Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Feast of St Francis
Blessed Francis (1182 – 1226) was an ordained deacon and preacher. He also was the founder of the Order of Friars Minor, more commonly known as the Franciscans. He is known as the patron saint of animals, and of the environment. It is customary for Anglican-Catholic churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Day of Angels
The collect (gathering prayer) for the feast day of Saint Michael and All the Angels:Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
September 29th is the day wherein the Anglican Communion of churches remembers & celebrates the ministry of the angels and their chief, the archangel Michael. On this day we pray according to the ancient tradition of the undivided church saying the collect above. The earliest version of this prayer comes to us from the Gregorian Sacramentary, and dates back to the 5-6th century. Our present version is however from the 1549 BCP, revised by Archbishop Cranmer. The essence of the prayer remains unchanged; however, in true English poetic fashion the prayer elaborates a few points.
Like most collects, this one opens with a piece of great theological truth (dogma) which is to be handed down to the church year by year as we pray it. Hence, in this collect, like all others, we have a catechizing of sorts taking place. The dogma within this collect reminds us that it is God who ordains & constitutes the wonderful ministries of both angels and men. The dogmatic point is that both angles and men are extensions of God’s work, or energies, in the creation.
Like most collects, the prayer moves on to its petition. The prayer pleads with the Lord to allow the angelic ministry of heavenly service and worship, to be used as a help to us here and now in this temporal part of creation. The prayer pleads for the angels to connect us to their eternal service here and now.
In short, today we remember and celebrate that God has indeed appointed spiritual beings he calls “fiery servants” not only to serve Him and worship Him, but to help and defend us to do the same.
Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."
Monday, September 27, 2010
Catholics, Orthodox, & Anglicans
QUOTEArchbishop Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said in a news conference last week the two churches “will be able to enrich each other,” adding that the “basic principle of ecumenism is the exchange of gifts.”
“The first step is to tell each other individually how we imagine unity would look like. For the Catholic Church, of course, unity without the Bishop of Rome is unimaginable,” he underscored. “That’s because the issue of the Bishop of Rome is not just an organizational question, but also a theological one. The dialogue about just how this unity should be shaped must be continued intensively. Unity means that we see each other fully as sister churches.”
Archbishop Koch added that he thinks Pope Benedict is “thinking in this direction.”
“He’s said to the Anglicans who want to come back that they would be able to keep their tradition and celebrate their liturgy. So he’s said himself that there should be diversity. That will be the second step. It’s far too early ask each other how we can do this together.”
“There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches,” Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon stressed. “If we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain.”
COMMENTARY
Talk of reunification between the three great Christian bodies, catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican, has been moving forward in recent days. A meeting to further this possibility took place on September 27, 2010, and real progress is being made. However, the fact is that the deep differences between the three bodies are much more significant than just our views on the position of the Pope.
Even if all could arrive at an acceptable view of the Papal office, there are still very distinct paradigms in the three groups that if pressed to limit actually present a different God. Overcoming these distinctions will require a great deal of humility by all. At the same time, each group must be ready to rethink their theology. My hope is that each group is willing to return to our common faith, to that which was believed by the whole church, everywhere, & at all times. I t is undeniable that the faith of each group has evolved since the great schism, it will be imperative that each be willing to hold their faith up to the light of the undivided church. Only then can we ever hope to arrive at true unity.