Assumptiontide: Sing we of the blessed Mother

+

Text: George B. Timms (1910 - 1997)  Tune: Abbot's Leigh Music: Cyril Taylor (1941-1991)

St Winefride's Well: the story of a Saint

+

Saint Winefride, pray for us.


For a story on the BBC website 
concerning the Shrine of St Winefride in Wales: click here

A Litany for the Spirit of Jesus

+

Jesus, unveiling the glory of the Eternal in the workshop of the carpenter,

Renew thy spirit in us.

Jesus, who didst love the common folk, Jesus, ever feeding the multitude with the bread of life that came down from heaven, Jesus, rejoicing with them that did rejoice, and weeping with them that wept,

Renew thy spirit in us.

  

Jesus, who for our sakes didst become poor, Jesus, rejoicing in the Father's will, Jesus, rejoicing in the lilies and the birds and the companionship of men,

Renew thy spirit in us.

Jesus, loving the simple and the childlike, and using the weak things to confound the strong, Jesus, persecuted by the priests, mocked by the scholars, slain by the politicians, Jesus, who lovedst thine own unto the end,

Renew thy spirit in us.

Jesus, agonizing for the lost, Jesus, calling men to forsake all, that, having thee, they might possess all things, Jesus, by thy terrible love on Calvary. Jesus, by thy victorious love at Easter,

Renew thy spirit in us.

Jesus, who didst inspire love's heroism in all great saints and lovers, Jesus, who hast promised men a peace and joy that no one can take from us, Jesus, who hast revealed thy great power in those whom the world has held of no account, 

Renew thy spirit in us.

O Lord, hear our prayer;
And let our cry come unto thee. Amen.

from The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory

An American Edition of The Grey Book

The Episcopal Church of the USA 

1934

No, Bishops Investigating Bishops Won't Do

+

I have not wanted to say anything of my own concerning events within the episcopate in the Catholic Church in the USA, but there are 2 items online now that speak far better than I could:

(1) Here is a link to a post on Elizabeth Scalia's blog The Anchoress: LINK

Scalia's article is a bit of a prelude to an article by Professor Dawn Eden Goldstein found at The Catholic Herald UK online:


"Something very important is missing from every statement issued by US bishops thus far in the wake of the allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. It is something needed not only for the restoration of the bishops’ credibility but also, and more importantly, for the healing of the Church.

"Given that the bishops form a college in continuation of the Apostles’ own, they need to take the initiative in summoning themselves, as a body, to public acts of penance for (1) the sins of bishops and all clerics, and (2) those who enabled or failed to act against such wrongdoers."

I highly encourage your reading of Professor Goldstein's article at this L I N K.

Bishop Robert Barron has also written an article here: click link.

Transfiguration Day

+

O God, who on the holy mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thine Only Begotten Son wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may be permitted to behold the King in his beauty; who with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A collect for the Feast of the Transfiguration

The Book of Common Prayer 1928

USA

O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration of your Only Begotten Son confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness of the Fathers and wonderfully prefigured our full adoption to sonship, grant, we pray, to your servants, that, listening to the voice of your beloved Son, we may merit to become co-heirs with him. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Roman Missal of John Paul II, 3rd ed.

O God who before the passion of thine only-begotten Son didst reveal his glory upon the holy mount: Grant unto us thy servants that in faith beholding the light of his countenance we may be strengthened to bear the cross and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The Church of England

Father in heaven,
whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured
before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain,
and spoke of the exodus he would accomplish at Jerusalem:
give us strength so to hear his voice and bear our cross
that in the world to come we may see him as he is;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. 

Transfiguration of the Lord

Common Worship 

The Church of England

O God,
in the transfiguration of your Son
you confirmed the mysteries of the faith
by the witness of Moses and Elijah;
and in the voice from the cloud
you foreshadowed our adoption as your children.
Make us, with Christ, heirs of your glory,
and bring us to enjoy its fullness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you 
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, now and forever. Amen.

 Transfiguration of the Lord

(observed on the Sunday before Lent)

Book of Common Worship 1993

The Presbyterian Church (USA)

Cumberland Presbyterian Church

O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Collect for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany

The Sunday before Lent

The Book of Common Prayer, 1979

USA

Miles Yates: Our Bounden Duty

+

There were a variety of individual efforts among members and clergy of the Episcopal Church in the USA to provide resources and aids to communicants who desired something more than was found in The Book of Common Prayer.  One such effort was Miles Lowell Yates' Our Bounden Duty: A Manual of Devotion for Communicants.  It was published by Oxford University Press in New York in 1951.  This little book may be regarded as a restrained Anglo-Catholic volume.  It includes quotations from The Imitation of Christ and many short prayers that one could learn by heart.  It is for ordinary lay-folk.

Yates writes that his rationale for the small book had a twofold aim: "(1) to help communicants of the Episcopal Church to interpret the Holy Communion as the solemn Action by which they do their 'bounden duty' in the worship God; and (2) to suggest a method of praying the Liturgy that may help to stress, for each and every Churchman, its inner significance and unifying power."

I do not know if such devotional manuals are even on the radar of the Liturgical Commissions of the Episcopal Church (USA), the Anglican Church in North America, or the Ordinariates in the Roman Catholic Church which make selective use of the Anglican patrimony, but I would like to suggest that there may be some treasure worth considering in these manuals which stretch back to the Prymers, Lancelot Andrewes' Preces Privitae, and many other devotional works and manuals of prayer —some for the learnèd, some for the simple, some for ordinary lay people who desired something more to help them grow in faith and worship beyond what was found in the words of the various editions of The Book of Common Prayer.

In the little book by Yates that I am considering, the text from the Book of Common Prayer is arranged on the left-hand page, and the private devotions are to be found on the right facing page.  On Page 77 there is appended to the Liturgy for Holy Communion a number of prayers that one could pray as one waits to go forward to receive the Lord in the Sacrament:

COMMUNION PRAYERS

While waiting to go to the altar, as there is time,

   We wait for thy loving-kindness, O Lord, in the midst of thy temple.

God himself is with us,

Let us all adore him . . .

Now his own

Who have known

God, in worship lowly,

Yield their spirits wholly.

    LORD, let me not make this Communion amiss,
But reverently and rightly, to my soul's health.

     LORD, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.

COME, LORD JESUS, in thy compassion,

with light for my mind when it is dark,

with warmth for my heart when it is cold,

with strength for my will when it is weak,

and

be thou my Saviour.

COME, LORD JESUS, in thy power,

and bind us together for unselfish service

in the Church which is thy Body

and

in the world where thou hast walked.

77

Gloria in excelsis Deo +