Darkness and Light

Darkness and light

 God is light, and in him is no darkness', and our salvation lies in fellowship with him. Sin is darkness and our sins keep us from the light which is God. A sort of desperate sadness creeps into our hearts: what shall we do? I live in sin and wickedness, how shall I become light? 

Beloved, listen - 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son will purify us from all sin'. All sin? In baptism our past sins were all wiped out, but living as we do amid the temptations of the world, have we not sinned again? How shall we come to the light? 

' If we confess our sins he will forgive us, and cleanse us from all iniquity'; not only our past sins, but the present ones which no one living in this world altogether avoids. 

But don't consider lesser sins unimportant: they may not weigh heavy, but tremble when you count them. 

Where then is our hope? In acknowledging our sins. Try hard not to sin, but if from weakness you fall, be sorry, realize what you have done, blame yourself: then you can with confidence come before your judge; he is also your advocate and the propitiation for our sins.

DAILY READING WITH

St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest

Brickbats

Brickbats

 Many Christians lead evil lives and insult a man who wishes to live a good life among them: to be sober among drunkards, chaste among fornicators worshipping God sincerely. They will sneer and say, 'You are a great man, you are an Elijah, you are a Peter, and have come down from Heaven'.

So they insult you, and if you get frightened and leave the way of Christ, you fall into the hunter's trap.

How can you hold on? Say to yourself, 'These words are said to me, a servant, a sinner. To my Lord the said, "Thou hast a devil" '.

Begin to live like a Christian, and see if your doing so is not brought up against you by those who are Christians in name but not in life.

Do you wish to follow in the footsteps of your Lord? Then hope in God, and do not blush for that hope even in the sight of men. He lives in your heart: let him then be on your lips.

His sign has been placed on your forehead so that as a Christian you should never blush to be reproached for the name of Christ.



DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest 

Verses and Fathers Sayings

Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
(Ps.105:4)


“Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts, cause
thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”
For wherever the soul of man turns itself,
unless toward thee, it is enmeshed in sorrows.

(ST. Augustine)


 

The Sower and Seeds

The Sower and Seeds

 Perhaps one might say, why throw seeds on road? It gives no fruit. Why seeds thrown on rocky 

ground, or also in the middle of thorns?

The answer is: In His love, God gives everyone opportunity. He does not wish death of  sinners, but pleased of their return.

He sows His kingdom's seeds in earth, even though He knows it will not fruit

If only we know that we should not only accept God's word, but also hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.


Luke 8: 4 - 15

4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:

5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.

6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.

7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.  

“When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant.

10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
   “though seeing, they may not see;
   though hearing, they may not understand.’
   
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

 

A Little Boy's Explanation of God

A Little Boy's Explanation of God
 

It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to 'explain God.' I wonder if any of us could have done as well? 

(and he had such an assignment, in California , and someone published it, I guess miracles do happen!)
       
       
 EXPLANATION OF GOD:
        

'One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.'
        

'God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.'
        

'God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.'
        

'Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista . At least there aren't any who come to our church.'
        

'Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.'
        

'His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.'
        

'You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.'
        

'You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
        

Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.'
        

'If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.'
        

'But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
       
        

And...that's why I believe in God.'
       

A Conversion

 A Conversion
 

 The very toys of toys and vanities of vanities still held me; they plucked at the garment of my flesh and whispered softly, 'Will you cast us off for ever? and from that moment shall we no longer be with you - for ever?', and I hesitated, for a strong habit said to me, 'Do you think you can live without them?'

But continence said to me, 'Why do you re1y on yourself and so waver? Cast yourself upon him, fear not, he will not withdraw himself and let you fall; he will receive you and heal you'.

So I rose and, throwing myself down under a certain fig tree, wept bitterly in contrition of heart. Suddenly I heard from a neighbouring house the voice of a child, singing over and over again, 'Take up and read, take up and read'.

Checking my weeping I got up and went back to where I had been sitting, and had laid down the volume of the apostle, and read the first passage which met my eyes: 'Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in impurity and wantonness, not in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts.'

I needed to read no further, for suddenly, as it were by a light infused into my heart, all darkness vanished away.


DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest

 

The Two Commandments

The Two Commandments
 

Keep this always before you: that you are to love God and your neighbour. The love of God is the first to be commanded, but the love of your neighbour is the first to be fulfilled.

You cannot yet see God, but you earn the right to see him by loving your neighbour; and looking at the source of that love, you will see God as much as you can now.

Remember that in Christ you have everything. Do you want to love God? You have him in Christ. Do you want to love your neighbour? You have him in Christ, for 'the Word was made flesh'.

You know that the perfection of love is to love your enemy, but at least take great care that you do not hate your brother - if you love only your brother you are not perfect, but if you hate him where are you? What are you? Search your hearts.

Do not bear a grudge because of a harsh word, don't sink down to the level of the earth because of a quarrel over earthly things.

Do not imagine that if you hate your brother you live in Christ and walk in the light. 'The man who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is still in the dark.'
 

DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest 

 

 

The Imitation Of Christ

The Imitation Of Christ


Pride is the great sin, the head and cause of all sins, and its beginning lies in turning away from God. Beloved, do not make light of this vice, for the proud man who disdains the yoke of Christ is constrained by the harsher yoke of sin: he may not wish to serve, but he has to, because if he will not be love's servant, he will inevitably be sin's slave.

From pride arises apostasy: the soul goes into darkness, and misusing its free will falls into other sins, wasting its substance with harlots, and he who was created a fellow of the angels becomes a keeper of swine.

Because of this great sin of pride, God humbled himself, taking the nature of a servant, bearing insults and hanging on a cross. To heal us, he became humble; shall we not be ashamed to be proud?

You have heard the Lord say that if you forgive those who have injured you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. But those who speak the world's language say, 'What! you won't revenge yourself, but let him boast of what he did to you? Surely you will let him see that he is not dealing with a weakling?' Did the Lord revenge himself on those who struck him? Dying of his own free will, he uttered no threats: and will you, who do not know when you will die, get in a rage and threaten?

DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest 

 

The Grasp Of Faith

The Grasp Of Faith


The apostles saw the Lord himself and have told us the words they heard from his lips. We have heard those words too, but have not seen the Lord. Are we then less happy than they who both saw and heard him? How can we have fellowship with them? Is it possible? Yes, because we hold the same faith.

You remember that one of the disciples would not believe unless he touched the wounds: he did, and cried out, 'My Lord and my God'. Touching the man, he acknowledged the Godhead.

And to comfort us who reach by faith him who sits in the heavens, the Lord said, 'Because you saw, you believed: blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed'.

Beloved, he is speaking to us: let us attain to the bliss he promised by holding fast to what we cannot see, for though we can no longer see him with our eyes, he has not gone away from our hearts, and you believe in him, though you do not see him. You long for his coming again, and yet you know that in his hidden mercy he is still with you, because he said, 'Lo, I am with you always till the end of time'.

DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest