III Advent* December 15, 2019

Before 

me 

there 

was 

no 

God 

formed

  Antiphon on last night’s Magnificat  

The Third Sunday of Advent is called Rose Sunday because the 

candle is rose or pink. 

It’s also called Gaudete Sunday because, back in the day, when we didn’t have a 3 year liturgical cycle, but 

the same readings year after year, 

the Gospel (?) of the day began 

Gaudete, Latin for Rejoice.  

This actually comes from the Latin mass so is
from the Roman Catholic side. This correction
comes from that side of the aisle...  “Oops.
Gaudete is the first word of the Introit (En-
trance[verse]) today! (Which we do not use.)
 “Rejoice always. Again I say, rejoice!”  

Merci! There is a PLETHORA of bad infor-
matiom today which I am glad not to add to.
It'sgoodto have freinds! 

Monday November 11, 2019*

                                                         Psalm 80a:14 

  

O God 

of hosts, 

look down 

from heaven; 
behold and 

tend this vine.

preserve what 

your right hand has planted. 

*Martin of Tours

     ~350-397  

 Bishop of Tours 

who had been a Roman soldier in Gaul (France) Leg-

end has it that he

 cut off part of his 

own cloak to give

give to a beggar. Later, Christ appeared to him wearing 

that half cloak.    

                                       Today on the civil calendar is also
                                 Veteran’s Day which began life as
                             Armistice Day which ended World
                       War One, "the war to end all wars." 
                Pray for all in ou rmilitray and all
            who work for peace in our world. 

Thursday Evening

                         _______________Matthew 7:21_

_  

        Not 

     every-

        one 

        who 

      says 

    to me, 

    “Lord, 

     Lord“ 

         will

     enter 

        the kingdom of heaven 

             but only the one who does 

                 the will of my Father in heaven.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019*

                           _Psalm 119:102_____________

I do 

not 

shrink 

from your  

judgements, 

                   

                    I knew right away that this was my verse. 

                        But I also knew that it is not true: I am 

                        afraid of your judgments. God chucked

                         &  I thought, Oh right - but only when

                          I don’t love you enough. No, one step

                                  further back - only when I forget 

                                             how much YOU love ME!   

                                                                         Oh right.

because you yourself have taught me. 

  * John Mason Neale 

      1818-1866 

 English priest & hypnotist 

(no Siri - hymnodist!) and

translator of hymns and 

prayers from the Latin &  

Greek.  There are six lines 

of shims -no Siri, hims, No -

hymns in our current hym-

nal, One of which is the lov-

ely “Christ is made the sure 

foundation."  If you don’t believe that we live in a post-Christian world 

try communicating with Siri! 

                           https://youtu.be/cR9NHXnbxlU

                   This is from an ecumenical service with 

                   the old Pope and the old Archbishop of 

              Canterbury, the latter singing in procession.

Neale also trans-

lated “Now That 

the Daylight Fills the Sky.” I can still hear the 

notes flying up 

into the rafters 

of the chapel as

the sisters sang the plainsong and the daylight began to in fact fill the sky.              

Monday, 5 August, 2019*

                     ________________________Psalm 80:14_ 

Be-

hold 

and 

tend…

what your right hand has planted

* Albrecht Durer, ,1528

Matthias Grunewal, 1528 

& Lucas Cranach the

Elder, 1553   Artists  

whose “artistic depictions helped the peoples under-

stand the full suffer-

ing & glory of your 

incarnate Son…”  

- Collect 

Wednesday, The last day of July, 2019*

                                                                        __Surge, Illuminare________________________________________  

                                                 _Canticle 11__________________

         Arise,  
         shine,
         for
         your
         light
         has
        come,
        and 
        the

        glory of the Lord

         has dawned upon you.

*Ignatius 

of Loyola, 

1491- 558 

monastic 

& priest, 

founder

 of the 

Society 

of Jesus, 

the Jesuits, his personal notebook be-

came The Spiritual Exercises.     *

                     “Love ought to show itself   
                   in deeds more than in words."

Tuesday, July 30, 2019*

                           ________________________________Psalm 62:13_ 

God 

has spoken 

once; twice 

have I heard it,

     that power belongs to God. 

*William Wilberforce, 1833, and Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1885, Prohphetic witnesses;  fhe former a British politician who fought for the  the aboli-ition of slavery, and the latter a British Lord  

who worked for social reform for workers.

