Patristic Quote of the Day

Since he that ruins his brother, has at once subverted peace, and wronged joy, more grievously than he that plunders money. And what is worse is, that Another saved him, and you wrong and ruinest him.—St. John Chrysostom, Hom 26 on Romans

Luther and Lewis

Therefore it is convincingly proved that there must be something greater and more precious than all good works, which makes a man saintly and good, before he can do what is good... The same great and precious thing is the noble Word of God.—Luther, Sermon on Unrighteous Mammon 

I can hardly help regarding it as one of God's jokes that a passion so soaring, so apparently transcendent, as Eros, should thus be linked in incongruous symbiosis with a bodily appetite which, like any other appetite, tactlessly reveals its connections with such mundane factors as weather, health, diet, circulation, and digestion.—Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 169.

Catechesis: Sixth Petition

Such feeling, as long as it is against our will and we would rather be rid of it, can harm no one. For if we did not feel it, it could not be called a temptation. But we consent to it when we give it the reins and do not resist or prayer against it. Therefore, we Christians must be armed and daily expect to be constantly attacked.—LC III:108, 109

For he is an enemy that never stops or becomes tired. So when one temptation stops, there always arise others and fresh ones.—LC III:109

If you try to help yourself by your own thoughts and counsel, you will only make the matter worse and give the devil more space...But prayer can prevent him and drive him back.—LC III:111

June’s Wrap on Workouts

Totals for month: 4,000 pushups; 270 pullups; 450 Kb swings. I'll take it. Push ups were split between initial ten with hands on level of shoulders; 15 with feet moved up about six inches. That's pushups M-Sat; and twice a week on the other two in addition to the pushups for the day.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Gave He you not the laver of Regeneration, and forgave He not all your former sins? Hath He not after this forgiveness, and the laver, also given you the succor of repentance if you sin? Hath He not made the way to forgiveness of sins, even after all this, easy to you? Hear then what He has enjoined: If you forgive your neighbor, I also will forgive you Matthew 6:14, He says. What hardship is there in this?—St. John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on Romans

Luther and Lewis

Such justification is hidden not only from reason and the world, but also from the saints. For it is not a thought, or word, or work in us, but it quite outside and above us, for it Christ's going to the Father, which means His suffering, Resurrection, and Ascension. And this does not take place within the range of our senses, so that we might see or feel it; but we can grasp it through faith alone.—Luther, Exposition of Jn xvi.

When Dante saw the great apostles in heaven they affect him like mountains. There's lots to be said against devotions to saints; but at last they keep on reminding us that we are very small people compared with them. How much smaller before their Master?—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 168.

Catechesis: Fifth Petition

But this should serve God's purpose of breaking our pride and keeping us humble. God has reserved this right for Himself: if anyone wants to boast of his godliness and despise others, that person is to think about himself and place this prayer before his eye. He will find that he is no better than others and that in God's presence all must tuck their tails and be glad that they can gain forgiveness. Let no one think that as long as he lives he can reach such a position that he will not need such forgiveness. In short, if God does not forgive without stopping, we are lost.—LC III:90, 91

Patristic Quote of the Day

Be in anxiety then as seeing the Master of all sitting on his judgment-seat, and do not make schisms and divisions in the Church, by breaking away from grace, and running over to the Law. For the Law also is His. And why say I so of the Law? Even those in the Law and those before the Law are His. And it is not the Law that will demand an account of you, but Christ, of you and of all the human race. See how he has released us from the fear of the Law.—St. John Chrysostom, Hom 25 Romans

Luther and Lewis

For it is a great thing, which I must believe and grasp with my heart, namely, that all my sins are forgiven and that through this faith I am justified before God. That is a wonderful justice and very different from the justice of judges and of the wise and prudent people of the world.—Martin Luther, Sermon for St. Matthew's Day.

The gnat-like cloud of petty anxieties and decisions about the conduct of the next hour have interfered with my prayers more often than any passion or appetite whatever. The great, permanent temptation of marriage is not sensuality but [quite bluntly] to avarice.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 167.

Catechesis: Fourth Petition

There is, indeed, the greatest need to pray for earthly authority and government. By them, most of all, God preserves for us our daily bread and all the comforts of this life. Though we have received from God all good things in abundance, we are not able to keep any of them or use them in security and happiness if He did not give us a permanent and peaceful government. For where there are dissension, strife, and war, there daily bread is already taken away or is at least hindered.—LC III:74

Well, that was really...

