Monday 23 September 2013

National Portrait Gallery; digital photography does not equal the technology of Leanardo da Vinci

Saint Matthew, Apostle Sat. 21 September, was a historic day at the Cathedral of Edinburgh and St. Andrews, the new Archbishop, Leo Cushley, was ordained.
News: An interesting media on the National Portrait Gallery has a focus on the Leonardo da Vinci' The Last Supper. It is worth while to follow the role of each of the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper, and St. Matthew is in turn.
One headline from the Times was passed on to me:

The cups runneth over at the actors’ Last Supper  
The outer left three actors should look to Jesus, if following Leonardo.
From left: John Alderton (Bartholomew), Sir Richard Eyre (James), Steven Berkoff (Andrew), 
.
National Portrait Gallery cue to St Matthew in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper.
NPG connives with the Dan Brown 'Da Vinci code'.
The actor, Julie Walters has the role for St. John. She must be embarrassed by the National Portrait Gallery miss-presenting Mary Magdalene.
The project is for funding for the National Portrait Gallery extension, unlike in keeping  with St. Matthew called away from tax collecting.
Matthew gestures, flinging his right arm towards Jesus
Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot
Simon the Zealot
  • Apostle ThomasJames the Greater and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; the raised index finger foreshadows his Incredulity of the Resurrection. James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation.
  • MatthewJude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Jude Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.
.
The, National Portrait Gallery, project has depended on the digital photography. Does the digital  photography does not equal the technology of Leanardo da Vinci. viz, 
  Artistic truth instead of correct perspective.
 
The outer three to the right:
Both Jude Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon,
perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.
The heads of the apostles are also not shown 'correctly' in accordance with the central perspective. Instead, they all appear to be directly in front of the viewer regardless of whether they are in the middle part or at the outer ends of the table. By this means they are given a much emphasized presence. The group as a whole is also more present in the real space of the refectory because the painted wall is like a stage with the table of the Last Supper very close to the footlights. (Michael Ladwein).

Last Supper: Actors In Leonardo Da Vinci Scene
The photo is inspired by the Leonardo da Vinci work depicting the moment Jesus tells his disciples one of them will betray him.
2:57pm UK, Monday 16 September 2013
Scene recreated by British actors

A cast of British acting talent has teamed up to re-create Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper for the National Portrait Gallery. They include (left to right) John Alderton, Sir Richard Eyre, Steven Berkoff, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sir Antony Sher and Julie Walters.
Scene recreated by British actors



Robert Powell, Colin Firth, Tom Conti, Sir Michael Gambon also feature.


·
As do Simon Callow, Peter Eyre and Anthony Andrews.

Gallery: Da Vinci's Last Supper Posed By Stars

British acting stars have teamed up to recreate Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper for the National Portrait Gallery.
Among the names who posed for the photograph are Robert Powell, who famously played the title role in the TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth.
Others include Julie Walters, Sir Michael Gambon and Steven Berkoff.
Photographer Alistair Morrison said: "My first two choices were Robert Powell who had to be Jesus … and Julie Walters, who was asked to play Mary Magdalene.
"Their enthusiasm and influence helped to bring together this outstanding group of actors."
The photograph is inspired by Leonardo's original 15th-century work which depicts the moment Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him.
Prints of the photograph, called Actors' Last Supper, will be sold at the central London gallery's new prints sales section.
Prices will range from £12,375 for a limited edition work to £2.99 for a postcard.
Portraits of Kate Moss, Bob Dylan and David Bowie are also going on offer.
From left: John Alderton (Bartholomew), Sir Richard Eyre (James), Steven Berkoff (Andrew), Tim Piggott-Smith (Peter), Sir Antony Sher (Judas), Julie Walters (Mary Magdelene), Robert Powell (Jesus), Colin Firth (James the Greater), Tom Conti (Thomas), Sir Michael Gambon (Philip), Simon Callow (Matthew), Peter Eyre (Jude Thaddeus) and Anthony Andrews (Simon the Zealot)
Alistair Morrison/National Portrait Gallery/PA


Extracts from Michael Ladwein, Leonardo da Vinci, A Cosmis Drama and an Act of Redemption
(  p. 42   The Group of Individual and heir Gestures)

58      Real and Imaginary Space
  Artistic truth instead of correct perspective
The heads of the apostles are also not shown 'correctly' in accordance with the central perspective. Instead, they all appear to be directly in front of the viewer regardless of whether they are in the middle part or at the outer ends of the table. By this means they are given a much emphasized presence. The group as a whole is also more present in the real space of the refectory because the painted wall is like a stage with the table of the Last Supper very close to the footlights. Leonardo achieved this illusion by means of the frieze he painted along the top of the mural and the light grey strips that frame it on either side. These should be viewed as partially visible corner pillars supporting the frieze or rather the architrave. This generates the impression of a peep-show stage with a jutting proscenium on which the company of the Last Supper is gathered. The stage effect also arises from the fact that the painting is several metres above the actual floor of the refectory. This enabled Leonardo to insert a necessary degree of distance between the painting and the real and profane realm of the refectory. After all, the events of the Last Supper and those partaking of it belong to a truly higher, sacred sphere and therefore need to be 'elevated' spatially despite being given such an immediate presence.

««     Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Das Relief von Phigalia. 1818   
 Leonardo da Vinci, a total art world in himself, to whom we have devoted much, albeit nowhere near enough, attention, is as auda­cious as were the artists of Phigalia. We have thought deeply about The Last Supper with much enthusiasm and in doing so have also contemplated it with veneration; but now let us permit ourselves a joke at its expense. Thirteen persons are seated at a very long and narrow table. They are struck by a shock of emotion; a few remain seated while others partially or entirely rise to their feet. They delight us with their polite yet passionate conduct, but let these good people take great care not to try sitting down again; at least two would end up on each other's lap no matter to what extent Christ and John might manage to reduce the space between them.
Yet it is the very sign of a master that he purposely makes a mistake for the greater advantage of his work. Plausibility is a rule of art, but within the realm of plausibility there must be a celebration of the highest even if it would not otherwise become manifest. What is correct is not worth sixpence if it has nothing else to show for itself. «« 

The depth of the painted space p.59
Closer examination raises many further questions about the space in which the Last Supper is taking place. It is therefore no coincidence that art historians have to this day continued to research this mysteri­ous and highly complex painted architecture with ever more subtle methods without reaching a general consensus. Although such analysis is a matter for specialists, the results (of which only the most plausible are presented here) that reveal Leonardo's inventiveness and the ease of his mastery of geometry, perspective and optics continue to astound the amateur." Moreover, coming to grips mentally with these things also offers us an excellent opportunity to school our own skills of observation and perception.
 Michael Ladwein: www.ladwein-reisen.de 

Notes of Leonardo





Thursday 19 September 2013

God enters into our hearts. Nivard

Thursday, 19 September 2013


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nivard . . . .
Sent: Thursday, 19 September 2013, 11:42
Subject: Thur 13 Your faith has saved you. Lk 7:36-50.   

Magnificat, Adapted, Lk 7:36-50.
24 Thur 19 Sept 13 Your faith has saved you.
   When we have an inferiority complex, we do not believe that what God has made is good. We do not look at ourselves with the mercifultender, compassionate eyes of God. When we do not realize that God is both in our midst and within us, our faith fades and disappears.           
   The mystery of man enters into the mystery of God. It bursts forth with great joyfaith and understanding.       
   When faith is there, alis clear, and a love relation with God enters into our hearts. When we have faith, it is such a simple thing to accept his loveeven if we do not understand why he loves us.
 
Father, Fill our hearts with the faith of Mary Magdalen and love You as she loved  your Son Jesus our Lord.
                                         ****************
Full text: 
MEDITATION OF THE DAY  
"Your faith has saved you"
When you have an inferiority complex-and who of us hasn't-you say things like, "I just don't believe that what God made is good. Look at me, I'm a louse." Don't dare to challenge God like this.Everything he made is good, including yourself. Don't listen to that serpent who is giving you apples that look red on the outside and are full of inferiority complexes on the inside. Don't eat that apple, or else you are going to go down into a pit prepared by Satan for you for your whole life.
How can you have a wrong image of something or someone that God touched? God touched you and he created youYou passed through his mind and you were begotten. Anyone of us that passes through God's mind, anyone of us that God touched, cannot be this horrible person we think we are. No! Each one of us is beautiful-we're beautiful because he touched us.
Sometimes this is very difficult for us to acceptWe look at ourselves and say, "He made us in his image, equal to himself in a manner of speaking, heir to his Son? This just can't be. He hasn't looked into my heartHe doesn't know what I'm made of!" We say those silly things because our evaluation of ourselves is very poor.
We haven't looked at ourselves with the mercifulten­der, compassionate eyes of God. So we walk in despair half the timeAs a result, the ability to realize that God is both in our midst and in us-a realization that is the fruit of faith-fades and disappears.
Thiis the main reasonit seems to me, why the Fathesent his Son to us, why the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us as one of us. The Father, having given us the fantastic gift of faith,wanted to help us accepthis awesome giftHe senhis Son Jesus Christ so that we, unbelieving,might believeWe are like children; we need to touch.
Every human being is a mystery. The mystery of man enters into the mystery of Godand bursting forth with great joycomes faith and understandingWhen faith is there, alis clear, and a love relation with God enters into your heart. When you have faith, it is such a simple thing to accept his loveeven if you do not understand why he loves you.

ERVANT OF GOD CATHERINE DE HUECDOHERTCatherinde Hueck Dohert(1985) was born in Russia and was the foundress of Madonna House in CombermereCanada

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Saint Gregory Palamas




24th Week
Monastic Lectionary Vigils  
Gregory’s work must be seen as the
culmination of Eastern mystical theology
 
WEDNESDAY 18/09/2013
First Reading
Hosea 11:1-11
Responsory          fer 31:20; is 54:8
Is Ephraim a son so dear to me, a child in whom I so delight, that
as often as I rebuke him I must remember him still? + My heart yearns for him, I am filled with tenderness toward him, says the Lord.
V. In excess of anger, for a moment, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will take pity on you.+ My heart ...

Second Reading From a homily by Saint Gregory Palamas
                                 Hom. 3:PG 151, 36

Before creating us our Maker brought this whole universe into being from nothing, for the sustenance of our bodily exist­ence. But as for improving our conduct and guiding us toward virtue, what has the Lord in his love of goodness not done for us? He has made the whole of this perceptible universe a kind of mirror of heaven, so that by spiritual contemplation of the world around us we may reach up to heavenly things as if by some wonderful ladder. He has implanted in us the natural law, as an inflexible rule, an infallible judge and an unerring teacher: this is our conscience. If we look deep within ourselves, then, we shall need no other teacher to show us what is good, and if we look outside ourselves we shall find the invisible God visible in the things he has made, as the Apostle says.

After providing a school of virtue in our own nature and in the created world, God gave us the angels to protect us, he raised up the patriarchs and prophets to guide us, he showed us signs and wonders to lead us to faith, and gave us the written law as a supplement to the law of our rational soul and the teaching of the world around us. Then at last, when we had scorned all this in our indolence - how different from his own continuing love and care for us! - he gave himself to us for our salvation. He poured out the wealth of his divinity into our lowly condition; he took our nature and became a human being like us, and was with us as our teacher. He teaches us the greatness of his love and proves it by word and deed, at the same time persuading those who obey him not to be hard-hearted, but to imitate his compassion.

Those who manage worldly affairs have a certain love for
them, as do shepherds for their flocks and owners for their personal possessions, but this cannot be compared with the love of those who share the same flesh and blood, and especially the love of parents for their children. Therefore, to make us realize how much he loves us, God called himself our Father; for our sake he became man, and then, through the grace of the Holy Spirit conferred in baptism, he caused us to be born anew.

            Responsory          1 fn 4:9.16b; fn 3:16
God's love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. + God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.
V. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. + God is love ...


http://vox-nova.com/2009/03/07/sunday-of-st-gregory-palamas/

   
Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates St. Gregory Palamas (Grigore Palama), Archbishop of Thessalonica. On this occasion, the parish church St. Gregory Palamas - University chapel will celebrate its patron.
Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates on November 14 St. Gregory Palamas (Grigore Palama), Archbishop of Thessalonica. On this occasion, the parish church St. Gregory Palamas - University chapel will celebrate its patron.
Archbishop Gregory (Grigore) of Thessaloniki, called Palama was born in Constantinople.
For his struggles with heretics was honored with the great gift of the bishop, holding the chair of Thessaloniki and pastoral significance it with great dignity.
Church "St. Gregory Palamas' (Grigore Palama) was consecrated on 26 November 1998. Interior painting was executed in 2004 by Mihai Coman and students of the Theological Institute of Bucharest Heritage Department at the expense of Polytechnic University.
More informations at http://www.basilica.ro/stiri/hram-la-biserica-isfantul-grigorie-palamai-paraclis-universitar_878.html

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Monastic Lectionary St. Cyril of Alexandria

    24th Week
TUESDAY  17/09/2013
Monastic Lectionary Vigils
St. Cyril of Alexandria
First Reading
Hosea 10:1-15
                Responsory                 Hos 5:4; 10:12
Their misdeeds have barred the way back to their God, since t a spirit of harlotry possesses them and prevents them from knowing the Lord.
V. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes to rain justice on you. t A spirit ...
Second Reading
From a commentary by Cyril of Alexandria  
                                Comment. in Hos: PG71 253-256. 

Exhortations are usually given in one of two ways. As a rule we either speak of the punishment awaiting those inclined to be careless, to frighten them into changing their way of life and to win them over as soon as may be to a life of virtue; or else we tell of the rewards prepared for the just, to make those we instruct eager henceforth to live a better and more upright life. That is how the God of all creation is working now. He threat­ened those who had gone astray with wars, disasters, exile among the Gentiles, the burning of their cities, and the brutality of their enemies. But he did not end his exhortations there; he has another way of helping them. He bids them give up the useless things that bring them nothing but misery, and choose instead what is most likely to profit them.

They should be like tillers of the soil, sowing justice, and reaping the fruit of life; for as Saint Paul wrote, Whatever we sow we shall also reap. Those who sow evil will reap evil, says scripture. But the just will have salvation and life in full measure. They will be illustrious and worthy of emulation, and will gather grapes for the wine that gladdens the human heart. Besides this, however, those who want to win God's approval must open their minds and hearts to receive the light of true knowledge, which is lacking in those who worship the creation rather than the Creator.

How we can best go about sowing justice, reaping the fruit of life, and receiving the bright light of knowledge the Prophet shows by adding the words: Seek the Lord until the fruits ofjustice come to you. Not that there is any special place where we should seek God - we should be foolish to think so, since the divinity is not contained in any space. No, God is to be sought by the dispositions of the soul, by the eagerness of minds inclined toward whatever pleases him and reverencing true and clear knowledge containing nothing that deserves censure. When we have found God in this way, we shall be rich in the possession of every other blessing.
Responsorq                Hos 6:3; Mt 5:8
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his coming is as sure
as sunrise; t he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains that water the earth.
V. Blessed are those whose hearts are pure, for they shall see God. t He will ...

Note:
III. Exegesis of Inter-textual Occurrences 
A. Cyril’s Reading of Luke 
. . . 
B. Cyril’s Reading of Hosea 
1. Methodology 
2. On the Historicity of Hosea
3. Exegesis of Hosea Passages Quoted in the New Testament
a. Quoted outside of Matthew and Luke 
b. Quoted within Matthew and Luke 
c. Lukan Allusions

St. Cyril of Alexandria
Excepting Sts. Athanasius and Augustine, his equal as a defender of orthodoxy, can hardly be found in the Church's history. His greatest achievement was the successful direction of the ecumenical council at Ephesus (431), of which he was the soul (Pope Celestine had appointed him papal legate). In this council two important dogmas were defined – that there is but one person in Christ, and that Mary (in the literal sense of the word) can be called the Mother of God (Theotokos). His successful defense of the latter doctrine is his greatest title to honor.
His writings show such depth and clarity that the Greeks called him the "seal of the fathers." He died in 444 A.D., after having been bishop for thirty-two years. In Rome, the basilica of St. Mary Major stands as a most venerable monument to the honor paid Mary at the Council of Ephesus. On the arch leading into the sanctuary important incidents in the lives of Jesus and Mary are depicted in mosaic.


Monday 16 September 2013

COMMENT:

John Henry Newman's homiletic genius. 'Sincere and Insincere'


Extract fro, J. H. Newman

Do you, then, habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to Almighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence, and have you this special witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation, viz. that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe, and act on the belief, that His light penetrates and shines through your heart, as the sun's beams through a room? You know how things look when the sun's beams are on it,—the very air then appears full of impurities, which, before it came out, were not seen. So is it with our souls. 

In all circumstances, of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, let us aim at having Him in our inmost heart; let us have no secret apart from Him. Let us acknowledge Him as enthroned within us at the very springs of thought and affection. Let us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to Him that He may forgive us, cleanse us, change us, guide us, and save us.

