Remembering the Saints

I was intrigued with the arrival of the new Church Calendars in that they have included many of the Saints of the Church. Today is the Feast Day of Saint Hilary of Portier. For those of us worshipping at St. Martin's here in Gander, it was Saint Hilary who taught our Patron Saint Martin the basics of the Faith.

Saint Hilary of Portier

Hilary of Poitiers, Saint (hĭl'ərē, poitērz', poi'tyā), c.315-367?, bishop of Poitiers from c.350, Doctor of the Church. A convert from paganism, he distinguished himself as a supporter of Athanasius against Arianism. For his zeal he was exiled (c.356). After his return (360) he aided Pope Liberius in the attempted purge of Arianism in the West. He wrote many theological works, mostly against the Arians, including the historically invaluable De synodis and the De trinitate (tr. by Stephen McKenna, 1954). He composed allegorical interpretations of the Bible and sacred poetry. His hymns were important in the early development of that form. Feast: Jan. 14; in England, Jan. 13 (Hilarymas).

From HERE

And a prayer:

O Lord our God, who didst raise up thy servant Hilary to be a champion of the catholic faith: Keep us steadfast in that true faith which we professed at our baptism, that we may rejoice in having thee for our Father, and may abide in thy Son, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; thou who livest and reignest for ever and ever. AMEN

Praying with the Heart

When we hear of a person praying from the heart, we usually are meaning that they are praying without the use of written words. The words they are praying are ‘found within.’ I get the impression that we usually feel this type of praying has more value than praying written prayers. I confess that I am comfortable praying without written words, but then as a priest I am use to finding words. But trust me when I say that both written prayers and unwritten prayers can come from inattentive hearts. It distresses me when I hear a person say, after hearing me pray extemporaneously (without a book) that they wish they could pray like that.

The heart of true praying, which all people can do, is that we take time to make sure that the words we are lifting up to the LORD are sincere, and we are being attentive to those words.

Given that preamble, I am one growing in a deeper appreciation for the ancient prayers of the Church, because I can trust them for being theologically correct, that they have been prayed by the Church for centuries, and that my efforts can be directed to simply praying the words with sincerity – thus praying with the heart.

I am sure many of us have favourite prayers from our prayer books, or other sources, some of which we have written in the back of our prayer books. Here is one of mine:

Almighty God, who has shown us in the life and teaching of Thy Son, that the path of love may lead to the cross, and the reward of faithfulness may be a crown of thorns: Grant us grace to take up our cross and follow Christ in the strength of patience and constancy of faith, and to have such fellowship with Him in His sorrow that we may know the secret of His strength and peace; through the same Jesus Christ our LORD. AMEN (By C.J.Vaughan)

Perhaps you might like to share some of your favourite prayers.

God in the Little Things

From “The Way of the Pilgrim”

The love of God gives grace a thousandfold more than human actions deserve. If you give Him the merest mite, He will pay you back with gold. If you but purpose to go to the Father, He will come out to meet you. You say but a word, short and unfeeling – “Receive me, have mercy on me” – and He falls on your neck and kisses you. That is what the love of the Heavenly Father is like towards us, unworthy as we are. And simply because of this love He rejoices in every gesture we make towards salvation, however small. It looks like this to you: What glory is there for God, what advantage for you, if you pray a little and then your thoughts wander again, or if you do some small good deed, such as reading a prayer, making five or ten acts of reverence, or giving a heartfelt sigh and calling upon the name of Jesus, or attending to some good thought, or setting yourself to some spiritual reading, or abstaining from some food, or bearing an affront in silence – all that seems to you not enough for your full salvation and a fruitless thing to do. No! None of these small acts is in vain; it will be taken into account by the all-seeing eye of God, and receive a hundredfold reward, not only in eternity, but in this life. St John Chrysostom asserts this, “No good of any sort,” he says “however trifling it may be, will be scorned by the righteous Judge. If sins are searched out in such detail that we shall be given an answer for words and desires and thoughts, then so much the more for good deeds, however small they are, will be taken into account in all detail, and will be reckoned to our benefit before our Judge, who is full of love.”

May the LORD continue to strengthen you and me in those small steps towards Him who loves us. LORD in your mercy, Brian+

January 11 - Holy Innocents

Collect from Book of Alternative Services

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod,
receive, we pray, all innocent victims
into the arms of your mercy.
By your great might frustrate all evil designs
and establish your reign of justice, love, and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect from Book of Common Prayer

O ALMIGHTY God, who out of the mouths
of babes and sucklings hast ordained
strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by
their deaths: Mortify and kill all vices in us,
and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the
innocency of our lives, and constancy of our
faith, even unto death, we may glorify thy holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is easy to catch the primary emphasis of our two prayer books in reading these collects for Holy Innocents. The BAS emphasizes social justice while the BCP focuses upon personal transformation.

