Happy 7th Day of Christmas!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLIdT8DFI0
Fr. Troy Beecham
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Friday, December 30, 2016
Pray for peace
Pray for peace! Work for peace! Live in peace!
http://archbishopcranmer.com/christian-missionaries-aleppo-crucified-beheaded/
Fr. Troy Beecham
http://archbishopcranmer.com/christian-missionaries-aleppo-crucified-beheaded/
Fr. Troy Beecham
6th Day of Christmas
Happy 6th Day of Christmas!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvEwC0wZ-I
Fr. Troy Beecham
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvEwC0wZ-I
Fr. Troy Beecham
Thursday, December 29, 2016
5th Christmas & Thomas Beckett
Happy 5th Day of Christmas!
Today the Church also remembers St. Thomas Beckett. Born in AD 1118, Thomas eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury. In AD 1170, Thomas was brutally murdered after he confronted the king for his seeking to exert power over the life of the Church.
"Will someone not rid me of this meddlesome priest", said the king. Four knights burst into the cathedral at night, and murdered him at the high altar.
For those who stand up to power, who refuse to be bullied, who work for liberty in conscience, and freedom of religion, St. Thomas Beckett, pray for us.
Fr. Troy Beecham
Today the Church also remembers St. Thomas Beckett. Born in AD 1118, Thomas eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury. In AD 1170, Thomas was brutally murdered after he confronted the king for his seeking to exert power over the life of the Church.
"Will someone not rid me of this meddlesome priest", said the king. Four knights burst into the cathedral at night, and murdered him at the high altar.
For those who stand up to power, who refuse to be bullied, who work for liberty in conscience, and freedom of religion, St. Thomas Beckett, pray for us.
Fr. Troy Beecham
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Do not fear Herod
Do not fear the Herods of this world...
"But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne."
-Malcom Guite
Fr. Troy Beecham
"But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne."
-Malcom Guite
Fr. Troy Beecham
4th Christmas & Holy Innocents
Happy 4th Day of Christmas!
Today the Church also remembers the Holy Innocents, that otherwise nameless and unremembered group of children who were brutally murdered by a power mad king in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus and so eliminate a possible threat to his continued dominion.
How often do we accept when we are told by those holding the reins of power that "collateral damage" is acceptable or inevitable, or do we turn a blind eye towards the suffering of children, when inflicted in the name of maintaining privilege, luxury, access to cheap goods, or dominion?
How long until we see every human person as our own child, our own most beloved, for whom we have the duty of care? How long until we refuse to serve any power, system, economy, or person that reduces anyone into a commodity, a problem to be eliminated, an alien, or as lacking the same human dignity that we demand for ourselves?
...until the day that we are ourselves transformed by the love of God, and the world is renewed...
For the dawning of that day, please, pray.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCLwwmtKjs
Fr. Troy Beecham
Today the Church also remembers the Holy Innocents, that otherwise nameless and unremembered group of children who were brutally murdered by a power mad king in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus and so eliminate a possible threat to his continued dominion.
How often do we accept when we are told by those holding the reins of power that "collateral damage" is acceptable or inevitable, or do we turn a blind eye towards the suffering of children, when inflicted in the name of maintaining privilege, luxury, access to cheap goods, or dominion?
How long until we see every human person as our own child, our own most beloved, for whom we have the duty of care? How long until we refuse to serve any power, system, economy, or person that reduces anyone into a commodity, a problem to be eliminated, an alien, or as lacking the same human dignity that we demand for ourselves?
...until the day that we are ourselves transformed by the love of God, and the world is renewed...
For the dawning of that day, please, pray.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCLwwmtKjs
Fr. Troy Beecham
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Conversion
Lovely meditation on conversion/transformation of life
http://deankevin.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/the-three-conversions-of-christian-life.html?m=1
Fr. Troy Beecham
http://deankevin.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/the-three-conversions-of-christian-life.html?m=1
Fr. Troy Beecham
Pray for peace
Pray for peace. Work for peace. Live in peace.
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/persecution-christians-not-here-there
Fr. Troy Beecham
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/persecution-christians-not-here-there
Fr. Troy Beecham
3rd Day of Christmas
Happy 3rd Day of Christmas!
Today the Church also remembers John, the "beloved disciple", who as a young man was one of the early disciples of Jesus. Of all the male apostles, John is the only one who did not run away when Jesus was arrested and crucified. He stood with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the the cross, and there Jesus commended the duty of care for his mother to him. John cared for Mary until her death many years later.
