Читать книгу Exciting Holiness - Brother Tristram - Страница 26
ОглавлениеApril
1 April
Gilbert of Caithness
Bishop
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
Gilbert de Moravia appears to have been a member of the family of the Lords of Duffus in Moray. He was for many years Archdeacon of Moray, and in 1223 was elected Bishop of Caithness. A devout churchman and able statesman, his great work was the erection of a new cathedral at Dornoch, but his long episcopate was beneficial to his diocese in every way. He died in 1245.
1 April
Frederick Denison Maurice
Priest, Teacher of the Faith
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Teachers
Born into a Unitarian family in 1805, Frederick Maurice became an Anglican in his twenties and was then ordained. He was one of the founders of the Christian Socialist Movement, in which his particular concern was providing education for working men. As a theologian, Maurice’s ideas on Anglican comprehensiveness have remained influential. His best-remembered book, The Kingdom of Christ, demonstrated his philosophical approach to theology. His radicalism was revealed in his attack on traditional concepts of hell in Theological Essays, which cost him his professorship at King’s College, London, in 1853. In 1866, however, he was given a Chair at Cambridge, which he held until his death on this day in 1872.
7 April
Brynach
Abbot
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
A hermit who settled in Pembrokeshire, Brynach was apparently of Irish origin. He was said to have visited Rome and Brittany before landing in Wales at Milford Haven. From there he travelled to Llanboidy, Cilmaenllwyd and Llanfrynach (all places with churches dedicated to him), eventually settling at Nevern. There he lived a life of extreme asceticism, spending many hours in prayer on Carn Ingli, the mountain above his cell. Local traditions about Brynach also mention his close relationship with the natural world, befriending and taming wild animals and being able to converse with the birds. He represents a strand of early Welsh Christianity that reflects similar ideas and ideals to those of Francis of Assisi.
Collect
Almighty and everliving God,
who called Brynach the Irishman
to lead a life of pilgrimage,
and to bring the gospel to the people of Wales:
grant to us, your pilgrim people,
grace to know we have no abiding dwelling on earth
but an everlasting homeland in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
8 April
Griffith Jones
Priest, Teacher of the Faith
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Teachers
A native of Pen-boyr in Carmarthenshire, Griffith Jones was born in 1683. He was a shepherd and, after attending the grammar school in Carmarthen, he was ordained in 1708. In 1711 he became rector of Llandeilo Abercywyn and five years later rector of Llanddowror. His reputation as a preacher drew large numbers of people from all over South Wales to hear him. An increasing awareness of widespread illiteracy in Wales led him to set up a system of circulating schools, held for three months at a time in churches, barns or private houses. People of all ages were taught to read with the Welsh prayer book and bible as their textbooks. By the time of Griffith Jones’s death in 1761 158,000 people had been taught to read in 3,495 of his schools. This astonishing achievement played a major part in the Welsh spiritual awakening of the eighteenth century.
Collect
Almighty God,
who inspired your servant Griffith
to promote the knowledge of the Christian faith
and by his preaching to bring others to you:
grant that we who have been schooled in the faith which he taught
may labour to bring others to Christ,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
9 April
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Lutheran Pastor, Martyr
England, Scotland: Commemoration – Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Martyrs
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 into an academic family. Ordained in the Lutheran Church, his theology was influenced by Karl Barth and he became a lecturer: in Spain, the USA and, in 1931, back in Berlin. Opposed to the philosophy of Nazism, he was one of the leaders of the Confessing Church, a movement which broke away from the Nazi-dominated Lutherans in 1934. Banned from teaching, and harassed by Hitler’s regime, he bravely returned to Germany at the outbreak of war in 1939, despite being on a lecture tour in the United States at the time. His defiant opposition to the Nazis led to his arrest in 1943. His experiences led him to propose a more radical theology in his later works, which have been influential among post-war theologians. He was executed by the Nazi police in Flossenburg concentration camp on this day in 1945.
Collect (Wales)
Lord Jesus Christ,
your servant Dietrich [Bonhoeffer]
learned the cost of discipleship
in his faithful witness to justice and peace:
give us the assurance of your presence
that we may persevere faithfully unto death;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
9 April
Saints, Martyrs and Missionaries of South America
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Missionaries
The gospel was first brought to South America by the Spanish and Portuguese in the years after Columbus’s landfall. Today we recall those who have worthily proclaimed the gospel of Christ in South America: people like Bartolomé de las Casas and Martin de Porres who challenged the injustices inflicted on the native people, Allen Gardiner who died at the southernmost tip of the continent, and Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador murdered in his cathedral for preaching economic and social justice. We give thanks for their witness and that of all the saints of God in South America.