The Baptism of the LORD

Collect from the Book of Common Prayer

HEAVENLY Father, whose blessed Son
Jesus Christ did take our nature upon him,
and was baptized for our sakes in the river
Jordan: Mercifully grant that we being regenerate,
and made thy children by adoption and
grace, may also be partakers of thy Holy Spirit;
through him whom thou didst send to be our
Saviour and Redeemer, even the same thy Son
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect from the Book of Alternative Services

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit,
keep your children, born of water and the Spirit,
faithful to their calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. AMEN

The Beauty of the LORD (and you)

I have found great healing from recent encounters with the spirituality expressed in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Indeed I find it wonderfully rich and insightful in being human in relationship with others and in relation to the LORD. Some months ago I heard a wonderful Podcast from Fr. Stephen Freeman about "establishing" the existence of God through the argument of the existence of beauty. It was an intriguing concept - proof using beauty. Today I found this comment from one of my favourite Blogs, Pithless Thoughts by Steven Robinson. I removed the reference to the Blessing of the Waters service because we Anglicans do not have anything that relates to such a liturgy. None-the-less, the Orthodox concept of 'beauty' can bring much healing in our hearts and minds, in our relationships with each other, and in our relationship with God.

LORD have mercy, Brian+


"Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute, at the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty." Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

We have no time to meditate on darkness or on the evil that lives in this world. That is the work of the devil. We have the heart only to see goodness and to rejoice in it. This is the meaning of the scripture that says, “To the pure all things are pure.” Impure hearts rejoice in darkness. Let that not be so of us.

Let us participate every moment of our lives in the calling out of the beauty of creation, of our neighbors, of our friends and our enemies and yes, even our own beauty. “How glorious is God’s Name above all the earth!”

We Never Pray Alone

When going through a difficult trial a number of years ago, my heart was encouraged when a fellow priest reminded me that I never pray alone, nor was I ever without prayer, for the Church prays with me and for me. Recently, I found these words...

Prayer is by nature common. Prayer is by the power of one Holy Spirit which is drawing all creation towards its redemption in Christ and by which Spirit alone we can recognize Jesus as LORD. Prayer is the act of the Body of Christ which offers itself to the one God and Father of all through His Son Jesus, the Head of the Body and great High Priest. Because the whole Body prays through its one Head, "All prayer is the prayer of the whole Church. There isn't any other sort." (Dewi Morgan, But God Comes First) In prayer we are not alone, we are with each other and the LORD.

The multitude with whom and for whom we pray is so great that it cannot be numbered. ....The angels pray with us. Those round the throne are ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands (Rev. 5.11) They never cease to cry Holy, Holy, Holy, and our prayer is joined with theirs.

After evoking our presence with the angels in prayer, the Te Deum (p. 7-9 BCP) brings to our consciousness the company and fellowship of the saints. Common prayer has an historical continuity which serves to unite our prayers with those of the noble army which has gone before and this dimension we must not lose or forget.

Finally, we come to the saints now upon the earth, "the holy Church throughout all the World" prays with us. ...Dewi Morgan remarks that, "This is of intense personal significance for it means that at every moment everyone of us is being prayed for by the Church. Nowadays you can never pray alone. You can only pray at the same time as, and therefore in union with, the Church." (From Common Prayer: A commentary on the Prayer Book Lectionary, Volume 2, St Peter Publications, Charlottetown, PE)

Why not take some time to read the Te Deum on pages 7 to 9 on the BCP and spend a few minutes reflecting on this wonderful truth - you are never alone, we pray together no matter where we are.

LORD have mercy, Brian+

Making a comment

I know that some of you who are reading this Blog might like to make an occasional comment on something you read.

To make a comment
1) Click on the comment link under the item.
2) Enter your comment
3) Under 'Comment as: SELECT PROFILE" click on Name/URL
4) Enter your name in the box
5) Leave the URL box empty
6) Click on "continue"
7} Click on "Post Comment"

Hope this helps. I'd love to hear from you.

Brian+

God Exists

As a young person I would often wonder about the existence of God. I would love to read all manner of books and articles relating "proofs" of the existence of God. The folly of such thinking is that God's existence and any walk of faith was determined by my feelings of His presence, and/or my assent to intellectual rationalizations of that existence. This would be like expecting a broken vessel to hold water. I found this quote a number of months ago which sums up something of a more mature approach.

