Charles Williams : The New Christian Year

3rd Wednesday in Lent (February 28th, 2018)

The Christ of God was not then first crucified when the Jews brought Him to the cross; but Adam and Eve were His first real murderers; for the death which happened to them in the day that they did eat of the earthly tree was the death of the Christ of God or the divine life in their souls.  For Christ had never come into the world as a second Adam to redeem it, had He not been originally the life and perfection and glory of the first Adam.

William Law: The Spirit of Love.

more quotes from William Law: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/william_law/

And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?
  Jesus answered him, If I have spoken Evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?

John 18:22-23

  At every stage of his development he had the perfection appropriate to that stage.

Doctrine in the Church of England: Report of the Commission.

more quotes from Doctrine in the Church of England: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/doctrine_in_the_church_of_england/

  We have this virtue [patience] in common with God.  From him patience begins; from him its glory and its dignity fake their rise.  The origin and greatness of patience proceed from God as its author.  Man ought to love the thing which is dear to God; the good which the Divine Majesty loves, it commends.

St. Cyprian: On Patience.

more quotes from St. Cyprian: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/st_cyprian/

 

And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Matthew 26:63

  There is a great distance between knowing God and loving him.

Pascal: Pensées, 280.

more quotes from Pascal: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/pascal/

  This is the happy life, to rejoice to thee, of thee, for thee; this is it, and there is no other.  For they who think there is another, pursue some other and not the true joy.

St. Augustine: Confessions.

more quotes from St. Augustine: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/st_augustine/

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Matthew 26:64

  'Say, O Fool, what did thy Beloved before the world was?'  He answered: 'My Beloved loved, because of His manifold properties, eternal, personal, and infinite, in which are Lover, Love, and Beloved.'

Ramón Lull: The Book of the Lover and the Beloved.

more quotes from The New Christian Year: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/

  Direct teaching cannot go much beyond pointing out the conditions of perception, and the direction in which it is to be looked for.

Coventry Patmore: The Rod, The Root, and the Flower.

more quotes from Coventry Patmore: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/coventry_patmore/