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Circumcision of Christ January 1st Romans 4:8-14 Luke 2:15-21 Back in the 1970s, when I was in my first year in college, I had a run-in with a Philosophy instructor. The older I get, the more I read and the more I learn, the more I know how right I was, and how wrong the instructor was. Now, that is not the normal reflection one makes of his first year of college, and not the normal reflection I make of my undergraduate days in the 1970s when I was a mere boy and a beardless youth (a time my own...

"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." If only! I'm sure that many of you have heard some form of that quip by Santayana, and I daresay that in an unguarded moment I may have actually used it in class, as if the study of history were mainly justified by its prophylactic utility. That's not fair to Santayana, who meant no such thing, but it is how the quip is commonly understood. If you don't know your history, then you are likely to step on the same landmines that your ignorant forebears stepped on, and then think...

Propers for The Circumcision of Christ January 1. The Collect ALMIGHTY God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Epistle Philippians ii. 9. GOD also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,...

TIME Magazine placed it No. 5 on its top 10 biggest religion stories of the year - The Slow-Motion Episcopal/Anglican Train Wreck. Time did not mince words. The article said the Episcopal Bishops' meeting in New Orleans failed to stem either the ongoing defection of conservatives over the church's position on homosexuals, or the likelihood of a worldwide Anglican split over the same issue. The story was voted 5th following Pope Benedict XVI lifting the ban requiring a bishop's permission to celebrate mass in old-school Latin, but ahead of a story about Green Evangelicals, a group concerned about global warming,...

Middle East Archbishop Sounds Negative Note on GAFCON. Akinola Replies The President Bishop of the Middle East the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis has written to the Primate of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola asking him to reconsider the "timing and venue" of the announced GAFCON meeting of orthodox Anglicans in the Holy Land in June 2008 just a month before the Lambeth Conference meets in Canterbury. In correspondence obtained by VOL, Archbishop Mouneer wrote saying he wanted to share his thoughts on the proposed GAFCON meeting. "It will be a great joy for the Liberals if the conservatives boycott the...

The following came from my answers in private correspondence. It struck me as I had completed it, that parts of it may be useful. The identity of the person to whom I wrote is confidential. The first answer is not to a Non-Anglican difficulty, just a modern one. About contraception: The fathers were not silent. What they wrote condemns it as sin. I do understand your circumstances very well, because we have four (now grown) children, and at times my one and only source of family income seemed to be no better than desperate poverty. My health was not good,...

With some trepidation, I have decided to venture back into the game of classifying historic Anglican Churchmanships. My apologia for this exercise is that I believe that, due to years of study and keen observation, that I happen to have a superior understanding of this matter than many of today's popular religious web pundits. Here goes: 1. The High Church Wing a) Novus-Ordo Anglo-Catholics English ACs are Henrican National Catholics, which is virtually Roman Catholicism minus Papal Ordinary jursidiction, though the Pope is still recognized as the Western Patriatch as is the Vatican Magisterium. Thus, both Vatican Councils and the...

[Hat Tip: In Newark] Although I think it somewhat unjust to the originals, "Puritanism" has come to mean the application of pointless and wrong rules to systems and people. Most people may find themselves "puritanical" at some point in their lives. The Father suddenly realizes that his long-held, and strictly enforced, "Very Important Rule" about some household matter actually thwarts the good that he wishes to see in his family. The Sabbath-keeper suddenly realizes that her Sunday is not at all restful. In its extreme form, the Nazi guard at the camp realizes that the prisoners working out in the...

Since I was old enough to care about things like the liturgical year, I've often wondered why Christmas gets so much more play among Western Christians than Easter. The Triduum, after all, commemorates the central event of our redemption; if attestations are to be believed, the light shining forth through the risen Christ is even more brilliant than the Christ Child's. As I sit in the darkness of the evening of Christmas Day, which always seems greater than that of other evenings, I believe I have been given the answer. It also explains why people also seem to think that...