LORD have mercy, Brian+

hat tip: Holy Theophany Orthodox Church ~ The Sunday Bulletin

Whether we believe or not, we belong to God. Whether we understand it or not, or feel His presence or not, or rejoice in that presence or not, He exists. He is my God. He is my Lord. Even during moments of darkness and terror, when God doesn’t exist for me, He still exists. When I feel I’m a failure, when all my efforts seem fruitless, when my life seems to have passed in vain, Christ is still my Christ. He is there for me no matter what happens. He exists irrespectively of my capabilities, capacities, and comprehension. I might imagine that God is small. But God is great. I might think that God doesn’t hear. But He does. And He has given Himself entirely to me, so that there’s only one possibility of failure: for me to break off my relationship with the “I Am” (Ex. 3:14).

Anglican Collects for the Epiphany

From the Book of Common Prayer

GOD, who by the leading of a star didst
manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles:
Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee
now by faith, may be led onward through this
earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly
glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ,
who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and
reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

From the Book of Alternative Services

Eternal God,
who by a star
led wise men to the worship of your Son.
Guide by your light the nations of the earth,
that the whole world may know your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Feast of Epiphany

Epiphany coming from the Greek word epiphaneia, meaning appearance or showing is much older than Christmas. It began to be celebrated in the Eastern Church in the 3rd C. when four manifestations of Christ were commemorated: to the shepherds, to the kings or magi, at His baptism and in His first miracle at Cana. Later the first manifestation of Christ became known as Christmas in the Western Church and its date was fixed in 440, and Epiphany celebrated the coming of the Magi to the Christ-Child. The Baptism and the first miracle are commemorated on the two successive Sundays after Epiphany. So in fact the Epiphany has been extended by two weeks in the modern Roman missal.
In this celebration we observe the ancient keeping of the four showings of Christ.

From Here

A Recipe for the Priesthood

I sent this to some clergy friends several months ago. I read it again this morning because sometimes I fall short in the call of being a priest.

LORD have mercy, Brian+


From The Hidden Man of the Heart by Archimandrite Zacharias.

Priesthood is a difficult task, and it is a marvel to see a priest dying in the same state of inspiration as the one which he began. Normally, priests die in states of much less grace, because all their ministry is to take upon themselves the death of their people.

Whatever a priest gathers when he is alone before God, he spreads to the people when he is with them. He takes upon himself their death and he gives them his life, the life of God which he receives.

But how are we to do this? When we inspire the people to love the salvation of God and to fight against sin, when we give them a word which comes from the eternal kingdom, and when their hearts receive that word, it provokes in them desire for eternal life. In fact, everything we do is done in the hope of regenerating the people.

I often say to the faithful who come to our monastery on Sundays: ‘Do not burden the priest unnecessarily with the trivialities of this life. Go to them and ask for a word for your salvation and be very attentive to what they tell you, because then you will make them prophets, and your life will be enriched.’ I do not have a recipe for that.

I remember once, a spiritual father from Cyprus came to our monastery and he said to me, ‘I have been made a spiritual father, but I do not know how to deal with people. Can you please give me some advice?’ I said to him, ‘There are no recipes for this ministry. When you become a spiritual father it is as if you have been thrown into the ocean. You have to swim and come to shore.’ That is to say, you have to cry to God continuously and hope for the best.

I always feel pity for priests because I know how difficult this ministry is. We are priests, in other words, we are partakers of the Priesthood of Christ, and if all the reproaches, all darkness, all evil fell upon Christ, threatening to annihilate His life if it were possible, as the Prophet said, the same happens to every priest who partakes of the Priesthood of Christ. This means that the priest has to assume the suffering and difficulties of his people, and to bring to them consolation from above, and give wings to their hope.

There is no recipe, only this attitude of wanting to help, to promote Christ in their lives, that Christ be magnified in their lives. And I am sure that there is a great reward for the priest whose ministry is done with fear, because he is on the receiving end of every evil and the attacks of the enemy finally concentrate on him. That is why it is a marvel not to be content with the reality of this present age, and not to abandon the inspiration and hope we had when we started our ministry. We all started with great furvour, and we must not let that life of the heart die away, or else our hope will be stolen from us. We must rather be like Simeon the Righteous who waited steadfastly until the last moment to receive Christ in his arms, and then said, ‘Lord, now lettest thou they servant depart in peace’ (Luke 2:29).

Christ is Our All

In this modern day of add-ons and apps, and consumer products we acquire to 'improve' our lives, we are prone to, and tempted to, think of our relationship with the LORD in much the same manner. This is a materialistic trap that reduces the LORD to a consumer product, or a business partner. We must fight this temptation and work very hard at letting Christ be our everything.