This is the true life of saints. This is to have the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God.
Newman P and P  Vol 5 Serm 16. Sincerity


St. Ninian COMMENT:


Whithorn Story
Douglas Strachan St Margaret’s Chapel

4 hours ago via Twitter
#Ninian I am remembering some if the events over my 16 years at the Whithorn Trust. St Ninian's Day is a time to remember the past!
Top of Form
Bottom of Form


We wrote messages on leaves and then released them into the wind, wrote messages on pebbles and left them for others to find, drew pictures in the sand, did some colouring in and generally laughed and chatted. All in all a lovely day and hopefully some collaborative work in the future with a group of lovely people! (5 photos)

St. Ninian, stone on Whithorn beach

Whithorn Trust - Facebook
drew pictures in the sand

Saint Ninian - Scotand First Saint

Monastic Vigils

READING: St. Ninian, by historian, Mgr. Hugh McEwan, 

article in the Scottish Catholic Observer 14.9.1980



16th September
Saint Ninian, Scotland’s First Saint
The Whithorn Trust was established in 1986



A Reading about St. Ninian, 16th September  
Whithorn lies in the remote south-west of Scotland, at a key point between the three kingdoms. On a moderately clear day- there are views of the coastlines of England, Ireland and the Isle of Man, It must have been a strategic centre for the pioneer missionary.
Whithorn has played a celebrated part in the religious history of Scotland; It was visited for centuries by king and commoner alike. Its well-preserved ruins sum up more than lOOO years of Scottish Christianity. Like Iona, it is isolated from the modern conurbations, but unlike Iona, it is part of the mainland.  
 
Above all, Whithorn is our most ancient Christian shrine. It antedates Iona by almost 200 years. As early as the beginning of the third century, Tertullian was able to claim that there were regions in distant Britain impervious to Roman arms but subject to Christ.
St. Ninian, in fact, takes his place with his contemporary, St. Patrick, as one of the key missioners who ventured beyond the safety of the frontiers to win converts for Christ.
His achievement may not have been as spectacular nor as enduring as Patrick's, nor of the later Celtic missionaries, but the vision and courage
are splendid.
The details of his work are blurred. the. fact beyond dispute. His memory was preserved for posterity by that most lovable of English saints, Bede·of Jarrow, who records the tradition; more than 300 years later, that the southern Picts had accepted the gospel at the preaching of Ninian, "a most revered bishop and holy man of the British nation who had learned the mystery of truth at Rome".
Bede adds the information that Ninian was buried in his cathedral church which was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours and commonly known as the White House (Candida Casa) since it possessed a church of stone, unusual among the Britons.
From ruined sites in various parts of Scotland, scholars have conjectured that the main scene of Ninian's activity lay in the Lowlands of Scotland and on the east coast, notably in Perthshire and Angus, the home of the southern Picts.
All this gives Ninian a central point in the history of Scottish Christianity and provides us with a proud (if neglected) link with the early church. The age in which he lived may be shrouded in a Scottish mist, but of the church which produced him we know a great deal. We know it from the fertile Christian literature of the time, not least from the letters of his contemporary, St. Jerome, which are as vivid today as when they were first penned.
The church of that time lived in a world which has curious parallels with ours. It was a time when the old order was being broken up, giving way to a new world. S1. Jerome was to write broken-hearted from distant Palestine when he heard the incredible news that Rome had fallen to the barbarian.
It was a time when the church was learning to cope with peace and official establishment, a time of easy conquests, numerous converts and falling standards. It was a time of violent polemics about the personality and divinity of Christ.
One of the key figures of the age was Arius who wrote, with acceptance to many, of a Christ who was nearly, but not quite, God. It was the time of the great Councils which decided these issues and are accepted today by a divided Christendom. The church of S1. Ninian produced the Nicene creed which we profess at every Sunday Mass.
The Scotland of St.. Ninian may be almost pre-history, but the drama of faith remains the same. You can only be open to the future if you are rooted in the past and in the tradition of the church.
Mgr. Hugh McEwan,
Scottish Catholic Observer 14.9.80
+ + +  
15 Sep 2009
Tuesday, 15 September 2009. Scotand First Saint. 16th September. Saint Ninian, Scotland's First Saint. The Whithorn Trust was established in 1986 - explores the writings of the Venerable Bede ... www.whithorn.com/saint-ninian.htm. St. Ninian: (NINIAS, NINUS, DINAN, RINGAN, RINGEN). Bishop and confessor; date of birth unknown; died about 432; the first Apostle of Christianity in Scotland. The earliest account of him is in Bede (Hist. Eccles., III, 4): "the southern Picts received the ...


