"My Favourite Things"

With the 500th Anniversary of the Coronation of Henry VIII last week, I have been listening to some of my favourite Tudor Anthem recordings:

Admittedly my list of such favourites is much longer, but these three I recommend to those who are just starting a sacred music collection or don't know quite where to begin in acquiring CD's featuring Tudor period anthems.

And for those who prefer Mp3 downloads rather than purchasing CD's ... an excellent composer of a somewhat earlier era than those listed above is Nicholas Ludford whose music is sung so beautifully in the recording listed below as to make both angel and mortal weep for the beauty of it all:

Prayers from the Anglican Heritage

O LORD God Almighty, whose glory Cherubim and Seraphim and all the hosts of heaven with ceaseless voice proclaim ; Hear and accept, we humbly beseech thee, the praises of thy Church below ; and pour down upon thy ministers in choir and sanctuary such a spirit of faith, reverence and joy as shall lift both their hymns and their lives unto thee ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O GOD and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore ; Let the whole earth also worship thee, all kingdoms obey thee, all tongues confess and bless thee, and the sons of men love thee and serve thee in peace ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, who hast warned us that thou wilt require much of those to whom much is given ; Grant that we, whose lot is cast in so goodly a heritage, may strive together the more abundantly, by prayer, by almsgiving, by fasting, and by all appointed means to extend to those who know thee not what we so richly enjoy ; and as we have entered into the labours of others, so to labour that others many enter into ours, to the fulfillment of thy holy will, and the salvation of all mankind ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

from After the Third Collect (Anglican), 1952

Prayer for Priests

FOR THE INCREASE OF PRIESTS
O ALMIGHTY God, look mercifully upon thy Church, and incline the hearts of many of her sons to offer themselves for the work of the sacred ministry, so that by their labours, thy Light may shine in the darkness of the world, and the coming of thy Kingdom may be hastened by the perfecting of thine elect. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FOR A PRIEST
O LORD Jesus Christ, great High Priest and gracious Shepherd; receive thy servant N., whom thou hast consecrated to minister to thee in holy things; and grant him such purity of heart and life, and such zeal for souls that he may bring many into union with thee, and fulfill his ministry in holiness to thy glory, our Lord and Saviour. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

ANOTHER PRAYER FOR A PRIEST
JESUS, eternal Priest, keep this thy holy one within the shelter of thy Sacred Heart, where none may touch him. Keep unstained his anointed hands, which daily touch thy sacred Body; keep unsullied his lips, purpled with thy precious Blood; keep pure and unearthly his heart, sealed with sublime marks of thy glorious priesthood. Let thy holy love surround him, and keep him ever unspotted from the world. Bless his labours with abundant fruit, and may they to whom he has ministered be here below his joy and consolation, and in heaven his beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen.

from St. Augustine's Prayer Book (Anglican), 1967
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Hymn for the Visitation

Dear friends in Christ,

It is my sincere desire that this text be shared widely and used freely. Please feel free to post it on your blogs or email it to friends. I give permission for its use provided that my copyright notice is kept intact and that no words are altered.

Our Lady of the Sign, pray for us!

God bless us one and all,

Vincent Uher

Lo, how she brings Life with her
Concealed beneath her heart,
Eve's daughter, brave and chosen,
God's partner to his art.
Her will knit with divine will
Desires his Word be done.
For God she weaves within her
The body of their Son.

Elisabeth her cousin
A child will bring to birth -
God's answer to her longing,
A prophet for the Earth.
"Peace be with you," said Mary.
Her cousin's babe did dance
The merry steps of best man:
The Bridegroom's here, at last.

Elisabeth cried out then,
"The child within me leapt!
When he heard your sweet greeting,
With joy my baby stepped."
She spoke full of the Spirit,
With insight from the Lord,
"How is it you come to me
The Mother of my Lord?"