Grant that we, drawn by the same Gospel vision, may persevere in serving the common good and caring for those who have been cast down 

Saturday, July 27, 2019*

                    _55:24a__________________________

    

 Cast 

 your 

 burden

upon the

 the Lord and he will sustain you

 * William Reed Huntington

 1836- 1909  Priest, ecumen-ist, statesman, and liturgical scholar who  wrote the Collect for Monday in Holy Week which is also the Friday Morn-

ing Prayer Collect. (See yester-day's post.)  'His passion for unity is memorialized in the Chicago – Lambeth Quadri-lateral.' (See pages 876 to 877 in the historical docu-

ments section of the Book of Common Prayer, which 
is available online. 

Thursday, July 11,2019*

                          ______________________Psalm 18:1_

   

  I 
  love 

  you 

  O Lord  

  my strength.  

 *St Benedict

   of Nursia 

   ~480-547   

 “the father 

  of western 

 monasticism.” 

The heart of 

the Episcopal 

   church
is Benedictine.

Chapter 53 of the Rule begins "All guests who present themselves are

to be welcomed as Christ."       

Give us grace…to walk with loving 

and willing hearts in the school 

of the Lord’s service- Collect 

Tuesday, June 11, 2019, Barnabas the Apostle

  __________Today’s Antiphon on Psalm 67_

  Let your ways be known upon earth 

                   O Lord; your saving health

                                    among all nations.

"Jospeh, 

a Levite 

born in 

Cyprus” 

called Barnabas, which is actually a nickname. (I’ve always loved that he is known by his nickname /pet name, since they are so filled with affect-ion. I love my collection:  Louisa, Weetah, Luca, Weez, Wee, Whimsey, Pip, each bestowed by someone who loved me and whom I loved with all my heart. Barnabas means “son of encourage-ment” which has always sounded kind of wifty to me until I read a snippet that said that en-

couragement means en-courage-ment, engender-ing courage. And boy, do we need that! (I hereby nominate him as the patron saint of Congress - whichever side you’re on!)  I was also especially struck this year that when Paul refused to take John Mark with him on his missionary journey because JM had crapped out on him the  first time, off Barnabas = went off with John Mark , doubling the number of those evangelized  Now that’s encouragement!  (So much for second chances, eh Paul?) The Bible is wonderfully peopled with folks who are eminently human and who fail miserably, and tell of it!  They were a grand mélange of good and bad and we can take  comfort - and encourage-ment - from both their successes and their failures. 

                   Happy St Barnabas Day!

                                    *

               https://youtu.be/jPsxqQsnzJA

Monday, June 10, 2019*.

                  _______________________Canticle 19 

                  Magna et mirabliia_______________

     

   Your 

   ways 

     are 

   ways 

       of 

   right-

eousness

     and 

     truth, O King of all the ages. 

* Ephrem of Edessa 

       306-373

    "The Harp of 
  the Holy SPirit"
 known in the East
as “the Syrian,” was
 a deacon, teacher, poet, hymn-writer 

and defender of the Faith – a voice of 

Aramaic Christianity, the language 

of Jesus.     *      Pour out on us, O Lord, 

                      that same Spirit … and so

                   gladden our hearts that we, 

              like him.may be devoted to you

           alone - Collect 

https://youtu.be/CD5-EipJ9BM

      This is a little more raucous than I was 

thinking of, but I love the little girls in their

cottas!  especially little one in the middle…

her cotta is pulled Way back so it won’t 

fall off!  It reminds me of week-eday chapel 

at St Matthew's when I was little.

Saturday, The FIRST DAY OF JUNE, 2019*

                  __________________Psalm 87:3*_

  

          I 

count 

  Egypt 

    and 

    Bab- 

   ylon

        a-

 mong 

  those 

   who 

 know 

     me; 

       be-
  hold, 
      Iran, Syria and Etheopia:

             in Zion they were born.

    

   * Justin,  110-167

was born in Samaria aroung 110 into a Greek-speaking pagan family. One day while walking along the beach in Ephesus, he met & talked with a  stranger and was converted to Christ. About 150 he moved to Rome where he was a phil-ospolher and teacher and it was there he was martyr-
ed n 167 for refusing to renounce Christ. 

Grant that allwho seek you, 
or a deeper knowledge of you, 
may find and be found by you-Collect

            *Verse 3 actually ends 

“Philistia, Tyre and Etheopia: 

in Zion they were born.” But 

you get the idea… Neither 

Judaism nor Christianity 

were meant to be tribal 

religions. No matter how 

much we try to draw the

circle around me & mine, 

God’s salvation, God’s love,

is intended for the whole 

world and for all of creation. 

And so the poets and the playwrites, the scientists 

&  the mystics, the singers & the dancers say 

“All my fresh springs are in you.” (87:6)