Sunday 15 September 2013

John Henry Newman's homiletic genius. 'Sincere and Insincere'

Night Office Vigils 
At the Second Reading, the first line from J. H. Newman gave the theme, 'sincere and insincere'.
The antithesis gave an illuminating insight but then left me adrift with Newman's not too clear the alternatives. Then also the Reading left gaps.
It is still all the more demanding for the whole Sermon, to make up from brief  505 words to the Sermon of 4,275 words.
It will be the best occasion to learn the real sense of John Henry Newman's homiletic genius.

A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours VIAugustinian Press 1995
http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon16.html

Newman P&P Vol 5 Sermon 16. Serm 16. Sincerity and Hypocrisy Seasons - Epiphany

"If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." 2 Cor. viii. 12. 
Great, then, is the difference between sincere and insincere Christians, however like their words may be to each other; and it is needless to say, that what I have shown in a few examples, might be instanced again and again from every part of Scripture, particularly from the history of the Jews, as contained in the Prophets. All men, even after the gift of God's grace, sin: God's true servants profess and sin,—sin, and are sorry; and hypocrites profess and sin,—sin and are sorry. 
Thus the two parties look like each other. 
But the word of God discriminates one from the other by this test,
—that Christ dwells in the conscience of one not of the other; 
that the one opens his heart to God, the other does not; 
the one views Almighty God only as an accidental guest, the other as Lord and owner of all that he is; 
the one admits Him as if for a night, or some stated season, the other gives himself over to God, and considers himself God's servant and instrument now and for ever. 
Not more different is the intimacy of friends from mere acquaintance; not more different is it to know a person in society, to be courteous and obliging to him, to interchange civilities, from opening one's heart to another, admitting him into it, seeing into his, loving him, and living in him;
—than the external worship of the hypocrite, from the inward devotion of true faith; approaching God with the lips, from believing on Him with the heart; so opening to the Spirit that He opens to us, from so living to self as to exclude the light of heaven. {235} 

Now, as to applying what I have been showing from Scripture to ourselves, this shall here be left, my brethren, to the consciences of each of us, and a few words will suffice to do this. Do you, then, habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to Almighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence, and have you this special witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation, viz. that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe, and act on the belief, that His light penetrates and shines through your heart, as the sun's beams through a room? You know how things look when the sun's beams are on it,—the very air then appears full of impurities, which, before it came out, were not seen. So is it with our souls. 

We are full of stains and corruptions, we see them not, they are like the air before the sun shines; but though we see them not, God sees them: He pervades us as the sunbeam. Our souls, in His view, are full of things which offend, things which must be repented of, forgiven, and put away. He, in the words of the Psalmist, "has set our misdeeds before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance." [Ps. xc. 8.] This is most true, though it be not at all welcome doctrine to many. We cannot hide ourselves from Him; and our wisdom, as our duty, lies in embracing this truth, acquiescing in it, and acting upon it. Let us then beg Him to teach us the Mystery of His Presence in us, that, by acknowledging it, we may thereby possess it fruitfully. Let us confess it in faith, that we may possess it unto justification. 
Let us so {236} own it, as to set Him before us in everything. "I have set God always before me," says the Psalmist, "for He is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fail." [Ps. xvi. 8.] Let us, in all circumstances, thus regard Him. Whether we have sinned, let us not dare keep from Him, but with the prodigal son, rise and go to Him. Or, if we are conscious of nothing, still let us not boast in ourselves or justify ourselves, but feel that "He who judgeth us is the Lord." In all circumstances, of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, let us aim at having Him in our inmost heart; let us have no secret apart from Him. Let us acknowledge Him as enthroned within us at the very springs of thought and affection. Let us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to Him that He may forgive us, cleanse us, change us, guide us, and save us.

This is the true life of saints. This is to have the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God. Such a faith alone will sustain the terrors of the Last Day; such a faith alone will be proof against those fierce flames which are to surround the Judge, when He comes with His holy Angels to separate between "those who serve God, and those who serve Him not." [Mal. iii. 18.]
The colour purple text does not appear  from the Sermon above.
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Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 5John Henry Newman