The Mother of her Lord, yes,
Great Mary, Anna's child,
A daughter born to Israel,
A virgin undefiled,
She sang out as a woman
Brought up on Hannah's song,
"O praise, my soul, God's greatness.
Rejoice, our Lord is strong."

All ages call her blessed
Just as she once foretold.
Blest is she amongst women,
Her Child blest from of old.
Blest is she who believes God
Who carries God's true Word.
Her Son both God and human
Fulfils great Gabriel's word.

Our Saviour, God of mercy,
Remembers Abraham's fold.
Praise God who casts down tyrants.
Rejoice! Our God is bold.
So sing we with blest Mary
To magnify the Lord
Who raised up his handmaiden.
Oh, holy is the Lord!

Copyright © 2006 by Vincent William Uher III

A hymn for Visitation, Fourth Advent, and the Nativity of St. John Baptist

This may be sung to the Bohemian Brethren tune Far Off Lands

or to the lovely tune Wie lieblich ist der Maien

The Anglican Use Society of the Roman Catholic Church

Magnificent Speakers!

Important Conference!

All are cordially invited to attend this very important conference!

Featured speakers include:

• Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
  
  
• Fr. John Saward, former Anglican priest and noted English Catholic theologian
  
  
• Fr. James Moore, founding co-pastor of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church
  
  
• Mary C. Moorman, apologist, author, and consultant
  
  
• Dr. Hans-Jurgen Feulner, Professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at the University of Vienna.

[note from Vincent: Mary Moorman is an expert on the Caroline Divines who were such an important part of my catholic formation in the Anglican Church. Her books are outstanding, and she is one of the few I have read who understand how important the Caroline Divine Mark Frank is to the theological foundation of the catholic wing of the Anglican Church into which I was born.]

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Remembering Caryll Houselander

Since Holy Saturday I have been diving into the writings of Caryll Houselander. I was definitely led by God to read her writings again. I had the books all arranged in my bedroom for my next bit of evening reading with Compline during Eastertide. Little did I know I would be so ill that I would be confined to bedrest during Easter Day and through to the present moment as I type this ... admittedly slowly, and begging forgiveness for poor grammar and spellings. The first book I took up was Caryll's marvellous little book on the Holy Rosary containing Rosary prayers that she wrote in London in the bomb shelters during World War II -- The prayers were originally commissioned by Maisie Ward for her wonderful book The Splendour of the Rosary.

Here is an example of these prayers for the Second Glorious Mystery:

Christ,
ascended into Heaven,
You bear the wounds
of the whole world
in Your hands and feet
and in Your heart.

They plead for us,
shining like stars
before the secret face of God.

By Your five wounds
purify our five senses;
lift up our hearts into Heaven.

While You draw down
God's mercy to us,
showing our wounds
in Your glorified Body,
let us draw men up to You,
showing Your wounds to the world,
scored on our grey dust
in the bright crimson
of Your love.

--Caryll Houselander

Caryll Houselander, pray for us.

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Prayer to the Wounds of Christ

The Head
O Head of my Saviour and my God, dearer and more worshipful art thou to me crowned with thorns than adorned with a royal diadem. O wounds of the sacred Head, I believe and I confess that from you flow all blessing and all grace ; through you the true water of life is outpoured on all mankind. The piercing thorns have dared to tear the head of their Creator, and for the sins of men is he thus hideously used. O loving Saviour, forgive us those sins and grant us thy grace, for the sake of that precious Blood spilled for our salvation. Amen.

The Hands
O mighty Hands of my Saviour, by whose touch sight was given to the blind, Love stretched you on the cross that men should be drawn nearer to the divine heart. But for his will the cruel tormentors of earthly power were too weak to drive the nails. Woe to us, that by our sins we scorn thy love and renew thy bitter pains. Forgive me, O divine Saviour, and grant us for the sake of thy wounded hands the grace of perfect sorrow and strong will to flee all sin and its occasions, that we may keep our hands from wickedness. Amen.