Collect
Almighty God,
we praise and bless your name
for the saints, missionaries and martyrs of South America:
may we, in life and death, be a community of love
united in prayer and faith with him who died and rose again,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
10 April
William Law
White
Priest, Spiritual Writer
England: Lesser Festival – Scotland: Commemoration
Born at Kings Cliffe in Northamptonshire in 1686, William Law was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and, after ordination as a deacon, became a fellow of the college in 1711. When George i came to the throne in 1714, William declined to take the Oath of Allegiance, being a member of the non-or party who believed the anointed but deposed monarch James II and his heirs should occupy the throne. He lost his fellowship, but in 1728 was ordained priest, and in the same year published A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, which much influenced such people as Samuel Johnson and John and Charles Wesley. In it he stresses the moral virtues, a personal prayer life and asceticism. He returned to Kings Cliffe in 1740, where he led a life of devotion and simplicity and caring for the poor. He remained there for the rest of his life and died on this day in the year 1761.
Collect
Almighty God,
who called your servant William Law
to a devout and holy life:
grant that by your spirit of love
and through faithfulness in prayer
we may find the way to divine knowledge
and so come to see the hidden things of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
A reading from the Book of Tobit.
I performed many acts of charity to my kindred, those of my tribe: I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw the dead body of any of my people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it. I also buried any whom the king put to death when he came fleeing from Judea in those days of judgement that the king of heaven executed upon him because of his blasphemies. For in his anger he put to death many Israelites; but I would secretly remove the bodies and bury them.
This is the word of the Lord.
Tobit 1.16b–18a
Responsorial Psalm
R: The free gift of God is eternal life
[for the Lord redeems his people].
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. R
Who forgives all your sins
and heals all your infirmities;
Who redeems your life from the Pit
and crowns you with faithful love and compassion. R
Who satisfies you with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
The Lord executes righteousness
and judgement for all who are oppressed. R
From Psalm 103
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Romans 6.20–end
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Jesus said to the crowds, ‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Luke 11.33–36
Post Communion
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with William Law
to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 April
William of Ockham
Friar, Philosopher, Teacher of the Faith
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Teachers
Born at Ockham in Surrey in about the year 1285, William entered the Franciscan Order and, as a friar, studied and then taught at Oxford. His writings were ever the subject of close scrutiny, this being a time when heresy was suspected everywhere, it seemed, but he never received any formal condemnation. Later in life, he entered the controversy between the rival popes and had to flee for his life. His much-used principle of economy – often referred to as ‘Occam’s Razor’ – stated that only individual things exist and that they are directly understood by the thinking mind and that this intuitive knowledge is caused naturally. His doctrine of God led him to destroy the thirteenth-century concept of the relationship between theology and philosophy and took the study of the philosophy of religion onto a new level. He died on this day in the year 1347.
11 April
George Augustus Selwyn
first Bishop of New Zealand
England, Scotland: Commemoration – Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
George Augustus Selwyn was born in 1809, educated at Cambridge and ordained as curate of Windsor. In 1841 he was made the first Bishop of New Zealand and remained there for twenty-seven years, during the first years travelling when few roads or bridges existed. In the wars between colonists and Maoris he stood out heroically for Maori rights, at the cost of fierce attacks from both sides and grave personal danger in his efforts to part the warriors, until later he was revered as one of the founders of New Zealand as well as of its Church. He taught himself to navigate and gathered congregations in the Melanesian Islands. His constitution for the New Zealand Church influenced the churches of the Anglican Communion and he was a chief founder of the Lambeth Conferences of bishops. In 1868 he was persuaded to become the Bishop of Lichfield in England and died there on this day in 1878.
Collect (Wales)
Jesus, incarnate God,
good news for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see:
we thank you for George [Augustus Selwyn]
and for all who bring the gospel to New Zealand and Melanesia:
raise up in this and every land
heralds and evangelists of your kingdom,
and hasten the time when the earth is filled with your glory;
for with the Father and the Holy Spirit
you live and reign,
God for ever.
