Mystagogia: The Great Sabbath

The Great Sabbath stretches from Easter Day until the Day of Pentecost. These Great Fifty Days signify (in the words of Thomas Merton) the eternal day of heaven. As we await the coming gift of the Holy Spirit on Whitsunday, the church spends its time reflecting on the events of the Triduum, the Great Paschal Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday (the first announcement of the Resurrection after dark). This Great Octave of the Christian Year provides the faithful time to assimilate the mystery of their redemption and to take into themselves the risen Lord. As the Jews were brought forth out of their bondage in Egypt, across the Red Sea, into the wilderness and into the Promised Land; so we are brought forth from our bondage to sin and death and drawn into the very life of Christ through faith.

The Third Day of Easter

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence, and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 57

On the Artisans of the Monastery

If there are artisans in the monastery,
let them practice their crafts with all humility,
provided the Abbot has given permission.
But if any one of them becomes conceited
over his skill in his craft,
because he seems to be conferring a benefit on the monastery,
let him be taken from his craft
and no longer exercise it unless,
after he has humbled himself,
the Abbot again gives him permission.

If any of the work of the craftsmen is to be sold,
those responsible for the sale
must not dare to practice any fraud.
Let them always remember Ananias and Saphira,
who incurred bodily death (Acts 5:1-11),
lest they and all who perpetrate fraud
in monastery affairs
suffer spiritual death.
And in the prices let not the sin of avarice creep in,
but let the goods always be sold a little cheaper
than they can be sold by people in the world,
"that in all things God may be glorified" (1 Peter 4:11).

The Second Day of Easter

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 56

On the Abbot's Table

Let the Abbot's table always be with the guests
and the pilgrims. But when there are no guests,
let it be in his power to invite whom he will of the brothers.
Yet one or two seniors must always be left with the others
for the sake of discipline.

Early Dawn

It was still dark as I arrived at the parish this morning. There is a wonderful stillness when you enter the church in the early morning, a gentle sense of hospitality surrounds you as you move from the outer door toward the chancel. You can feel almost a mysterious invitation to come, pray, sit awhile. The altar guild, who had feverishly worked so hard yesterday making sure that everything was just so for the Easter liturgies were now gone, everything is readied. I don't think I ever remember the church looking so beautiful and so inviting to guest and parishioner. The bird's song is beginning to break the stillness, announcing the first Allelulia of the new day. Soon people will begin to gather, most likely it will be a larger congregation than most Sundays: visitors from out of town, grandparents or children visiting, occasional worshipers will make their way in through the narthex as they did at the time of the celebration of our Lord's birth. Many will have come, expecting to hear some good news, and yet they were not present on Good Friday, they don't really know the story of their own rebirth into God that took place on a Cross near the city. It is only when they understand the profound terror and grief that took place on that day that they will begin to understand the fresh newness and power of the resurrection to transform mortal lives. I can only pray that they will leave with just a glimpse of renewed hope, faith, and love; that they will awaken to the beauty around them, that they will begin to know a God who without partiality embraces even the most unloved. May this Easter fill us with eternal joy!

Easter Day

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BCP, page 222

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 55

On the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren

For bedding let this suffice:
a mattress, a blanket, a coverlet and a pillow.

The beds, moreover, are to be examined frequently by the Abbot,
to see if any private property be found in them.
If anyone should be found to have something
that he did not receive from the Abbot,
let him undergo the most severe discipline.

And in order that this vice of private ownership
may be cut out by the roots,
the Abbot should provide all the necessary articles:
cowl, tunic, stockings, shoes, belt,
knife, stylus, needle, handkerchief, writing tablets;
that all pretext of need may be taken away.
Yet the Abbot should always keep in mind
the sentence from the Acts of the Apostles
that "distribution was made to each according as anyone had need" (Acts 4:35).
In this manner, therefore,
let the Abbot consider weaknesses of the needy
and not the ill-will of the envious.
But in all his decisions
let him think about the retribution of God.

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.

Reflection on the Cross, Salvation, and Community

One of the great blessings of the Great Paschal Days is the recognition of our unity within the Body of Christ, the deep intimacy that comes in knowing that our Lord died for us and has given us life through the power of the cross. We are drawn together as a believing community in love and witness. Unlike any other time of the year, the Triduum brings God's family together to remember, to celebrate, and to support one another in this time of solemn and ecstatic joy.

Anglicanism and Saint Benedict

Recently, someone asked about why the daily readings from the Rule of Saint Benedict are presently on the blog. After all what does the founder of monasticism have to do with the Episcopal Church?

Benedict of Nursia, the Abbot of Monte Cassino, in 540 has greatly influenced the Anglican Communion. By its very nature, Anglicanism, with its emphasis on corporate worship, the ongoing recitation of the psalter in the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, the prayerful and reflective reading of Holy Scripture, and the necessity of personal prayer and discipline are grounded in Benedictine spirituality. The parish system, in most provinces of the Anglican world evolved from the monastic community which gathered tenant farmers around it.

Historically, our church is rooted in the monastic life of English Christianity. Those who influenced the faith and spiritual life, in the early centuries were Ninian, who brought a missionary form of monasticism to England before the end fo the fourth century, Germanus, Patrick, Columba, Augustine of Canterbury, etc.

The Reformation in the sixteenth century did not eliminate the essentials of the Benedictine spirit. With the Book of Common Prayer, 1549 and following, the influence of the Benedictine life became accessible. It is extremely important to recognize that the English Reformation had no towering reformer, like Luther or Calvin, not a theological doctrine or a moral code, but a book of liturgical prayer. In this fundamental respect alone, the Anglican Reformation had a clearly Benedictine spirit.

Dom Robert Hale, O.S.B. Cam.

Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We glory in your cross, O Lord,
and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross
joy has come to the whole world.

Collect of the Day, BCP, 276
Anthem 1, BCP, 281

The Rule of Saint Benedict

Whether a Monastic Should Receive Letters or Anything Else

On no account shall a monastic be allowed
to receive letters, blessed tokens or any little gift whatsoever
from parents or anyone else,
or from his brothers,
or to give the same,
without the Abbot's permission.
But if anything is sent him even by his parents,
let him not presume to take it
before it has been shown to the Abbot.
And it shall be in the Abbot's power to decide
to whom it shall be given,
if he allows it to be received;
and the brother to whom it was sent should not be grieved,
lest occasion be given to the devil.

Should anyone presume to act otherwise,
let him undergo the discipline of the Rule.

Love III

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert

Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one god, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day
BCP, page 274