He lived to old age, even though he faced exile, deprivation, and torture because of his faith in Jesus. He wrote many of the works that are part of the Christian holy scriptures, perhaps most famously the words that begin with "God so loved the world..." and "God is love".
In gratitude we remember John, faithful witness of Jesus and his astonishing revelation that the nature of God is love.
Fr. Troy Beecham
Today the Church also remembers John, the "beloved disciple", who as a young man was one of the early disciples of Jesus. Of all the male apostles, John is the only one who did not run away when Jesus was arrested and crucified. He stood with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the the cross, and there Jesus commended the duty of care for his mother to him. John cared for Mary until her death many years later.
He lived to old age, even though he faced exile, deprivation, and torture because of his faith in Jesus. He wrote many of the works that are part of the Christian holy scriptures, perhaps most famously the words that begin with "God so loved the world..." and "God is love".
In gratitude we remember John, faithful witness of Jesus and his astonishing revelation that the nature of God is love.
Fr. Troy Beecham
Monday, December 26, 2016
St Stephen - the 2nd Day of Christmas
On this second day of Christmas the Church remembers St. Stephen, a deacon of the early Church of Jerusalem, who was the first Christian martyr, murdered for being a known disciple of Jesus.
It seems an odd thing for the Church to honor a victim of such a horrible death on the day after it celebrates the birth of the Holy Child. It asks us to consider our religion, ask what place and importance it has in our lives, and begs the question if our lives are any different, any more true, because we follow Jesus.
This is the prayer for the feast of St. Stephen:
We give thee thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to thy Son Jesus Christ, who standeth at thy right hand; where he liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Here's a lovely meditation for this second day of Christmas:
http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2016/12/26/christmas-is-about-martyrdom-the-lesson-of-st-stephen/
Fr. Troy Beecham
It seems an odd thing for the Church to honor a victim of such a horrible death on the day after it celebrates the birth of the Holy Child. It asks us to consider our religion, ask what place and importance it has in our lives, and begs the question if our lives are any different, any more true, because we follow Jesus.
This is the prayer for the feast of St. Stephen:
We give thee thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to thy Son Jesus Christ, who standeth at thy right hand; where he liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Here's a lovely meditation for this second day of Christmas:
http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2016/12/26/christmas-is-about-martyrdom-the-lesson-of-st-stephen/
Fr. Troy Beecham
Sunday, December 25, 2016
O Great Mystery
For those faithful who see the wondrous, loving face of God in the fragile uncertainty of the baby Jesus, who's birth we celebrate today, I offer this hymn of astonished praise:
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.
O great mystery
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the new-born Lord
lying in a manger!
O blessed is the Virgin, whose womb
was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj9-2RgM6p4
Fr. Troy Beecham
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.
O great mystery
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the new-born Lord
lying in a manger!
O blessed is the Virgin, whose womb
was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj9-2RgM6p4
Fr. Troy Beecham
Friday, December 23, 2016
O Emmanuel
The final Antiphon for Evening Prayer tonight
Latin:
O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.
English:
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh2S2lh2ekY
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.
English:
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh2S2lh2ekY
Fr. Troy Beecham
O Rex Gentium
The sixth O Antiphon for Evening Prayer
In Latin:
O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.
English:
O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-zf5q8gBKpk
Fr. Troy Beecham
In Latin:
O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.
English:
O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-zf5q8gBKpk
Fr. Troy Beecham
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
O Oriens
The fifth Antiphon for Evening Prayer tonight.
Latin:
O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
English:
O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyIyHgW4AI
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
English:
O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyIyHgW4AI
Fr. Troy Beecham
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
How to help
Folks have asked how they can help our sisters and brothers in Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan in a practical way.
There are many charitable organizations involved in international relief work, not all of them of equal value. Please check the charity navigator website before giving.
A few of the top rated organizations are:
episcopalrelief.org
care.org
heifer.org
jrsusa.org
catholiccharitiesusa.org
Fr. Troy Beecham
There are many charitable organizations involved in international relief work, not all of them of equal value. Please check the charity navigator website before giving.
A few of the top rated organizations are:
episcopalrelief.org
care.org
heifer.org
jrsusa.org
catholiccharitiesusa.org
Fr. Troy Beecham
O Clavis David
The fourth antiphon for Evening Prayer
Latin:
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
English:
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C6N5w4-a4
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
English:
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C6N5w4-a4
Fr. Troy Beecham
Monday, December 19, 2016
O Lord, save us!