LORD have mercy, Brian+

Behold, how St. Tikhon of Zadonsk speaks in detail of how Christ is all to man in the form of a conversation between Christ and man:

“Do you desire good for yourself?
Every good is in Me
Do you desire blessedness?
Every blessedness is in Me.
Do you desire beauty?
What is more beautiful than Me?
Do you desire nobleness?
What is more noble than the Son of God and the Holy Virgin?
Do you desire height?
What is higher than the Kingdom of Heaven?
Do you desire riches?
In Me are all riches.
Do you desire wisdom?
I am the Wisdom of God.
Do you desire friendship?
Who is a kinder friend than I Who lay down My life for all?
Do you desire help?
Who can help except Me?
Do you seek joy?
Who will rejoice outside of Me?
Do you seek comfort in misery?
Who will comfort you outside of Me?
Do you seek peace?
I am the peace of the soul.
Do you seek life?
In Me is the source of life.
Do you seek light?
‘I am the Light of the world’ ” (St. John 8:12).

From Christ in Our Midst

Preparing for Sunday

20. For the Right Observance of Sunday.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given a day of
rest to thy people, and, through thy Spirit
in the Church, hast consecrated the first day of
the week to be a perpetual memorial of thy Son’s
resurrection: Grant that we may so use thy gift
that, refreshed and strengthened in soul and
body, we may serve thee faithfully all the days
of our life; through the same Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen. (BCP)

A Call to Stewardship

I love the offertory sentences and prayer of the Book of Common Prayer. (see pages 72-74 BCP) The inspiring words of scripture remind us of a couple of important elements of our faith and rational for Christian Stewardship.

First they speak of the ‘sacrifice of thanksgiving.’ This concept of sacrificial thanksgiving is an echo of what I consider one of Anglicanism’s greatest prayer, the General Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving to the Lord for all His ‘goodness and loving kindness’ and His ‘inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ’ is the first and greatest reason for us to become sacrificial stewards of our time, talent, and money. Indeed the very act of Eucharistic worship, so essential to Christian spirituality and formation is a ‘sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.’

Secondly the Sentences remind us that the offering is born out of a heart that is ‘stirred up’ and ‘made willing.’ True Christian stewardship springs up from generous, compassionate hearts. I think thankfulness and the stirred-up, willing heart are the fundamental marks of the mature Christian. And the mature Christian will be a generous faithful steward of their time, talent, and money. Such giving is not connected to keeping the building up, paying the church, looking good in the eyes of others, or even trying to win brownie points with the Lord, but simply because one loves the Lord for His goodness, and His mercy. The parable of the unforgiving Servant helps us see that our attitude towards others and our stewardship is directly connected to our understanding of God’s goodness, especially in the goodness of Christ’s sacrificial death, the means of grace and the hope of Glory.

Thirdly, the Sentences remind us that we are to be responsible stewards for the care of the poor and needy. This is not just the call of the Church formally such as our offerings to the PWRDF, but also informally when we as individuals support the local food bank, bring some food to a grieving neighbour, sponsor a child through the Foster Parents Plan, or many other ways. Care for the poor and needy in our midst is an essential part of our Christian response to God’s commandment and love.

Finally I love the BCP Offertory Prayer which is another quote from Scripture: ‘…all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.’ The mature Christian realizes that their time is not really their time, their talent is not really their talent; and their money is not really their money – it is all the Lord’s! The prayer at the offering reminds us to let go of our possessive attitudes and to surrender our entire life to the Lord. In a sense we are to possess only the love, the grace, and the mercy of God. Everything else is to be used for His glory. In that way, I am not called to be a generous steward of MY time, MY talent, and MY money. Rather I am called to be a generous steward of God’s time, God’s talent in me, and the God’s money. It is after all for His glory, not mine.

LORD have mercy, Brian+

Fun With Graphs

From Pithless Thoughts, a blog by Steven Robinson

LORD have Mercy, Brian+

New Year's Messages

Archbishop Fred Hiltz

Archbishop of Canterbury - Rowan Williams

A Rule of Life

Every Christian man or woman should from time to time frame for himself a RULE OF LIFE in accordance with the precepts of the Gospel and the faith and order of the Church;
wherein he may consider the following:
- The regularity of his attendance at public worship and especially at the holy Communion.
- The practice of private prayer, Bible-reading, and self-discipline.
- Bringing the teaching and example of Christ into his everyday life.
- The boldness of his spoken witness to his faith in Christ.
- His personal service to the Church and the community.
- The offering of money according to his means for the support of the work of the Church at home and overseas. (Page 555, BCP)

For the New Year.

IMMORTAL Lord God, who inhabitest
eternity, and hast brought thy servants to
the beginning of another year: Pardon, we humbly
beseech thee, our transgressions in the past, bless
to us this New Year, and graciously abide with
us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Page 115, BCP)

Welcome to 2010

'I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
(Methodist Church Covenant Service)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12.1,2

On a lighter side, I am giving up sugar in my coffee for the year.

LORD have mercy, Brian+