Collect for the 4th of July
Father of all nations and ages,
we recall the day when our country
claimed its place among the family of nations;
for what has been achieved we give you thanks,
for the work that still remains we ask your help,
and as you have called us from many peoples to be one nation,
grant, that, under your providence,
our country may share your blessings
with all the people of the earth.
At last a Collect that flows. Of course, this one was composed in English.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul
Prayer over the Offerings
May the prayer of the Apostles, O Lord,
accompany the sacrificial gift
what we present to your name for consecration,
and may their intercession make us devoted to you
in celebration of this sacrifice.
It becomes clear after some pondering.
Preface
…revered together throughout the world,
they share one Martyr’s crown…
I find it a comical image, sharing one crown.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
One benefit of the revised English translation is that presiders tend to speak more slowly. However, I still find it difficult to digest some of the prayers. I found yesterday's prayer over the gifts indigestible, sort of liturgical grissel: "Receive, O Lord, the sacrifice of conciliation and praise and grant, that cleansed by its action, we may make offering of a heart pleasing to you." Conciliation and praise is a strange combination. But "make offering of a heart?" Do the people responsible for this translation really pray in this sort of language?
Friday, June 22, 2012
St John Fisher
June 22 is the feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. The latter, after becoming Chancellor of the University of Oxford, went on, at the insistence of King Henry VIII, to become bishop of Rochester. He was attentive to his diocese at a time when bishops usually looked upon their diocese simply as a source of income.
He did not recognize Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and would not support the Act of Supremacy by which Henry was constituted Head of the Church in England. After being imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of treason, he was executed on June 22, 1535, being beheaded the day before the vigil of his namesake, John the Baptist who was also beheaded for opposing the marriage of a king.
John Fisher was the only bishop to oppose King Henry. However, he did not condemn his fellow bishops for not doing likewise: “I condemn no other man’s conscience; their conscience may save them, and mine must save me.”
He is a saint for our times when disagreements are so often met with harsh and vindictive statements.
Prayer after Communion (from the British missal): “renew us, Lord, and strengthen us by the example and prayers of your martyrs Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, so that always following the voice of conscience, we may ever be your good servants.”
He did not recognize Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and would not support the Act of Supremacy by which Henry was constituted Head of the Church in England. After being imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of treason, he was executed on June 22, 1535, being beheaded the day before the vigil of his namesake, John the Baptist who was also beheaded for opposing the marriage of a king.
John Fisher was the only bishop to oppose King Henry. However, he did not condemn his fellow bishops for not doing likewise: “I condemn no other man’s conscience; their conscience may save them, and mine must save me.”
He is a saint for our times when disagreements are so often met with harsh and vindictive statements.
Prayer after Communion (from the British missal): “renew us, Lord, and strengthen us by the example and prayers of your martyrs Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, so that always following the voice of conscience, we may ever be your good servants.”
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