Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, July 2, 2006

COLLECT.
Let us pray.We beseech thee, O Lord, pour into our hearts the abundance of thy heavenly grace : that like as the child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin Mary was unto us thy servants the beginning of salvation, so the devout observance of her Visitation may avail for the increasing of our peace. Through the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon by St. John Chrysostom.

As soon as our Redeemer was come among us, he went with haste, while as yet he was in his mother's womb, to visit his friend John. And John, in the one womb, as if conscious of the presence of Jesus in the other womb, dashed himself impatiently against the narrow walls of his natural prison, as though crying out : I perceive the very Lord that gave nature her bounds! Why therefore should I wait for the due season of my birth? What need is there for me to linger here till nine months are ended, now that the Timeless One is with me! I would break out of my dark cell! I would proclaim my manifold knowledge of marvellous things! I am meant to be a sign, and so even now I would shew that the Christ is here! I am the trumpet-voice, and I desire to peal forth the news that the Son of God is come in the flesh. Let me sound as a trumpet, and bless and loose my father's tongue, and make it speak again! Let me sound as a trumpet and quicken my mother's womb!

Thou seest, O brethren beloved, how new and how strange a mystery is here! John is not yet born, but by leaping he speaketh. He is as yet unseen, but he giveth warning. He is not yet able to cry, but by his acts he beareth witness. He draweth not yet the breath of life, but he preacheth God. He seeth not yet the light, but he maketh known the Sun. He is not yet come out of the womb, but he hasteth to play the Forerunner. In the presence of the Lord he cannot restrain himself, but rebelleth against the bounds set by nature, and struggleth to break out of the prisoning womb, eager to herald the coming Saviour. He saith, as it were : Behold, the Deliverer cometh, and why am I yet in bonds, and made to abide here? The Word cometh, that he may set right all things, and am I still to tarry in prison? I would go forth! I would run before him, and proclaim to all mankind : Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

But do thou tell us, O John, how it came to pass that while thou wast still in the darkness of thy mother's womb, thou didst see and hear? How didst thou behold the things of God? How didst thou leap and bound for joy? If we could hear him answer, he would say : Great is the mystery of that which here taketh place. Beyond the understanding of men are these doings! It is meet that I should shew forth a new thing in nature for the sake of him who is making new things which are beyond nature. Even though I be yet in the womb, I perceive, for forth upon me from another womb the Sun of Righteousness shineth. As it were, with mine ears I understand, for I was created to be the Voice of the Great Word. I would cry aloud, for I contemplate the only-begotten Son of the Father clothed in flesh. I tremble for joy, for I perceive that he, by whom all things were made, hath taken upon him the form of a servant. I leap as I think of the Redeemer of the world being made flesh, for I would run before his coming. Nonetheless, I herald his approach unto you as best I can, and make on this wise my confession of him whose Forerunner I am.

We must here consider that the greater cometh unto the lesser, in order to help the lesser : Mary unto Elisabeth, Christ unto John. And again afterwards, that he might sanctify John's baptisms, the Lord came unto him to be baptized. And quickly were these blessings of Mary's coming, and of the divine presence, made manifest. Have regard here to the distinction made, and to the special weight of every word. Elisabeth was the first to hear the voice of Mary's salutation, but John was the first to receive the grace. She heard it by natural means, but he leaped by reason of the mystery. She hailed the coming of Mary, he that of the Lord. Mary and Elisabeth spake words full of grace, but Jesus and John worked unseen within, and did enter upon this mystery of godliness as their mothers met one another. And so by twin miracles the mothers prophesied from the spirit of their unborn offspring. The babe John leaped, and the mother was filled with the Holy Ghost. The mother was not filled before her son, but when the son was filled with the Holy Ghost, he filled his mother also.

And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? That is to say, how cometh it to pass that so great a good should befall me, as that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? I feel the wonder, I acknowledge the mystery ; the Mother of my Lord, pregnant with the Word, is full of God. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. It is meet to record how Mary shewed this kindness, and abode this mystic number of months. ¶ She tarried long, not only for friendship's sake, but also for the good of the great Prophet. For if the first coming of Mary so blessed him, that even as a babe in the womb he leapt for joy, and his mother was filled with the Holy Ghost, what blessedness must we not deem to have flowed upon him from so long neighbourhood of Mary? Thus was the Prophet anointed, and trained by exercise like a strong wrestler, in his mother's womb, for his sinews are being braced for a hard battle.

