Anglican Ascetic

In professional sports there are all-star games. This is certainly true of professional baseball, professional basketball, professional hockey, and professional football (although football calls theirs the “pro-bowl” and basically no one pays any attention to it). To arrive at the group of players in these sports that participate in the all-star game involves balloting, they are elected. What are...

“And Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ And the blind man said to Him, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight.’” What could sight be for us, except the capacity to discern what is holy from what is unholy? As we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews, having the “faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” To distinguish what is of the Holy Spirit from that which is...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

Our Gospel passage picks up with two of the close apostles of Christ – Ss James and John, sons of Zebedee, sons of thunder—asking our Lord to sit one at His right hand and one at His left in His glory. This is their processing of the Transfiguration of Jesus, which they, along with S. Peter, witnessed. They were in awe of Christ’s Transfiguration, and wanted to emulate the two they saw with Jesus...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

This is the first of several sermons on stewardship. Yes, it coincides with the fact that pledge cards for next year are being sent out to every household. Yet it will be a sermon series not merely because of pledge cards. It is a sermon series because the topic of stewardship includes not only the household tithe for next year’s budget, but really the entire attitude we have toward the One, Holy...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

Our Lord teaches us today about the Sacrament of Matrimony. He says to the Pharisees: “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Saint Paul, writing...

There are two equal and opposite ways to devalue something. One way is to ignore it, which says that it is unimportant. The second way is to give it lots of exposure but in trivial ways, which teaches that it has no significant value. Angels have in recent times been devalued in both these ways. Angels have been dismissed as religious fairy tales by those who consider themselves too intellectually...

I want today to unpack the doctrine taught by the Church Father S. John of Damascus, which is included on our service bulletin. S. John of Damascus says, “The day of the Nativity of the Theotokos [that’s the title of Mary, it means “bearer of God”] is the feast of joy for the whole world, because through the Theotokos the entire human race was renewed and the grief of the first mother Eve was chan...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

And so it was that when Jesus taught the truth of the Eucharist, many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him. The Gospel both attracts, and it repels. The Gospel attracts those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who know they are in need of a Savior; the Gospel repels those who think themselves already righteous, not in need of a Savior. The specific teaching that repel...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

One of the mandatory steps within the process of being ordained to the Priesthood is to do an internship as a hospital chaplain. In my case, I spent twenty weeks in four hospitals in suburban Chicago, near where my family lived at the time (this was fall 2015). Although I spoke with priests who bemoaned and even regretted their chaplain internship experience (and I even heard some horror stories),...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

Over the recent Sundays I have been speaking about the five ways Christ taught the Church to know His presence among them. Firstly, in every baptized Christian; secondly, in Scripture opened and proclaimed in worship; thirdly, through Bishops, Priests, and Deacons validly ordained in the apostolic tradition; fourthly, in the Eucharist; which yields the fifth way, in the Tabernacle in the sanctuary...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

Recognizing Christ’s real and actual presence has been the cause of Christian joy from the beginning of creation—“as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.” Revealing to the Church this presence was also what Christ’s Resurrection was all about: revealing that Christ is present among us, that, because of His presence, He hears us, that because of His presence, He kn...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

As I preached last Sunday, the joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christ’s presence. I also added these words in the conclusion: “The disciples came to realize that no place is ever lonely unless Christ’s identity is forgotten. Jesus Christ is both true God and true man. Christ is present here, how can we not be joyful?” Recognizing Christ’s real and actual presence has been the cause of Christian j...

Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage...

Our reflections during this liturgical season have gotten to a certain realization, and it is this: The joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christ’s presence. It was for Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation as we have seen this liturgical season. It was for Simeon and Anna at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. It was for S. John Baptist and other disciples at the beginning of S. John’s Gospel a...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from...

Reflecting again this week on the episode of the Holy Visitation of Blessed Mary, Mother of God to Saint Elisabeth, as depicted in our icon, and in the light of our readings from Scripture, I am struck by the trust in God that Mary and Elisabeth felt as they met together. And why wouldn’t they trust God? God did what He said He would: He had made good on His promises. Both Mary and Elisabeth were...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs. The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from...