Bombings in Jordan, Turkey, Yemen, and Libya over the weekend; the people of Aleppo are enduring horror beyond imagining; political assassination of an ambassador on live tv today; South Sudan on the verge of genocidal civil war; Congo on the brink of civil war...we cannot seem to help doing our best to deliver each other into the hands of darkness, terror, and suffering.
God, help us! May your kingdom come! Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, help us! Help us, who call ourselves your disciples, to become peacemakers, healers, and humble servants of all.
O come, O come Immanuel!
Fr. Troy Beecham
God, help us! May your kingdom come! Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, help us! Help us, who call ourselves your disciples, to become peacemakers, healers, and humble servants of all.
O come, O come Immanuel!
Fr. Troy Beecham
O Radix Jesse
The third O Antiphon for Evening Prayer tonight
Latin:
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
English:
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VPlfJuq2QZw
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
English:
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VPlfJuq2QZw
Fr. Troy Beecham
One identity, one calling
The Church of England cannot be saved without the Church of the East, nor the Church of Rome without Protestantism; nor can England be saved without Serbia, nor Europe without China, nor America without Africa, nor this generation without the generations past and those to come. We are all one life, one organism. If one part of this organism is sick, all other parts should be suffering.
Therefore let the healthy parts of the Church take care of the sick ones. Self-sufficiency means the postponement of the end of the world and the prolongation of human sufferings. It is of no use to change Churches and go from one Church to another seeking salvation: salvation is in every Church as long as a Church thinks and cares in sisterly love for all other Churches, looking upon them as parts of the same body, or there is salvation in no Church so long as a Church thinks and cares only for herself, contemptuously denying the rights, beauty, truth and merits of all other Churches. It is a great thing to love one’s Church, as it is a great thing to love one’s country, but it is much better to love other Churches and other countries too.
Now, in this time, when the whole Christian world is in a convulsive struggle one part against the other, now or never the consciousness of the desire for one Church of Christ on earth should dawn in our souls, and now or never should the appreciation, right understanding and love for each part of this one Church of Christ on earth should dawn in our souls, and now or never should the appreciation, right understanding and love for each part of this one Church begin in our hearts.
We must return to the only source of Christian strength and majesty—to the spirit of Christ. This rebirth and the revival of Christianity are possible only in a united Church of Christ. This unity is possible only if built on the foundations of the original Church.
Liberalism, conservatism, ceremonialism, right, nationalism, imperialism, law, democracy, autocracy, republicanism, socialism, scientific criticism, and similar things have filled Christian theology, Christian service, Christian pulpits as the Christian Gospel. In reality the Christian Gospel is as different from all these worldly ideas and temporal forms as heaven is different from earth.
St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Agony of the Church
(An Orthodox bishop and theologian, in the ecumenical meetings and dialogues between the two World Wars, and later he was present, as the accredited visitor, at the meeting of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954. Bishop Nikolai considered the prerequisite for the achievement of union among the Churches to be mutual love.)
Fr. Troy Beecham
Therefore let the healthy parts of the Church take care of the sick ones. Self-sufficiency means the postponement of the end of the world and the prolongation of human sufferings. It is of no use to change Churches and go from one Church to another seeking salvation: salvation is in every Church as long as a Church thinks and cares in sisterly love for all other Churches, looking upon them as parts of the same body, or there is salvation in no Church so long as a Church thinks and cares only for herself, contemptuously denying the rights, beauty, truth and merits of all other Churches. It is a great thing to love one’s Church, as it is a great thing to love one’s country, but it is much better to love other Churches and other countries too.
Now, in this time, when the whole Christian world is in a convulsive struggle one part against the other, now or never the consciousness of the desire for one Church of Christ on earth should dawn in our souls, and now or never should the appreciation, right understanding and love for each part of this one Church of Christ on earth should dawn in our souls, and now or never should the appreciation, right understanding and love for each part of this one Church begin in our hearts.
We must return to the only source of Christian strength and majesty—to the spirit of Christ. This rebirth and the revival of Christianity are possible only in a united Church of Christ. This unity is possible only if built on the foundations of the original Church.
Liberalism, conservatism, ceremonialism, right, nationalism, imperialism, law, democracy, autocracy, republicanism, socialism, scientific criticism, and similar things have filled Christian theology, Christian service, Christian pulpits as the Christian Gospel. In reality the Christian Gospel is as different from all these worldly ideas and temporal forms as heaven is different from earth.