At what time Peter and Paul were kept in the Mamertine Prison at the foot of the Tarpeian Rock, two of the gaolers, named Processus and Martinian, along with other forty, were moved by the preaching and miracles of the Apostles to believe in Christ, and were baptized in a spring which suddenly brake forth out of the rock. These men let the Apostles depart if they willed it. But Paulinus, Prefect of the soldiers, when he heard what was come to pass, strove to turn away Processus and Martinian from their purpose. And when he found that he but wasted time, he ordered their faces to be bruised and their teeth to be broken with stones. Moreover, when he had had them led to the image of Jupiter, and they still boldly answered that they would not worship the gods, he caused them to be tormented on the rack, and white-hot plates of metal to be put to their flesh, and that they should be beaten with sticks. Whileas they were suffering all these things they were heard to say only this one word : Blessed be the Name of the Lord. They were afterwards cast into prison, and in a little while they were taken outside the city, and slain with the axe, upon the Aurelian Way. The Lady Lucina buried their bodies upon her own farm, upon the 2nd day of July, but they were afterwards brought into the City, and are buried in the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles.

from the Anglican Breviary, Matins.

 

Unofficial ICCEC Yahoo Group

DESCRIPTION.

A Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC) discussion and prayer group. This is not an official CEC forum but will be used by members of the ICCEC to seriously discuss matters of the beliefs, theology, practices, and spirituality of the ICCEC; to become better acquainted with others in our Church; to share prayer requests, etc; and all with the goal of edifying each other, deepening our faith in Jesus Christ, and strengthening our fidelity to our Patriarch, Bishops, Clergy, and Members.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ICCECgroup/

Blog Wars and Crisis in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC)

Blog Wars and Crisis in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC)

As with any human enterprise, organization, or church, the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC) has its problems. Some are more serious than others. I will not air all of our dirty laundry in cyber-space for all to see, point the finger, wag their heads, and mock at. Yet, this is exactly what has been happening on other blogsites that I have recently become aware of.

Although I am seriously concerned about many of the problems facing my Communion, I am equally, if not more so, disgusted with the various Blog Wars assailing my Church. The hateful, malicious, and slanderous nature of many of these bloggers has more in common with a Jihad than with showing the love of Christ.

First, our Lord Christ commands us to not only love God and our neighbor but also to love our enemies (Luke 6. 32-36). How much more should we love our fellow Christian, even when they have fallen into sin? These blog warriors are not demonstrating love but hate, resentment, anger, bitterness, slander, and maliciousness, etc.

Second, in 1 Corinthians 6.1-7, St. Paul encourages us to rather suffer wrong for the sake of Christ than to seek for one’s own justification.
“1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?

Third, we are called to bear one another’s burdens. St Paul, in Galatias 6, says, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentelness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear on another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Fourth, Christ gave us a pattern for handling our problems in the Church. In Matthew 18.15-17, it reads, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church…”

Many of these Blog Warriors are not exemplifying any of the characteristic traits of Christian piety, discipline, or charity. They are self-appointed Bishop and judges, who are manifesting a spirit of hatefulness, bitterness, and rebellion. They are slandering an entire Communion and specific individuals through a public medium (rather than doing it privately, in person, alone, or with witnesses).

Why are you blogging on a public forum? For those of you who remain in the CEC, why are you not submitting your problems to your Priest? To the Church? To your Bishop? For those of you who have left our ranks, why are you still complaining and slandering?

I have only mentioned a few Biblical Principles, but none of them mention making a public show of grievances. There are no Biblical or Christian principle which justify a Holy Crusade or Blog War against our neighbor, our brethren, or even an enemy! Rather, the Scriptures teach us the exact opposite. There is a proper way of doing things and all is to be done in charity.

I will leave you with one example from the saints. I do not remember where I read this story but it tells of a young woman, probably during the Middle Ages, who greatly desired the religious life. She wanted to live a life of prayer and surrender to the Lord but there were no convents where she lived. So, she shaved her head, posed as a man and entered life in a monastery. Sometime later, a woman from the local village accused her of raping her and fathering her child. Of course, this was not true or possible. She could have sought to justify herself and disclosed her secret. But she did not. She took the child and raised it as her own and lived in shame and isolation. It was not until her death, when preparing her body for burial, that she was justified.