In both of my careers as a Catholic thinker—my former one as a professor, and my current one as a blogger—I have found it a real challenge to get across to people what is meant by saying that some acts are "intrinsically evil." The phrase from traditional moral theology so translated is intrinsece malum, which is often used in magisterial documents. As we contemplate the Holy Family this Christmas season, it occurs to me that misunderstanding about the concept of the intrinsically evil (IE) is especially rampant in the area of sexual morality. Today I want to contribute to a...

Main Entry: pri'mate Etymology: Middle English primat, from Old French, from Medieval Latin primat-, primas archbishop, from Latin, leader, from primus Date: 13th century 1 often capitalized : a bishop who has precedence in a province, group of provinces, or a nation2 archaic : one first in authority or rank : LEADER 3 [New Latin Primates, from Latin, plural of primat-, primas] : any of an order (Primates) of mammals comprising humans, apes, monkeys, and related forms (as lemurs and tarsiers) -pri'mate-ship \-*ship\ noun --pri-ma'tial \pr*-*m*-sh*l\ adjective

Who is sponsoring the Conference? The Global Anglican Future Conference is being called by those who took part in the Nairobi Consultation: * Archbishops Peter Akinola (Nigeria), Henry Orombi (Uganda), Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), Benjamin Nzimbi (Kenya), Donald Mtetemela (Tanzania): * Archbishop Peter Jensen (Sydney) and Archbishop Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria). * Bishop Don Harvey (Canada) and Bishop Bill Atwood (Kenya) who also represented Archbishop Greg Venables (Southern Cone) * Bishop Bob Duncan (Anglican Communion Network and Common Cause USA.) and Bishop Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), * Canon Dr Vinay Samuel (India) and Canon Dr Chris Sugden (England)...

The Innocents' Day. The Collect. O ALMIGHTY God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklmgs 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. For the Epistle. Rev. xiv. 1. I LOOKED, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name...

πρότος μάρτυρας From my sermon for the twenty second Sunday after Trinity: In the Old Testament Chronicles, a prophet named Zechariah (not to be confused with the later prophet of the same name), suffered this fate: And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the...

The Collect. MERCIFUL Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being instructed* by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to everlasting life†; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Epistle. 1 St. John i. 1. THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our bands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested,...

The Collect. GRANT, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. The offices for St. Stephen, St. John the...

In a recent address to the bishops and priests of St. Peter’s, Pope Benedict called for a greater “continuity with tradition” in the music of the Church, and spoke of the value of the Church’s older musical traditions, among them the baroque sacred music of the 17th and 18th centuries and Gregorian Chant. The address followed the pope’s issuance, in July, of an Apostolic Letter (accompanying letter in English here) in which he permitted broader use of the Latin Mass, the “Tridentine” rite authorized by the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century and promulgated most recently by John XXIII...

Growing up, I loved Christmas so much. It wasn't even the gifts (although that certainly played a part), but the lights, the music, the general magical feeling in the air. I also loved the celebration of Christ's birth. Being evangelical Protestant, our family didn't embrace the fullness of the Christmas religious tradition, but each year we did several meaningful activities (such as putting up a Nativity scene, the advent wreath, reading of the Christmas story). The suspenseful joy of Christmas Eve led to the feasting of Christmas Day and the celebration of the birth of the Messiah and Lord. But,...

Christmas Definition and Summary Christmas, also known as the Feast of the Nativity, literally means "Christ Mass." The feast celebrates Jesus' birth and the Incarnation of the Son of God on December 25. Christmastide is another name for the Christmas season, and currently extends from the first Vespers of Christmas Eve until the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Prayers: Christmas Prayers Basic Facts Liturgical Color(s): White Type of Holiday: Solemnity; Holy Day of Obligation; Season Time of Year: December 25th until the Baptism of Our Lord (Sunday after Jan. 6th) Duration: Christmas: one day; Christmastide: varies, see above...

HOW can I keep my Christmas feast In its due festive show, Reft of the sight of the High Priest From whom its glories flow? I hear the tuneful bells around, The blessèd towers I see; A stranger on a foreign ground, They peal a fast for me. O Britons! now so brave and high, How will ye weep the day When Christ in judgment passes by, And calls the Bride away! {99} Your Christmas then will lose its mirth, Your Easter lose its bloom: Abroad, a scene of strife and dearth; Within, a cheerless home! Malta. December 25, 1832.