The Use of Incense in the Liturgy

Incense has been part of Christian worship since the beginning; today, it is carried in procession, and is employed to prepare both priest and people for worship, at the reading of the Gospel and the preparation of the altar for celebration of the Eucharist. At the moment of offertory, the people along with their gifts of bread, wine, and financial offering for the mission and ministry of the church are incensed signify that they have been set apart for a holy use.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, said that whenever the Holy Eucharist is celebrated Christ comes to a place where he already is: the Body of Christ is given to the Body of Christ. Holy Communion is given to the Holy People of God. It is in and through the eucharist that the Christian comes to recognize him or herself, not simply as an individual, but a participant in the redeemed community.

Preparing for the Great Vigil

Dear friends in Christ, On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus Christ passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which, by hearing his Word and celebrating his Sacraments, we share in his victory over death.

Saint Augustine of Hippo called the Easter Vigil the "mother of all holy vigils". The sights, sounds, smells, texture and tastes of the vigil are a vibrant celebration of the Resurrection coveying that deep sense of movement - from the tomb of Holy Saturday to the Garden of Easter, movement from darkness to light, from death to life. It is the turning point, the pivotal moment.

Paula Bailey quoted in the TABLET, 7 April 07

The liturgies of the Triduum, the Great Paschal Days, are not for the faint-hearted. Only the most committed parishioners will gather for these sacred moments, moving from passion, death, to resurrection. These days are central to our faith for they express the saving acts of God through Christ. May our alleluias that ring forth from the tomb continue to brighten our days that we may experience the utter joy that reaches to heaven.

Who are we?

To be a Christian is to be signed with the mark of the cross, the baptismal mark of incorporation into Christ. To bear the cross in solidarity with Jesus is not to endure some mysterious kind of suffering which is thrust upon us, still less is it a way of describing an interior psychological attitude or orientation. It is a path freely chosen, the social reality of committing oneself in this world to the values of the world to come. This is clearly a call to lose one's life for the sake of the gospel. It is not a call to imitate Jesus as a figure form the past but to follow the risen and present Jesus today. Christians do not maintain the memory of a dead Jesus: grieving over the body was prevented by the very large stone which was rolled away from the tomb before the grief could get under way. To respond to the cross is to follow, to share; it is to be a disciple. It is to respond to a new and amazing relationship of co-operation with God which is utterly different from the relationship of slave to master. We are sealed not as slaves but as children, as inheritors of the Kingdom of God.

Kenneth Leech

Awaiting Resurrection

This is our Day of rest, the true Sabbath. Christ entered into His rest, and so do we. It brings us, in figure, through the grave and gate of death to our season of refreshment in Abraham's bosom. We have had enough of weariness and dreariness, and listlessness, and sorrow, and remorse. We have had enough of this troublesome world. We have had enough of its noise and din. Noise is its best music. But now there is stillness, and it is a stillness that speaks. We know how strange the feeling is of perfect silence after continued sound. Such is our blessedness now. Calm and serene days have begun; and Christ is heard in them, and His still small voice, because the world speaks not. Let us only put off the world, and we put on Christ. The receding from one is an approach to the other. We have now for some weeks been trying, through His grace, to unclothe ourselves of earthly wants and desires. May that unclothing be unto us a clothing upon of things invisible and imperishable. May we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, season after season, year after year ...
John Henry Newman

Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

BCP, page 283

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 55

On the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren

Let clothing be given to the brethren
according to the nature of the place in which they dwell
and its climate; for in cold regions more will be needed,
and in warm regions less. This is to be taken
into consideration, therefore, by the Abbot.

We believe, however, that in ordinary places
the following dress is sufficient for each monk:
a tunic, a cowl (thick and woolly for winter,
thin or worn for summer), a scapular for work,
stockings and shoes to cover the feet.

The monks should not complain
about the color or the coarseness of any of these things,
but be content with what can be found
in the district where they live and
can be purchased cheaply.

The Abbot shall see to the size of the garments,
that they be not too short for those who wear them,
but of the proper fit.

Let those who receive new clothes
always give back the old ones at once,
to be put away in the wardrobe for the poor.
For it is sufficient if a monk has two tunics and two cowls,
to allow for night wear and for the washing of
these garments; more than that is superfluity and
should be taken away.
Let them return their stockings also and anything
else that is old when they receive new ones.

Those who are sent on a journey
shall receive drawers from the wardrobe,
which they shall wash and restore on their return.
And let their cowls and tunics be somewhat better
than what they usually wear.
These they shall receive from the wardrobe
when they set out on a journey,
and restore when they return.