12 April
William Forbes
Bishop of Edinburgh
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
Born in Aberdeen in 1585, William Forbes was for a time Professor of Logic in the university there. He ministered in Alford and Monyausk, then at St Nicholas’ Church, Aberdeen. A theologian of European rank, his strongly patristic, eucharistic theology led him into controversy. His work has been used in international talks between Anglicans and Roman Catholics in modern times. He was nominated by Charles I in 1633 to be first bishop of Edinburgh, but he died within two months of his consecration.
15 April
Padarn
Bishop
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
The Welsh Triads describe Padarn as one of the ‘three blessed visitors of the Island of Britain’, along with David and Teilo. There is a tradition that the three saints travelled together on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is said that Padarn was presented with a choral cope there and the saint has thus become regarded as a singer and musician. Padarn founded a major ecclesiastical centre at Llanbadarn Fawr in Ceredigion, of which he may have been the first bishop. Padarn’s churches may be linked to the network of Roman roads and this might suggest that this connects the saint with residual Romano-British Christianity in mid-Wales (Padarn being the Welsh version of the common Latin name Paternus). This could imply that his missionary work preceded that of his two fellow ‘blessed visitors’.
Collect
Almighty God,
by whose permission
Padarn was invested with the staff of pastoral authority
and called to govern the Church in our land:
grant to those who follow in his office
grace to be faithful shepherds of your flock,
healing the wounds of those entrusted to their care;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
16 April
Magnus of Orkney
Martyr
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Martyrs
At the end of the eleventh century, the Earldom of Orkney was divided between cousins Haakon Paulson and Magnus Erlingsson, one a war-like Viking chief, the other a man of peace. They ruled jointly but uneasily for some years, but eventually Haakon claimed sole sovereignty. A council was called for Easter 1116, but Haakon arrived with a large force and refused to allow Magnus the option of flight or exile. Magnus faced his death heroically and with faith. The shrine for his remains, Kirkwall Cathedral, was erected only twenty years after his murder.
16 April
Isabella Gilmore
Deaconess
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Pastors
Born in 1842, Isabella Gilmore, the sister of William Morris, was a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London and in 1886, was asked by Bishop Thorold of Rochester to pioneer deaconess work in his diocese. The bishop overcame Isabella’s initial reluctance and together they planned an Order of Deaconesses along the same lines as the ordained ministry. She was made a deaconess in 1887 and a training house developed on North Side, Clapham Common, later to be called Gilmore House in her memory. Isabella herself retired in 1906 and, during her nineteen years of service, she trained head deaconesses for at least seven other dioceses. At her memorial service, Dr Randall Davidson predicted that ‘Some day, those who know best will be able to trace much of the origin and root of the revival of the Deaconess Order to the life, work, example and words of Isabella Gilmore.’ She died on this day in 1923.
17 April
Donnan and his Companions
Martyrs
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Martyrs
Donnan (or Dounan) was an Irish missionary, roughly contemporary with Columba, who worked in Galloway, Argyll and the islands of the Inner Hebrides. He established a monastery on the island of Eigg, where he and fifty-two companions were massacred by Viking pirates around the year 617.
18 April
Laserian
Abbot of Leighlin
Ireland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
Laserian, often called affectionately Mo-laise, was abbot of Old Leighlin. The cathedral, sheltering among the hills of County Carlow in Ireland, is a place of peace and beauty. It is said that Laserian may have received his training in Iona. His name is honoured in Scotland (Arran) as well as in other parts of Ireland (Inishmurray, of the coast of County Sligo). He died on this day in the year 639.
Collect
God of peace and beauty
who called Laserian to minister in Scottish islands
and in the rolling land of Carlow:
bless the ministers of your church
wherever they are called to serve,
making them ministers of reconciliation and of peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
19 April
Alphege
Red
Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr
England: Lesser Festival
Alphege became a monk at Deerhurst near Gloucester and withdrew in later life to be a hermit in Somerset. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, drew him back to be Abbot of Bath and, in 984, Bishop of Winchester. In 1005 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, where his austere life and lavish almsgiving made him a revered and much-loved man. In the year 1011, the Danes overran south-east England, taking Alphege prisoner. They put the enormous ransom of £3000 on his head, but Alphege refused to pay it and forbade anyone from doing so, knowing that it would impoverish the ordinary people even more. He was brutally murdered by his captors at Greenwich on this day in the year 1012.
