial will purify the church of human illnesses, in order for it to arise more beautiful and authentic.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
________________________________________
Quotation:
No one uses instituted ways or forms of worship profitably,
but such as find communion with God in them, or are seriously
humbled because they do not.
... John Owen (1616-1683), Works of John Owen, v. IX,
London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, Sermons X-XIII, p.
170
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs296
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Prayer of the Day
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, bless my time in worship with Your presence.
________________________________________
Current Mood: 
okay
okay02 February 2010 @ 05:36 pm
Video entry for Tue 02 Feb 2010
02 February 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Balance
God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.
St. Theresa of Avila
________________________________________
Quotation:
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all
tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?
They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but
to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So
one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away
to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could
possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn
their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.
The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The
whole church of God gains when the members that compose it
begin to seek a better and a higher life.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948],
Christian Publications, 1982, p. 90
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs295
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, perfect my heart, that I may know true fellowship.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Prayer of the Day
Current Mood: okay
okay01 February 2010 @ 07:26 pm
Video entry for Mon 01 Feb 2010
01 February 2010 @ 02:40 pm
Little By Little
It is not possible to gain control over your soul all at once and have it immediately in your power. Be satisfied, therefore, with gaining control of it little by little, and so learn how to conquer your dominant passion. If you have to put up with others, begin by putting up with yourself. Be patient at finding that you are not perfect. Do you want to enjoy interior peace without having to suffer the day-to-day contradictions and setbacks? Every morning prepare your soul to face the day without getting upset, and throughout the day be careful to return to this resolution.
from St. Frances de Sales
________________________________________
Quotation:
After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be
believed that He means what He says; and that His love is
dependable.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), In the Secret Place of the
Most High, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs294
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, You showed Your love first.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
It is not possible to gain control over your soul all at once and have it immediately in your power. Be satisfied, therefore, with gaining control of it little by little, and so learn how to conquer your dominant passion. If you have to put up with others, begin by putting up with yourself. Be patient at finding that you are not perfect. Do you want to enjoy interior peace without having to suffer the day-to-day contradictions and setbacks? Every morning prepare your soul to face the day without getting upset, and throughout the day be careful to return to this resolution.
from St. Frances de Sales
________________________________________
Quotation:
After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be
believed that He means what He says; and that His love is
dependable.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), In the Secret Place of the
Most High, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs294
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, You showed Your love first.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Current Mood: okay
okay31 January 2010 @ 11:23 am
Quotation:
"Secret sins," such as are not known to be sins, it may be,
to ourselves, make way for those that are "presumptuous." Thus
pride may seem to be nothing but a frame of mind belonging unto
our wealth and dignity, or our ... abilities; sensuality may
seem to be but a lawful participation of the good things of
this life; passion and peevishness, but a due sense of the want
of respect that we must suppose owing unto us; covetousness, a
necessary care of ourselves and of our families. If the seeds
of sin are covered with such pretences, they will in time
spring up and bear bitter fruit in the minds and the lives of
men. And the beginning of all apostasy, both in religion and in
morality, lies in such pretences. Men plead that they can do
so-and-so lawfully, until they can do things openly unlawful.
... John Owen (1616-1683), A Treatise of the Dominion of
Sin and Grace [1688], in Works of John Owen, v. VII,
London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 559
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs293
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, break my heart to Your rule.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
"Secret sins," such as are not known to be sins, it may be,
to ourselves, make way for those that are "presumptuous." Thus
pride may seem to be nothing but a frame of mind belonging unto
our wealth and dignity, or our ... abilities; sensuality may
seem to be but a lawful participation of the good things of
this life; passion and peevishness, but a due sense of the want
of respect that we must suppose owing unto us; covetousness, a
necessary care of ourselves and of our families. If the seeds
of sin are covered with such pretences, they will in time
spring up and bear bitter fruit in the minds and the lives of
men. And the beginning of all apostasy, both in religion and in
morality, lies in such pretences. Men plead that they can do
so-and-so lawfully, until they can do things openly unlawful.
... John Owen (1616-1683), A Treatise of the Dominion of
Sin and Grace [1688], in Works of John Owen, v. VII,
London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 559
See the book at http://cqod.com/r/rs293
________________________________________
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, break my heart to Your rule.
________________________________________
Saint of the Day
Current Mood: good
good