Monday Evening Prayer

You make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy. Psalm 65:8b

The Commemoration of Samuel Shoemaker, priest and evangelist (1893-1963) who was immensely influential in the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous

Wake up, my spirit, awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.     

                                           Psalm 57:8 

The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

The Lord will give strength to his people, the Lord will give his people the blessing of peace.  Psalm 29:11

Andrei Rublev, Russian orthodox monk and iconographer (c.1365-1430)

                     Come, let us sing to the Lord, 

     let us shout to the rock of our salvation                             The Venite

You probably know Andrei Rublev’s work without knowing it... He is generally considered the greatest Russian iconographer. Here is his Virgin of Vladimir (because she is in the Dormition Cathedral there.)  and his Holy Trinity icon.

Thomas Aquinas, Dominican priest and theologian, died about age 50 in 1274

Morning by morning 

he wakens 

- wakens 

my ear 

to listen 

as one 

who is taught 

Isaiah 50:7

"Enlighten us more and more, we pray, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives... " Collect for Thomas Aquinas 

The Circle Widens

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.                                 Isaiah 49:13

Today the Church celebrates the lives and witness of Lydia, Dorcas and Phoebe, in the ever the  ever widening early Christian community. In such a patriarchal society, we know little of the lives of the women who are mentioned in the Scriptures,  but we do know that the ministries of the guys whom we DO know about, including our Lord, were enriched and supported and nourished both physically and emotionally by these women.

The Commemoration of Timothy, Titus and Silas, companions of St Paul

In all we do,

direct us 

to the 

fulfilling 

of your purpose 

Morning Prayer Collect for Grace 

Timothy, Titus and Silas (who has recently been added to the day) were companions of St paul. Coming the day after the commemoration of Paul’s conversion, we are reminded that no one, not Paul, not us, do this work alone but, as Paul says in the Galatians reading this morning (2:19-20) "I have been crucified with Christ and it is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." 

The Conversion of St Paul ends the week of prayer for Christian unity.

The Lord is glorious in his saints, Come let us adore him. 

This is the antiphon on the Venite for Saints Days. For each, for all, and they are all so different - both men and women, the simple, the learned, the joyous, the dour, some are gregarious, some shy, some old when they die, like  John, some young like Agnes.  Some die natural deaths, some are martyrs to the faith. And the Lord is glorious in them all, in us all,  precisely because it takes all of us to show forth God’s glory. And even when we come to the end of this vast  and varied procession, the glory of God is still to be revealed.

On another note, I always wonder why the church doesn’t call this The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus since it was he who was knocked off his high horse that fine day while he was going about his appointed rounds of killing Christians.  It was he who was blinded by the light; it was he who heard the Lord speaking to him: “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me? “ And it was he who had his whole life reoriented in a moment of time to became the amazing St Paul, beloved, misunderstood, misused St Paul who had such an amazing impact on the early church. And for that conversion we give thanks this day. 

The Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi (1907-1992) as the first woman priest in the Anglican Communion, ordained in China in 1944.

Am I now seeking human approval of God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? f I were trying to please people I would not be a servant of Christ. Galations 1: 10 

 when she was baptized, The Rev Dr Florence Li Tim-Oi took the name Florence in honor of Florence Nightingale.  The church pictured is The Cathedral of our Savior in Guangzhou, Canton,  China, where the Rev Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first woman priest in the Anglican Communion, taught and served  after the Communists came to power in 1949.  She was ordained  a priest in 1944, on the eve of the Conversion of St Paul (today.)  From 1958 to 1974, during the Cultural Revolution, she was forced to work in a factory. In 1979 when the churches reopened she resumed her public ministry. Born in 1907, she died in 1992. 

(I went through all the morning  readings  and nothing spoke to me. Nothing, Empty. Zip. But since I needed  a verse, I went looking and found this one which was ok even thought  it was not given to me but rather picked by me. It’s only now that I see that God is chortling  at me and I can go back, sit in my chair,  and  consider what is, after all, the perfect quote:A m I now seeking human approval of God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people?)

Evening Prayer

Bless the Lord, 

O my soul, 

and all that is 

within me bless God’s 

holy Name. 

Psalm 103:1

The Third Sunday of Epiphany

 

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness                 The Benedcitus 

Vincent, Deacon of Saragossa, Spain and martyr also under the Roman Emperor Diocletian

I will 

exalt 

you, 

O Lord, because 

you have lifted me 

up

Psalm 30:1a

St Agnes, martyr at Rome, 304

Into your hands 

I commend

my spirit, 

for you have 

redeemed me,

O Lord, 

O God of truth. 

Psalm 31:5

At age 12, Agnes, (whose name in Latin means “lamb”) was martyred in 304 at Rome under the persecution of the Emperor Dilocletian. On her feast day (January 21) 2 lambs are blessed at the basilica of her name in Rome and their wool is woven into a scarf or pallium with which archbishops are invested. In 601 such a pallium was sent to Augustine, the first Archbishop of  Canterbury. The pallium still appears on the Archbishop’s coat of arms. 

