Charles Williams : The New Christian Year

Septuagesima Sunday (January 31st, 2010)

What is Septugaesima?

The commandment of God is, that we love our Lord in all our heart, in all our soul, in all our thought.  In all our heart; that is, in all our understanding without erring.  In all our soul; that is, in all our will without gainsaying.  In all our thought; that is, that we think on him, without forgetting.  In this manner is very love and true, that is work of man's will.  For love is a wilful stirring of our thought unto God, so that is receive nothing that is against the love of Jesus Christ, and therewith that it be lasting in sweetness of devotion; and that is the perfection of this life.

Richard Rolle: The Commandment.

What is Septugaesima?

The commandment of God is, that we love our Lord in all our heart, in all our soul, in all our thought.  In all our heart; that is, in all our understanding without erring.  In all our soul; that is, in all our will without gainsaying.  In all our thought; that is, that we think on him, without forgetting.  In this manner is very love and true, that is work of man's will.  For love is a wilful stirring of our thought unto God, so that is receive nothing that is against the love of Jesus Christ, and therewith that it be lasting in sweetness of devotion; and that is the perfection of this life.

Richard Rolle: The Commandment.

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (January 31st, 2010)

Gifts of nature are common to good and bad, but grace or love is the peculiar gift of Thine elect, and they that bear this mark are accounted worthy of eternal life.

  This grace is so excellent, that neither the gift of prophecy, nor the working of miracles, nor the understanding of deep mysteries, is of any worth without it.

  But neither faith, nor hope, nor any other virtue is acceptable to Thee without charity and grace.

Thomas à Kempis: Imitation.

Gifts of nature are common to good and bad, but grace or love is the peculiar gift of Thine elect, and they that bear this mark are accounted worthy of eternal life.

  This grace is so excellent, that neither the gift of prophecy, nor the working of miracles, nor the understanding of deep mysteries, is of any worth without it.

  But neither faith, nor hope, nor any other virtue is acceptable to Thee without charity and grace.

Thomas à Kempis: Imitation.

3rd Saturday after the Epiphany (January 30th, 2010)

He to whom (God) is different in one thing from another and to whom God is dearer in one thing than another, that man is a barbarian, still in the wilds, a child.  He to whom God is the same in everything has come into man's estate.  But he to whom creatures all mean want and exile has omc into his own.

Eckhart: Sayings.

He to whom (God) is different in one thing from another and to whom God is dearer in one thing than another, that man is a barbarian, still in the wilds, a child.  He to whom God is the same in everything has come into man's estate.  But he to whom creatures all mean want and exile has omc into his own.

Eckhart: Sayings.

All our moralities are by our outworks, our Christianity is our citadel; a man who considers duty but the dignity of being a man, is not easliy beat from his outworks, but from his Christianity never.

John Donne: Letters.

All our moralities are by our outworks, our Christianity is our citadel; a man who considers duty but the dignity of being a man, is not easliy beat from his outworks, but from his Christianity never.

John Donne: Letters.

3rd Friday after the Epiphany (January 29th, 2010)

Perfection of a thing is threefold: first, according to the constitution of its own being; secondly, in respect of any accidents being added as necessary for its perfect operation; thirdly, perfection consists in the attaining to something else as the end . . . This triple perfection belongs to no creature by its own essence; it belongs to God only, in Whom alone essence is existence; in Whom there are no accidents; since whatever belongs to others accidentally belongs to Him essentially; as, to be powerful, wise, and the like, as appears from what is stated above; and He is not directed to anything else as to an end, but is Himself the last end of all things.  Hence it is manifest that God alone has every kind of perfection by His own essence.

Aquinas: Summa Theologica.

Perfection of a thing is threefold: first, according to the constitution of its own being; secondly, in respect of any accidents being added as necessary for its perfect operation; thirdly, perfection consists in the attaining to something else as the end . . . This triple perfection belongs to no creature by its own essence; it belongs to God only, in Whom alone essence is existence; in Whom there are no accidents; since whatever belongs to others accidentally belongs to Him essentially; as, to be powerful, wise, and the like, as appears from what is stated above; and He is not directed to anything else as to an end, but is Himself the last end of all things.  Hence it is manifest that God alone has every kind of perfection by His own essence.

Aquinas: Summa Theologica.

3rd Thursday after the Epiphany (January 28th, 2010)

The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God.  The peace of all things is the tranquility of order.

St. Augustine: City of God.

The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God.  The peace of all things is the tranquility of order.

St. Augustine: City of God.

Whosoever seeketh from God ought besides God, doth not seek God chastely.

St. Augustine: Sermons.

Whosoever seeketh from God ought besides God, doth not seek God chastely.

St. Augustine: Sermons.

3rd Wednesday after the Epiphany (January 26th, 2010)

Here you have the true reason why revenge or vengeance is not allowed to man; it is because vengeance can only work in the evil or disordered properties of fallen nature.  But man, being himself a part of fallen nature and subject to its disordered properties is not allowed to work with them, because it would be stirring up evil in himself, and that is his sin of wrath or revenge.  God therefore reserves all vengeance to Himself, not because wrathful revenge is a temper or quality that can have any place in the holy Diety, but because the holy supernatural Diety, being free from all the properties of nature, whence partial love and hatred spring, and being in Himself nothing but an infinity of love, wisdom, and goodness, He alone knows how to over-rule the disorders of nature and so to repay evil with evil, that the highest good may be promoted by it.

William Law: The Spirit of Love.

Here you have the true reason why revenge or vengeance is not allowed to man; it is because vengeance can only work in the evil or disordered properties of fallen nature.  But man, being himself a part of fallen nature and subject to its disordered properties is not allowed to work with them, because it would be stirring up evil in himself, and that is his sin of wrath or revenge.  God therefore reserves all vengeance to Himself, not because wrathful revenge is a temper or quality that can have any place in the holy Diety, but because the holy supernatural Diety, being free from all the properties of nature, whence partial love and hatred spring, and being in Himself nothing but an infinity of love, wisdom, and goodness, He alone knows how to over-rule the disorders of nature and so to repay evil with evil, that the highest good may be promoted by it.

William Law: The Spirit of Love.

3rd Tuesday after the Epiphany (January 26th, 2010)

All men by nature hate each other.  They use their lusts as far as they can for the public good, but it is only a feint and false image of love, for at bottom there is nothing but hate.

Pascal: Pensées.

All men by nature hate each other.  They use their lusts as far as they can for the public good, but it is only a feint and false image of love, for at bottom there is nothing but hate.

Pascal: Pensées.

To make rapid progress and to reach the mansions we wish to enter, it is not so essential to think much as to love much: therefore you must practise whatever most excites you to this.

Saint Teresa: The Interior Castle.

To make rapid progress and to reach the mansions we wish to enter, it is not so essential to think much as to love much: therefore you must practise whatever most excites you to this.

Saint Teresa: The Interior Castle.