The Feet
O loving Jesus, our Saviour and our God, thy sacred feet have walked only for out salvation, treading the stony paths in search of thy sheep lost and entangled in the thorns of sin. For this wert thou nailed to the cross by wicked men, and we have earned infinity of punishment. But infinite too is the divine mercy and love for men, and thou hast borne their punishment, praying thine Heavenly Father from the cross to forgive them, for they know not what they do. We wash thy feet with tears, as once did Mary Magdalen, that for the sake of their wounds we may hear thee say, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee.' Bind our feet, lest they enter on sinful ways ; guide them by thy grace, that they stumble not on stones and fail not for weakness, but reach thine eternal kingdom, where with thy saints we may praise thee for ever and ever. Amen.

From the older form of the Maronite Office of Good Friday

A favourite Maronite prayer

Remain in peace, O holy altar, in peace I will return to thee. May the Victim who has been offered upon thee be for the forgiveness of by sins and the pardon of mine offences ; may it enable me to hold myself without stain or shame before the throne of Christ. Yet I do not know if I shall live to return and assist again at the holy Sacrifice. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, one God, who is the beginning and end of all things. Amen.

Pray for the suffering

O God, the Father of all look down in pity on those who suffer, and heal the anguish of the world; release from the prison-house all held in the bondage of fear and set free such as are bound by the fetters of disease, whether of soul or body. Do Thou care for the desolate, give rest to the weary, comfort the sorrowful, watch by the sleepless, and to those who lie untended in their sickness grant the gentle ministry of angels, to supply their needs and relieve their pain. Visit with Thy great compassion all in their last agony and bring them in peace and safety into Thy Paradise of love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Grade 7 Schoolgirl & the Pro-Life Message

THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR

THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST
from The Crown of the Year: Weekly Paragraphs for the Holy Sacrament
by Austin Farrer

"WHEN a calendar year comes to an end, we feel cheated. Nothing in fact has been ended, nothing rounded off and finished. The year is not a piece of work completed and done; we cannot hold on to, or possess, what it has accomplished. We have leartn many things, but all our learning seems still to lie before us. We have enjoyed many things, but our happiness has het to be earned. We have served God—how little—and we have still to find out what the service of God truly is, and who the God truly is whom we serve. Yet in every moment while time thus bafflingly slips from us, we are in the hands of him who is eternal and changes not. Our Christ, the Christ we offer up here, the Christ on whom we feed here, the Christ whose body we are here, is eternal God as well as changeable man. Our grasp of eternity is small, but eternity grasps, fills and uses us. For we are the body of an eternal Christ."

Austin Farrer

ALL GLORY BE TO GOD ON HIGH

Though my house is in ruins, my neighbourhood destroyed, and my City suffering in so many ways, yet my heart is supremely grateful to God Most High for preserving our lives and giving so many an opportunity to begin anew, should they take these grave troubles, raise them up to God in prayer, and receive the gift of His transformation of everything into His Glory and His Kingdom. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

All glory be to God on high!
Peace, laud, and joy be our reply
To angels singing in the sky.
Praise Jesus Christ, true light from light.
Tender his love and great his might,
Christ Jesus, saviour, our delight.

O Word and Wisdom, thee we name,
Jesus the infant, God the same.
Praise and all worship to thy Name.
Son of blest Mary, spotless Lamb,
High Priest most holy, Great I AM,
Receive our lives into thy hand.

Praise God for Joseph, sainted man,
Brave Guardian of God’s saving plan,
Protector of the God-made-man.
Praise God for Mary Mother true,
Faithful to Jesus her life through,
Mother of God, our Mother too.

Lord Jesus Christ, most holy Lord,
With thy blest Spirit be adored
In God’s own glory here outpoured.
Joy now to hear thine infant cries!
Hope of the simple and the wise!
Love from all souls to thee arise!



© 2008 by Vincent Wm. Uher III



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