St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Agony of the Church
(An Orthodox bishop and theologian, in the ecumenical meetings and dialogues between the two World Wars, and later he was present, as the accredited visitor, at the meeting of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954. Bishop Nikolai considered the prerequisite for the achievement of union among the Churches to be mutual love.)
Fr. Troy Beecham
Sunday, December 18, 2016
O Antiphons
The second O Antiphon of Evening Prayer.
Latin:
O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
English:
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CvafrxZ_Ww4
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
English:
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CvafrxZ_Ww4
Fr. Troy Beecham
Saturday, December 17, 2016
O Antiphons of Advent
As we enter the last week of Advent and draw near to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we sing these antiphons as part of vespers.
Latin:
O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
English:
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VcoYzoSfZUc
Fr. Troy Beecham
Latin:
O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
English:
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VcoYzoSfZUc
Fr. Troy Beecham
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Aleppo
Pray for the people of Aleppo, and all those who seek to help them in their time of need.
https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/posts/10154021085806496
https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/posts/10154021085806496
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
South Sudan
Pray and work for peace
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/dec/14/south-sudan-swift-action-genocide-un-human-rights-chief
Aleppo
Aleppo
Dear God, help us.
What darkness arises out of our brokenness and estrangement from your grace! We continue to devour ourselves and the world around us through the horrors of war, genocide, slavery, and tyranny.
We continue to believe the lie that we are able to engineer our own paradise, a belief that inevitably leads us to doing wicked things to each other because we always end up identifying someone as being expendable in the pursuit of our vision of peace.
Help us with your grace to turn away from the darkness that rages in our hearts and consumes our spirits, turning us into beasts bent only on satisfying our basest desires.
Help us, Lord Jesus, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to find our life, our hope, our paradise, and our salvation in you, by offering ourselves to God and each other in self-emptying love, your love that makes for peace, empties the darkness in our hearts of any power, and restores us to the life of grace.
We pray for the people of Aleppo. Help us, O Lord our God!
Worship
Thoughtful article on the nature and purpose of Christian worship.
http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2016/12/14/worship-or-works-engaging-michael-curry-and-richard-rohr/
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Christmas giving
Give to those in need this Christmas and Hanukkah:
heifer.org
ajws.org
episcopalrelief.org
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
St. Nicholas
Today, the Church remembers and give thanks for St. Nicholas.
Before being merged with a north European pre-Christian deity and turned into Santa Claus, St. Nicholas was a real man who lived in Asia Minor in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. Nicholas suffered terribly during the last official persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire, yet never abandoned his faith. He became known for his many acts of generosity...a radical Christian generosity which led him to give away his great inherited wealth.
Eventually he was chosen to be a priest and bishop of the small Christian community in Myra because of his faithfulness and endurance during the deadly persecution and for the witness of his astonishing humility and charity in giving away his wealth to save others from slavery and starvation.
We thank God for the living witness of St. Nicholas, who shows us that a life of faith, humility, and compassion is possible and so very needed in our human family.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Advent
For Christians, the new year begins today with the beginning of Advent, the season of expectation, hope, and preparation for the birth of Jesus.
Our human family so desires to see an end to war, poverty, indignity, and deprivation. We long for a world at peace, where all people experience plenty, and everyone has a home filled with family and friends.
Sadly, we continue to try and achieve these most sacred and precious hopes in ways that polarize us away from each other, which inevitably prioritize some people over others, or attempt to impose some version of utopia through the use of force.
The Church teaches us is that there is no human power, no expression of human agency, that will lead us all, together, to paradise. We are not able to engineer our own redemption. We cannot return to paradise through our own efforts. We always, always end of sacrificing some for the benefit of others.
To whom, then, may we turn for hope? Who is faithful, and will fulfill the promises made to humankind from the beginning of ages?
We turn to Jesus.
For those who truly follow Jesus, we are not asked to build any kingdoms, or to place any hope in kingdoms built by human hands, or to labor for any kingdom that has its origins in the strength of humankind.
Instead, we are called to be heralds of what the Lord God is already doing to redeem us, to proclaim the first light of the dawn that is already breaking upon this present darkness, to joyfully announce that our hope, the desire of nations, has been born to us in the vulnerable infant Savior.
In this season of Advent, the faithful renew their identity and calling to be heralds of the birth of Jesus, of the rising of the bright morning star, and offer hope to the world through embracing a life of humility, self-emptying love, mercy, compassion, and peacemaking.