Although something could be said about her deception, there is much more that could be said about her humility and willingness to choose to suffer wrong rather than seek her own self-justification.


Respectfully,

Fr Aidan Hix+

Feast of the Precious Blood

Today, July 1, 2006 is the Feast of the Precious Blood.

From St Chysostom:

Wouldst thou learn the power of the Blood of Christ? Then let us look at the figure thereof, by calling to mind the ancient type written in the ancient Scriptures. In Egypt, at midnight, God threatened the Egyptians with the tenth plague, by which their first-born should perish, because they kept in captivity his first-born people. But, lest the beloved Jews should share their danger, because they were all in the same place, he found, in his wisdom, a remedy. Behold then a wonderful figure, that thou mayest learn his power in truth. The anger of the divine indignation was expected, and the Angel of Death circled over every home. What, therefore, did Moses do? Kill, saith he, a yearling lamb, and sprinkle the doors with its blood. What sayest thou, O Moses? Is the blood of a sheep likely to deliver a reasoning man? Yea, in good sooth, saith he ; not by what that blood is in itself, but because by it, there is displayed a figure of the Blood of the Lord.

For as the statues of monarchs, mindless and speechless images though they be, have sometimes been an helpful refuge to men endowed with soul and reason, not because they are made of bronze, but because the likeness they bear is a King's. And just so did this unconscious blood deliver the lives of men, not because it was blood, but because it foreshadowed the shedding of the Blood of Jesus. On that night in Egypt, when the destroying Angel saw the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, he passed over the door, and dared not to enter in unto the house. Even so now much more will the destroyer of souls flee away when he seeth, not the lintel and the two side-posts sprinkled with the blood of a lamb, but the mouth of the faithful Christian, the living dwelling of the Holy Ghost, shining with the Blood of the True Messiah. For if the Angel stopped before the type, how much more shall the enemy tremble if he should perceive the reality itself? Wouldest thou hear more of the power of that Blood? I am willing. Consider from what source it welleth, from what fountain it springeth. Its fountain is the Cross itself, its source is the Side of the Lord. The soldier opened his Side, and laid open the wall of that holy temple ; and I have found that most noble treasure, and I rejoice to discover the glittering riches.

And so was it done concerning that Lamb : the Jews killed a sheep, and I have learned the value of the sacrament. From the Side flowed forth Blood and Water. I would not, O my hearer, that thou shouldest pass by the depths of such a mystery as this without pausing ; for I have yet a mystic and mysterious discourse to deliver. I have said that the Water and Blood shewed forth symbolically baptism and the sacraments. For from these, holy Church was founded by the laver of regeneration, and the renovation of the Holy Ghost. Through baptism, I say, and through the sacraments, which seem to have issued from his Side. It was therefore out of the Side of Christ that the Church was created, just as it was out of the side of Adam that Eve was raised up to be his bride. This is the reason why Paul saith, no doubt in allusion to his Side : We are members of his Body, and of his bones. For even as God made the woman Eve out of the rib which he had taken out of the side of Adam, so hath Christ made the Church out of the Blood and Water which he made to flow for us out of his own Side. - On the occasion of the nineteenth centenary of the accomplishment of the redemption of mankind, as a fitting celebration of this ineffable blessing, Pope Pius XI decreed an extraordinary Jubilee. During that year the Supreme Pontiff, wishing that the fruits of the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb without spot, might redound more abundantly upon mankind and that the minds of the faithful be impressed with more vivid recollections of this same Blood as the price of their redemption, elevated the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to the rank of a double of the first class, to be celebrated as such every year by the universal Church.

COLLECT
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, who didst ordain that thine only begotten Son should be the Redeemer of the world, and hast vouchsafed to accept his Blood as the propitiation for our sins : mercifully grant that we who here rejoice to honour that Blood, the price of our salvation ; may be defended by its power in this present world, and rejoice in the everlasting fruits thereof in the world to come. Through the same.

ICCEC: Charismatic Episcopal Church Links

http://www.trinitycommunion.org/
http://frmattmirabile.blogspot.com/