ST. MARY MAGDALENE

Propers for SAINT MARY MAGDALENE
July 22.

The Collect
O ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son did sanctify Mary Magdalene, and call her to be a witness to his Resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may be healed of all our infirmities, and serve thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle

2 Corinthians 5:14-18.
FOR the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.

The Gospel

St. John 20:1, 11-18.
THE first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

More Ackerman...on Ecclesiology

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REC DOW clips

Bishop Keith Ackerman.

Find others here.

SS. Peter and Paul

To read up on the Saints commemorated today go here, here, and here.

Bless you.

St. Irenaeus

Today is the Feast of St. Irenaeus, martyred Bishop of Lyons.

For the readings click here.

The tag below for Anglican Lesser Feasts does not mean that this day is not important. It signifies that this observance is not in the 1928 BCP. I hope to comment on more of these important feasts in future.

The nasty side of Roman life

Article today from Roger Pearce..

The nasty side of Roman life:

A horrific story is reported by the BBC News here. A mass burial of 97 new-born children, all 40 weeks old, next to a Roman villa at Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, has been excavated, and identified as waste products of a Roman brothel.

Imagine the story of human misery that lies behind these mute remains. The women were slaves, little more than children themselves. Raped incessantly until they got pregnant, then forced to provide whatever services they could in that condition until they gave birth. Then the child was killed, and the woman, still sore, sent back to lie on her back again. And so on, again and again, until death released them.

We take for granted so much that Christianity brought into the world. An end to the casual infanticide of the Roman era was one of those things. Another was the casual toleration of such evil. The emperor Constantine closed few temples, but one exception was that at Heliopolis in Lebanon, or Baalbek as it is now known. Travelling to Jerusalem he reached the town, and found that the whole place was dedicated to temple prostitution, and that there was not a married couple in the town. He closed the “temples” that had supported such, forced the inhabitants to marry, and did what he could to put an end to the trade.

Doubtless it continued in some form. It was very profitable, as the magnificence of the architectural remains today is witness. The trade was never to be extirpated. But a line had been drawn in the sand — morality had come into the world. The casual evil of the Hambleden brothel could no longer exist in broad daylight.

Girl, you have no idea...

"I believe in a wounded yet holy Catholic and Apostolic Church..."

A friend attended the local seminar by Ephraim Radner. Radner's ecclesiology centers around the idea that woundedness, or division, is the foundation for the Church's being. Wow, that's strange, the Nicene Creed states that Oneness, or Unity, is one of the four marks for the Bride of Christ.

Protestant scholars have the tendency to eschew Creedal language. They shoot the arrow first, then draw a target around the entry point. We are divided...so that must be a good thing! Let's build an ecclesiology around that chaos and then erect covenants to hold us together (cough, because the unity of Christ's person obviously isn't cohesive enough to do that).

"honey, are you wounded?"

"Girls, you have no idea"