O come, O come Immanuel!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
"For some, church attendance is seen as quaint and outdated, and “spirituality” has become a code word for, “No thanks, I’m sleeping in on Sunday.” What this go-it-alone movement will usher out, it seems, is the benefits of being in the pews. After all, the research has shown that service attendance, rather than private spirituality or solitary practice, strongly predicts health. Something about communal religious participation appears to be essential."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/10/28/religion-church-attendance-mortality-column/92676964/
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Michaelmas
Today the Church celebrates the Feast day of St. Michael and All Angels, also known as Michaelmas. Blessings on this beautiful day as we pray,
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwTDwbVM3o
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Fr. Troy Beecham: Happy 5thDay of Christmas!Aninteresting day to re...
Fr. Troy Beecham: Happy 5thDay of Christmas!
Aninteresting day to re...: Happy 5th Day of Christmas! An interesting day to register a domain name and create a website. Pray for me, blessed St. Thomas Beckett...
Aninteresting day to re...: Happy 5th Day of Christmas! An interesting day to register a domain name and create a website. Pray for me, blessed St. Thomas Beckett...
Mercy
God, have mercy on us, and help us.
We seem intent on destroying ourselves, often in your name. Forgive us for trying to drag you into justifying the violences that we do to each other.
Thank you for showing us through the life of your Son Jesus that your nature is love, so that we know how to truly recognize your presence. Help us to love each other, with humility, compassion, mercy, and grace.
For our sisters and brothers in France today, victims yet again of terrorism, send to them healing, consolation, and hope. If the way you send it is through me, help me to say 'yes' to your loving Spirit that I will go where you send me.
Amen.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Ascension
Today, the Western Church celebrates the feast of the Ascension of Jesus.
The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, also known as Ascension Thursday or Ascension Day, commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical feasts (i.e., universally celebrated) of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter, and Pentecost. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter (following the count given in Acts 1:3).
The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Eusebius seems to hint at the celebration of it in the 4th century. At the beginning of the 5th century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. Frequent mention of it is made in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles. The Pilgrimage of Aetheria speaks of the vigil of this feast and of the feast itself, as they were kept in the church built over the grotto in Bethlehem in which Christ was born. It may be that prior to the 5th century the fact narrated in the Gospels was commemorated in conjunction with the feast of Easter or Pentecost. Some believe that the much-disputed forty-third decree of the Synod of Elvira (c. 300) condemning the practice of observing a feast on the fortieth day after Easter and neglecting to keep Pentecost on the fiftieth day, implies that the proper usage of the time was to commemorate the Ascension along with Pentecost. Representations of the mystery are found in diptychs and frescoes dating as early as the 5th century.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Epiphany
Happy Feast Day of the Epiphany!
Epiphany, meaning "manifestation", is also called the Theophany, the "appearing of God" in the Eastern Churches, and Dia de Reyes, Kings Day, in Latin American and Hispanic cultures. On this day, the Church commemorates the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem to worship God, who has so wondrously become one of us in the the infant Jesus, God incarnate.
In his humanity, Jesus is a Jew, a rabbi, a descendant of David. In eternal faithfulfulness to the covenant made with the Jewish people, God promised to send them a savior, who will also be a light to all nations and peoples.
Born in the most humble circumstances, in an animal pen, with a feeding trough for a crib, God shows us that there is no place so despised or situation so hopeless where his love will not make a home. Adored first by shepherds, God shows us truly that the meek and lowly in heart are nearest to seeing the glory of the Lord. And with the arrival of the magi, God reveals to us that the gift of grace, the invitation to a life of transforming redemption in Jesus, is freely offered to all people, even those whom we might think of as being foreigners, outsiders, or unclean. In the magi, we see that the Gentiles, and that mean me, are included in the promise of salvation.
So today, we rejoice and give thanks for the revelation of the astonishing love and amazing grace given to the world by God, who became one of us in Jesus, and who invites all nations and every people to love one another and to live in peace.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
8th Day of Christmas & Holy Name of Jesus
Happy 8th Day of Christmas!
Today the Church also remembers the Holy Name of Jesus, the feast of the naming of the child Jesus; as recounted in the Gospel read on that day, "at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
The faithful are called to contemplate again this wondrous mystery: that the one who called the galaxies, stars, and worlds into being, and gave each a name, loved us so much that he became vulnerable to us, entrusted himself to us as an infant, and allowed us to give him a name.
So today we call upon the Incarnate holy child, the Prince of Peace, to came among us again, to bring peace to our confused, lost, yet ultimately loved human family, and call us each by our true name: beloved, redeemed, holy, child of God.
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