Trinity XX. November 3, 2019. All Saints’, Macon, GA Ephesians v, verses 15-16 - See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Let me begin at the…
The Number and Order of the Collects
For Anglican priests – or for that matter for all Western priests – the selection, number, order, and reading of the collects at Mass depend on the liturgical authority governing the celebration. In the Roman Novus Ordo the matter is simple: one collect only is read. In general, if the rubrics and text of the…
Deacons and theological fashions
The assumption in the medieval Western Church was that deacons normally would proceed to priestly ordination. While Reformation era Protestants often imagined themselves to be abolishing medieval errors and accretions, as often as not they failed to distinguish the truly medieval from the actually ancient. The assumption that the diaconate is merely a step towards…
Collect for Trinity XVIII
LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc. The collects of Trinitytide often are appeals to God for his grace to enable Christian living. The…
Unlimited War
I have written elsewhere in this blog about just war theory in general. The theory rests most fundamentally on the insight that the true opposite of peace is not war but injustice. Since the tranquillitas ordinis (the tranquility of order) is a necessary condition for human flourishing, sometimes the greater good is better pursued through…
Immigration and double effect
A friend recently sent an e-mail with news of mutual friends but also including this moral question: Here is something I've wondered about, as I read the stories of tiny children separated from their parents on the US border: I have of course heard all of the horrified objections to such cruelty... but I've wondered:…
Some Prayer Book and Authorized Version pronunciations
Concupiscence (three uses in Paul) – pronounced ‘con-cue-pa-sense’, with a slight stress on ‘cue’. The second syllable is definitely not to be pronounced as ‘cup’ Err and erred (in the general confessions in Morning and Evening Prayer). This is best pronounced the same as 'Ur of the Chaldees' or as the first syllable in 'urgent'…
Trinity XII sermon
Trinity XII. September 8, 2019. All Saints’, Soddy Daisy, TN Saint Mark vii, verse 34 - And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him: Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. There are several great feasts in the…
The Altar in the Book of Common Prayer
In the Book of Common Prayer most references to altars come, not surprisingly, in the rubrics of the Eucharistic rite. Other references occur in the Prayer Book’s pontifical: in an initial rubric before each of the three rites of Ordination (for deacons, priests, and bishops); in rubrics to the Form of Consecration of a Church;…
John Paul II (an old newsletter article)
Commentaries on the life and death of the late Pope, John Paul II, have tended to emphasize a few basic ideas. Almost everybody has agreed about John Paul’s profound world historical importance. His role in the defeat of the Soviet Union and its empire and his broadening of the Roman Catholic Church’s appeal through his…