Collect
Merciful God,
who raised up your servant Alphege
to be a pastor of your people
and gave him grace to suffer for justice and true religion:
grant that we who celebrate his martyrdom
may know the power of the risen Christ in our hearts
and share his peace in lives offered to your service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
A reading from the prophecy of Isaiah.
Thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth –
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’
This is the word of the Lord.
Isaiah 43.1–7
Responsorial Psalm
R: Into your hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit.
You, Lord, are a shield about me;
you are my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
When I cry aloud to the Lord,
he will answer me from his holy hill. R
I lie down and sleep and rise again,
because the Lord sustains me.
Salvation belongs to the Lord:
may your blessing be upon your people. R
From Psalm 3
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honour, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
This is the word of the Lord.
Hebrews 5.1–4
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?’
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Matthew 16.24–26
Post Communion
Eternal God,
who gave us this holy meal
in which we have celebrated the glory of the cross
and the victory of your martyr Alphege:
by our communion with Christ
in his saving death and resurrection,
give us with all your saints the courage to conquer evil
and so to share the fruit of the tree of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
20 April
Beuno
Abbot
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
Beuno was probably born at Llanymynech and educated at the monastic school at Caerwent. He returned home and established a monastery there, later moving to Berriew. When the English invaded Beuno left, calling with Tysilio at Meifod, and travelling on to Gwyddelwern near Corwen where he made another foundation. He then went to Holywell and finally to Gwynedd. There he settled at Clynnog in Arfon, which was to become the centre of his cult. He was the greatest of the missionary saints of North Wales and he and his followers built many churches. Beuno died on the Sunday after Easter in about the year 640 and it is said that on his deathbed he had a vision of heaven. He was buried at Clynnog.
Collect
Almighty God,
you have left so many traces of your goodness in this land
through the life and ministry of Beuno:
grant that we who share his homeland on earth
may dwell with him in that everlasting mansion
which you in your goodness
have prepared for those who love you;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
20 April
Maelrubha of Applecross
Abbot, Missionary
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
Born near Derry in the year 642, Maelrubha joined Congall’s community in Bangor. Around 671, he followed the Irish practice of ‘wandering for Christ’. After two years of missionary work in the north-west of Scotland, he settled in the remote peninsula of Applecross, from where he founded many churches. He died, aged 80, in the year 722.
21 April
Anselm
White
Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher of the Faith
England: Lesser Festival – Scotland: Commemoration – Wales: V
Anselm was born in Aosta, northern Italy, in 1033. As a young man, he left home and travelled north, visiting many monasteries and other centres of learning. One such visit was to the abbey of Le Bec, where he met Lanfranc, who advised him to embrace monastic life. Anselm had a powerful and original mind and, during his 34 years at Bec (as monk, prior and finally abbot), he taught many others and wrote theological, philosophical and devotional works. When Lanfranc died Anselm was made Archbishop of Canterbury and had to subordinate his scholarly work to the needs of the diocese and nation. Twice he endured exile for championing the rights of the Church against the authority of the king but, despite his stubbornness, intellectual rigour, and personal austerity, he was admired by the Norman nobility as well as much loved by his monks. He died in 1109.
Collect
Eternal God,
who gave great gifts to your servant Anselm
as a pastor and teacher:
grant that we, like him, may desire you with our whole heart
and, so desiring, may seek you
and, seeking, may find you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
A reading from the Book of Wisdom.
Who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?
For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail;
for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.
We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labour;
but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you,
and were saved by wisdom.
This is the word of the Lord.
Wisdom 9.13–end
Responsorial Psalm
R: Give us wisdom and understanding, O Lord,
[and send your Holy Spirit from on high].
In you, O Lord, do I seek refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;
incline your ear to me and save me. R
For you are my hope, O Lord God,
my confidence, even from my youth.
Upon you have I leaned from my birth,
when you drew me from my mother’s womb;
my praise shall be always of you. R
I have become a portent to many,
but you are my refuge and my strength.
Let my mouth be full of your praise
and your glory all the day long. R
From Psalm 71
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans.
God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
This is the word of the Lord.
Romans 5.8–11
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