...a wonderful time. Before the pandemic, our normal routine, after Sunday Church, was to sit down to breakfast with the David Weedon family, Opa and Lois, Cindi and me. Today was our first day to do so since sometime in February, I think. We were gone for a bit at the middle and end of February, and then Griffen came early and Cindi was gone, and Bekah and I drove up to Wisconsin for the Baptism. Yes, it's been quite a long time. It felt great to have a "normal" Sunday once again (even though we're at different services now: David's family and us at 8 a.m.; Opa and Lois at 9:30).

Old pics

Ran across these two recently: my dad's home place. Sadly, it's only a heap of rubble these days. Remember eating out on the back porch at the table (now used for my desk!), sipping super sweet iced tea and munching on the tastiest cornbread ever. Nothing like cornbread baked in a wood stove. My grandma Bess knew how to cook!

Had the joy today

Of Luther's sermon for Trinity III in the new AE  78:128ff. He begins with one of his most striking and beautiful expositions of the PLACE of Law and Gospel in the Christian's life. I love it! How the conscience is like the bridal chamber, and Moses has no business there. There Christ alone can be, for He alone is our righteousness. And then he dives into how externally, in dealing with our flesh, there indeed Moses has an ongoing job. There the commandments have their place. But not in treating of God. He goes on for this with one luminous insight after the other.

He finally gets around to the parable of the Lost Sheep. He preaches this with such tenderness. Here's a teasing taste:

If you want to ask whether I am righteous, then I will simply answer: "No, and I also not want to be in this circle." However, if you ask me whether Christ is righteous, then I can say, "Yes!" Without any doubt and present Him as my righteousness and appeal to Him boldly. I was baptized upon Him, and in the Gospel I have the seal and letter that I am his dear sheep and He is the good and righteous Shepherd who seeks His lost sheep and deals with me entirely without the Law. He demands nothing from me, neither drives, threatens, nor frightens, but only shows me sweet grace. He stoops down, takes me on Himself, so that I can lie on His back and be carried. Why, then, would I be afraid of Moses' and the devil's lightning and thundering? I am in the protection of the man who gives His godliness and everything He has to be my own, who carries me and keeps me so that I cannot be lost, because I remain a sheep and do not deny the Shepherd or shamefully fall away from Him. Thus you have the picture presented in the most pleasant way it can ever be painted. 

Patristic Quote of the Day

Wherefore it was not money, but His own Blood that He gave as bail for us.—St. John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on Romans

Luther and Lewis

It is a great thing to love. It is far greater to love like a brother, but the greatest of all is to love as a father loves his child; and this love is called an ardent and untiring love which flows from the heart.—Martin Luther, Sermon 1527

We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he 'wants a woman'. Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 166.

Catechesis: Lord’s Prayer, Third Petition

So he [the devil] provokes the world against us, fans and stirs the fire, so that he may hinder and drive us back, cause us to fall, and again bring us under his power. Such is all his mind, will, and thought. He strives for this day and night and never rests a moment. He uses all his arts, wiles, ways, and means that he can invent.—LC III:63, 64

Patristic Quote of the Day

Here he seems to me to be giving a gentle hint about fasting. For it is not unlikely that some who fasted were always judging those who did not, or among the observances it is likely that there were some that on fixed days abstained, and on fixed days did not. Whence also he says, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. And in this way he released those who kept the observances from fear, by saying that the thing was indifferent, and he removed also the quarrelsomeness of those who attacked them, by showing that it was no very desirable (or urgent, περισπούδαστον) task to be always making a trouble about these things.—St. John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on Romans 14

Luther and Lewis

Calamity will force you to step out of yourself and not to rely on the counsel, help, and strength of men, but you must have Christ in your heart, so that you hold His Name, Word, and Kingdom higher, dearer, and more precious than all things on earth.—Martin Luther, Sermon on John xiv.23-31

A man in this state hasn't the leisure to think of sex. He is too busy thinking of a person. The fact that she is a woman is far less important than the fact that she is herself.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 165.

Catechesis: Second Petition

Now we pray for both these things. We pray that the kingdom may come to those who are not yet in it, and, by daily growth that it may come to us who have received it, both now and hereafter in eternal life. III:53

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." For how could He allow us to suffer lack and to be desperate for temporal things when He promises to give us what is eternal and never perishes? III:58

Patristic Quote of the Day

For this is why he proceeds, for God has received him. Why then do you speak to him of the law, as to a transgressor? For God has received him: that is, has shown His unspeakable grace about him, and has freed him from all charges against him.—St. John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on Romans