A Prayer for Philips Brooks...

Phillips Brooks, great preacher, Rector of Trinity in Boston, and Episcopal Bishop of Mass. died on this day in 1893.

   "O everlasting God, who didst reveal truth to thy servant Phillips Brooks, and didst so form and mold his mind and heart that he was able to mediate that truth with grace and power: Grant, we pray, that all whom thou dost call to preach the Gospel may steep themselves in thy word, and conform their lives to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever."

RIP

nobler ideas...

I have been a lover of Sir Walter Scott for some years. In fact, I have only ventured into the world of ebay twice and one of those times was a heated battle for a small Scott bust. It is not difficult to see and feel the attraction Scott had for Newman and some of his compatriots (esp. Keble.) Newman on Sir Walter:

"During the first quarter of this century a great poet [Sir Walter Scott] was raised up in the North, who, whatever were his defects, has contributed by his works, in prose and verse, to prepare men for some closer and more practical approximation to Catholic truth. The general need of something deeper and more attractive than what had offered itself elsewhere, may be considered to have led to his popularity; and by means of his popularity he re-acted on his readers, stimulating their mental thirst, feeding their hopes, setting before them visions, which, when once seen, are not easily forgotten, and silently indoctrinating them with nobler ideas, which might afterwards be appealed to as first principles. ... contrasted with the popular writers of the last century, with its novelists, and some of its most admired poets, as Pope, they stand almost as oracles of Truth confronting the ministers of error and sin."

Blessings

One day at a time...

Antony of Egypt, wrestler of demons and the Father of Christian monasticism, has words for those who feel they are kept from a religious life by their past (from "The Life of Antony" by Athanasius)

"And he (Antony)had come to this truly wonderful conclusion, ‘that progress in virtue, and retirement from the world for the sake of it, ought not to be measured by time, but by desire and fixity of purpose.’ He at least gave no thought to the past, but day by day, as if he were at the beginning of his discipline, applied greater pains for advancement, often repeating to himself the saying of Paul (Phil. iii. 14) ‘Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.’

Blessings

one body...

Today's Daily Office includes Paul to the Ephesians on unity (Chap. 4)

"4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? [9] 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [10] and teachers, [11] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, [12] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

It is the feast day of Antony of Egypt, father of Christian monasticism. This from "The Life of Antony" by Athanasius on his early "training"...

"4. Thus conducting himself, Antony was beloved by all. He subjected himself in sincerity to the good men whom he visited, and learned thoroughly where each surpassed him in zeal and discipline. He observed the graciousness of one; the unceasing prayer of another; he took knowledge of another’s freedom from anger and another’s loving-kindness; he gave heed to one as he watched, to another as he studied; one he admired for his endurance, another for his fasting and sleeping on the ground; the meekness of one and the long-suffering of another he watched with care, while he took note of the piety towards Christ and the mutual love which animated all. Thus filled, he returned to his own place of discipline, and henceforth would strive to unite the qualities of each, and was eager to show in himself the virtues of all. With others of the same age he had no rivalry; save this only, that he should not be second to them in higher things. And this he did so as to hurt the feelings of nobody, but made them rejoice over him. So all they of that village and the good men in whose intimacy he was, when they saw that he was a man of this sort, used to call him God-beloved. And some welcomed him as a son, others as a brother."

Blessings

Conscious union with Christ...

The Episcopal Church today commemorates Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore.

Prayer
"Gracious God, who hast inspired a rich variety of ministries in thy Church: We offer thanks for Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore, instruments in the revival of Anglican monasticism. Grant that we, following their example, may call for perennial renewal in thy Church through conscious union with Christ, witnessing to the social justice that is a mark of the reign of our Savior Jesus, who is the light of the world; and who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

the living fellowship of God...

The Episcopal Church, tomorrow, commemorates Richard Meux Benson, founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. More from his "Followers of the Lamb"

"As man possesses a double nature, spiritual and material, he cannot have any true happiness in which the spiritual nature is not supreme. The fallen Adam is incapable of the proper happiness of man, because he has lost the spiritual power of communion with God. His acts can only serve his lower nature. All that belongs to that lower nature, however sublime, is degrading to man, unless man can use it to the glory of God. In that elevation the meanest of mankind will find happiness, vital, true, eternal, expansive. Without the exercise of the spiritual nature the highest philosophic genius fails of all true happiness, for the sublimest thoughts must end in death, unless they have practical reality in the living fellowship of God."

blessings

Blessings

the special gifts of the saints...

Richard Meux Benson is celebrated in the Episcopal calendar on Jan. 16th. This from his "Followers of the Lamb" written primarily for those in Religious Orders but powerful as well for everyone seeking to live in Christ.

"A human body requires not only hands, but feet and eyes and other members. Nor is that all. The hands of the Body of Christ are needed for various purposes; delicacy of touch as for musical instruments, steadiness of motion as for painting, accuracy as for surgical operation, sensibility as for artistic effect, firmness as for mechanical arts, versatility as for complicated manipulation, muscular energy to throw and to strike, nimbleness so as to catch an object in flight, correspondence with the mind, and the will of Him to whom it belongs. Many other qualities might be mentioned. So in the Body of Christ, we have each our special function, and that function is itself diversified according to the purpose of our creation; and whatever be our individual vocation, our work must be the outcome of the mind and will of Christ acting through us. He is both the Head and the Heart of the Body, being both God and Man. We can, then, none of us do the work which Christ assigns to any one else. We must none of us complain that we have not the special gifts of the Saints. We are not required to duplicate them as individuals, but to work along with them, as they worked for the accomplishment of the mind of Christ, as being ourselves, equally with the greatest of Saints, instinct with the life of Christ. They without us, and we without them, could not be made perfect"

Blessings