Anglican Ascetic

Among the many things that can be said about the Visitation of Blessed Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos) to Saint Elisabeth is that it was an act of love. I mean by Mary. She made a many-day journey to the hill country, to share the joy of the Gospel with her relatives, both Saint Elisabeth and Saint Zechariah. And among what is startling about this moment is that Saint Luke does not share with us w...

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...

Attention to language is often something that people gently ridicule in others. When a person is regarded as paying too close attention to words and their meaning, they are said to be “splitting hairs.” Or it is dismissed with “oh, that’s just being semantic,” meaning, it is not necessary to pay such close attention to words: the meaning is about the same either way. Six, or one half dozen of the...

I concluded my preaching last Sunday with these words: The key thing is this: what makes Christianity happen is gospel joy: it is the antidote to spiritual desolation, and through it we plant the seeds of good intentions in our heart, inward seeds to which God gives the growth. All that lays behind the teaching today from Saint Paul: that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has...

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...

I have chosen the theme of the “Joy of the Gospel” for my preaching this summer because gospel joy is something all Christians need to be constantly reminded about. Gospel joy—the joy of the Gospel Who is Jesus Christ our Savior—is the antidote to an ailment in the spiritual life found in many Christians, and perhaps in all Christians at various points in their baptized life. Symptoms include feel...

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...

“O God,” our Collect begins, “O God, from whom all good doth come.” How much we need to remember this! And not only what is good comes from God: Everything that is good, everything that is true, everything that is beautiful, comes from God, and has its origin in Him. He has given us every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; we shall h...

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...

This past Friday was a great feast of the Church. The 31st of May on our Kalendar means the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Elisabeth. This the Virgin Mother did immediately after the Annunciation to her by the Archangel Gabriel, that she was to be the Mother of God, which in Greek is “Theotokos.” There is a great lesson in this: for what Mary heard was the Gospel itsel...

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...

The predominant character of the Coming of the Holy Ghost on the Day Pentecost is one of explosive spiritual energy coming upon the 120 disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem through their abiding in the words of Jesus in their hearts as He revealed Himself to them through the opening of Scripture and the breaking of bread. This is the birth of the life of the Church, celebrated last Sunday and...

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 will be devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We are going through the entirety of the Song of Songs, verse by verse. The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes comment...

And so the womb of the Upper Room went boom. To those that believe in Christ, to those who abide in Him, to those who keep His commandments, Jesus said “Out of [their hearts] shall flow rivers of living water.” The hearts of the Upper Room apostles were full of the Holy Spirit. They had all become like Blessed Mary at the Annunciation: full of grace because their souls were overshadowed, their hea...

Keeping in our Liturgy the Vigil of Pentecost, as distinct from the feast day of Pentecost itself, means we are in this Mass participating in the fermenting prayer of the 120 apostles in the Upper Room on the ninth day, us with them who are awaiting the Promise of the Father. Let us put ourselves into the 120 apostles; let us put ourselves with the Upper Room Church of Jerusalem. What would it be...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below. A Lesson from the Gospel a...

Having passed into the season of Ascensiontide, and on this Sunday after the Ascension fittingly called “Upper Room Sunday,” for we are with the 120 apostles in the Upper Room, and having therefore reached the end of the Eastertide mystagogical preaching I have done—on what it means for Jesus Christ to be the Bridegroom who at the coming in the middle of the night admits those rich with the oil of...

As we have heard this Eastertide the prayer of the Bridegroom, let us hear two portions of it again. Firstly: Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching. And we know what it means to be found watching by Our Lord. It means as He taught us in the Farewell Discourse of S. John’s Gospel: it means to abide in Christ’s love. “If you keep my commandm...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below. A Lesson from the Gospel a...

To begin today I will again read the prayer that was used during Holy Week Liturgy on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It is this: Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below. A Lesson from the Gospel a...

The Eastertide reflections are on the Holy Week services of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And the dominant image of the Liturgy on those days was Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom. Holding those services together was a prayer, said serveral times each service. And the prayer was this: Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and agai...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below. A Lesson from the Gospel a...

As I explained last Sunday, again this Easter season the preaching will be mystagogical on an aspect of Holy Week just past. To preach that way means to look back at Holy Week so as to be drawn by the Holy Spirit more deeply into the mystery of Our Lord’s Passover. The aspect of Holy Week I want us to reflect upon is Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom. That was the dominant image during the L...

Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paul’s, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector. The format is a Scripture passage, then a passage of commentary from the Venerable S. Bede, then a short homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below. A Lesson from the Gospel a...