Author: aboydjohnson

HIS Spirit comes to us, as Caussade said, in “The Sacrament of the Present Moment.”  Joy and pain, drudgery and delight, humiliation and consolation, tension and peace – each of these contrasting experiences reaches us fully charged with God; and does, or should incite us to an ever more complete self-giving to God.  But each… Continue reading Monday in Holy Week: Abasement and Adoption – Evelyn Underhill

IN his letter to the Romans, we find Saint Paul asking his converts if they realize what it means to be part of the Church.  It means, he says {and we can imagine their surprise when they heard it}, being received into the death of Christ – the unconditional sacrifice of the Cross – in… Continue reading Palm Sunday: Cross and Church – Evelyn Underhill

“Though I give my body to be burned,” said Saint Paul, “and have not love, I am nothing.”  I do not as a supernatural being exist.  And now he gives us another and much more surprising test of spiritual vitality.  Though you feel an unconquerable love, joy and peace, though you are gentle, long-suffering, good… Continue reading Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent: Meekness, Temperance – Evelyn Underhill

THIS time we have two quite positive qualities.  If on one hand the Spirit brings forth a quiet and patient acquiescence in God’s purpose, on the other hand it brings forth a quality of personal fitness for His service.  Goodness, of course, does not merely bear our cheap modern meaning of either goodness or pleasantness;… Continue reading Friday of the Fifth Week in Lent: Goodness, Faithfulness – Evelyn Underhill

https://youtu.be/PKkgO06bAZk https://youtu.be/c0aoifNziKQ For various reasons over the past few years I have become interested in the story of the nation of Israel, and the story of the Jews during those alarming decades of the twenties, thirties, and forties in Europe. The situation faced by Jewish families in Poland, Germany, parts of Russian and other nations,… Continue reading A Mustard Seed

Rembrandt - St Peter in Prison THE next fruit of the Spirit, says Saint Paul, is long-suffering and gentleness – much patient endurance as regards what life does to us, much loving-kindness, care, consideration in all contacts with other lives.  Here another region is submitted to God’s influence and in consequence another source of strain… Continue reading Thursday of the Fifth Week in Lent: Long-Suffering, Gentleness – Evelyn Underhill

“THE fruit of the Spirit,” says Saint Paul, “is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-Suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Meekness, Temperance,” – all the things the world most needs.  A clear issue, is it not?  To discover the health and reality of our life of prayer, we need not analyze it or fuss about it.  But we must… Continue reading Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Lent: Love, Joy, Peace – Evelyn Underhill