My friend Bill Mahedy adds: Agnes was another of those highly venerated martyrs in the early church.  Diocletian was the last of the emperors to persecute the church but he was the worst.

:

Fabian, bishop and martyr of Rome, 250

 Put your trust 

in the Lord and do good, Dwell in the land and feed on its riches. 

                            Psalm 37:3

Still Wulfstan

I will give you the treasures of darkness, and riches hidden in secret places  

Isaiah 45: 3

s

c

r

o

l

l 

down 

Wulstan (about 1008-1095) Lived as a Benedictine most of his life - was Bishop of Worcester at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066

 in you, O Lord, 

 have I fixed my hope

 Psalm 38:15

eucharistic psalm

\

The Lord... 

leads me beside 

still waters, 

he revives 

my soul.... 

                                             From Psalm 23

The Confession of St Peter. The week of prayer for Christian unity begins.

Lord, 

I love the house 

in which you dwell 

and the place where 

your glory abides. 

Psalm 26:8

St Antony of Egypt, 356. A father of monasticism, he wrote a rule for anchorites

Lead me 

in your truth, 

O Lord, 

and 

teach me. Antiphon: Psalm 25

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Praise the Lord from the heavens, 

praise the Lord from the earth, hallelujah.  

Antiphon: Psalm 148 

Saturday Evening Prayer

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

Laud him, all you peoples. For... the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 117

Saturday, the seventh day

God saw everything he had made and indeed, it was very good. ... And on the seventh day God finished all the work he had done and he rested.  Genesis 1:31, 2:2

Same quote, this time for alkies...

those who 

run after 

false gods 

shall have 

their troubles multiplied.  Psalm 16:3

Friday

those who run after false gods shall have their troubles multiplied.  Psalm 16:3

Evening Prayer

You, 

O Lord, 

are my lamp, 

O God, 

you make 

my darkness bright. 

Psalm 18:29

goal

You may have come by stubborn self-will... but the great goal ... is to give up that self that willed you here. 

Sr Fervisse : The Traitor's Tale by margaret Frazee 

Hilary Bishop of Poitiers, 367

         He brought me out into an open place,

 he rescued me because he delighted in me.                       Psalm 18:20

St Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx 1109-1167

With 

my 

whole 

heart 

I seek 

you

Psalm 119:10a

Tuesday Evening Pryaer

Be 

our light

 in the darkness, O Lord, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night A Collect at Evening Prayer 

Tuesday Morning Prayer

Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength   Isaiah 40:31

midday

Christian hope

 is not related 

to outcome 

but to wellspring

Monday Monday

Surely it is God who saves me, I will trust n him and not be afraid; for the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense and he will be my savior.  Canticle 9

Vespers

Light shines in the darkness for the upright. Psalm 112:4 

Moving toward vespers

It is probably safe to say that if a monastic community knew that the end of the world  was coming this night, their only preparation would be to say Vespers as usual!  Marcel Rooney OSB

Baptism of our Lord #2

Grant that all who have been baptized into Christ’s Name may keep the covenant they have made ...  

Collect for the Baptism of Our Lord 

Baptism of our Lord

The Lord has shown forth his glory, Come let us adore him.   

LAST use this year of this Epiphany antiphon! 

Eve of I Epiphany

In the beginning, 

when God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters, hallelujah. Antiphon for the First Vespers of the 

Baptism of our Lord on Psalm 104

The Commemoration of Harriet Bedell (1875-1969) Deaconess and Missionary among Native Americans in Oklahoma, Alaska and Florida.

 

Give thanks to the Lord 

for he is good, his mercy endures for ever.  Psalm 118:1 

Evening Prayer Jan 7

You have 

kept 

the best wine 

until now. 

John 2:10 

Friday, January 7

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy Name.  

Psalm 103:1

It’s so restful to be nearly back into ordinary time.  It feels like it’s been a long time, and it has. I gave a long sigh as I sat down with my verse today. I mean in the Daily Office mostly but in life in general as well - no more creches with wise men getting ever closer... All that’s left of the celebration is the Epiphany Antiphon on the Venite at Morning Prayer and the daily use of the collect for the Epiphany, and  that will end tomorrow night, the eve of the Baptism of Jesus. And then we are in ordinary, trudging time. 

The Epistle this morning was a good reminder and always brings me up short: “I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my Name... But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first,” (The Revelation to John 2:3-4) It’s not about enduring and bearing up although there is a lot of plodding and trudging to be done. It’s not about accomplishing and doing and succeeding. It’s about being in love. 

“We catch on the edge of the win, in poem and symbol, that which ever eludes our knowledge an yet which we know most deeply.”  NT Wright The Crown and the Fire 

Flight to Egypt #2

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. 

Matthew 2:14