Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Feast of St. Matthew/Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Matthew, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist: Grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
The Gospel: St. Matthew 9:9-13
Artwork: Titian, St. Matthew, first half of 16th century. Oil on panel, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice.
The collect for today, the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Galatians 5:25-6:5
The Gospel: St. Luke 17:11-19
Artwork: Pieter de Jode I, The Healing of the Leper, c. 1600-34. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The collect for today, the commemoration of John Coleridge Patteson (1827-71), Missionary, First Bishop of Melanesia, Martyr (source):
O God of all tribes and peoples and tongues,
who didst call thy servant John Coleridge Patteson
to witness in life and death to the gospel of Christ
amongst the peoples of Melanesia:
grant us to hear thy call to service
and to respond with trust and joy
to Jesus Christ our redeemer,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Mark 8:34-38
John Coleridge Patteson was a curate in Devon when Bishop of New Zealand George A. Selwyn persuaded him to go to the South Pacific as a missionary. In 1856 he journeyed to Melanesia. He encouraged boys to study at a school Selwyn had founded in New Zealand and later set up a school in Melanesia. He was very proficient in languages and eventually learned twenty-three different languages and dialects spoken in Melanesia and Polynesia.
In 1861 Patteson was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia; he travelled across his diocese constantly, preaching, teaching, baptising, confirming, building churches, and living among the people. On the main island of Mota most of the population were converted.
The Melanesian Mission of Bishop Patteson was a great success, until he encountered the slave traders. Laws against the slave trade were poorly enforced, and traders frequently raided the islands to kidnap or entice young men to work on plantations in Fiji and Queensland.
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Theodore of Tarsus (602-690), Archbishop of Canterbury (source):
Almighty God,
by the faithful ministry of your bishop Theodore
you bound up the wounds of the English Church
and renewed its vigour in the works of peace.
Teach us, we pray,
the art of your healing grace,
that we may know the true balm and remedy
for the divisions which afflict your Church;
through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-5,10
The Gospel: St. Matthew 8:23-27
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Ninian (c. 360 – c. 432), Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts (source):
Almighty and everlasting God,
who didst call thy servant Ninian to preach the gospel
to the people of northern Britain:
raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land,
heralds and evangelists of thy kingdom,
that thy Church may make known the immeasurable riches
of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Lesson: Isaiah 49:1-6
The Gospel: St. Matthew 28:16-20
Ninian was the first apostle of Christianity in Scotland. Born in Cumbria to Christian parents, he went to Rome for his education. After being ordained a priest and then a bishop, Ninian was commissioned by Pope Siricus to return to Britain to preach the Christian faith.
Tradition holds that Ninian’s mission to Scotland began in 397, when he landed at Whithorn on Solway Firth. The stone church he built there was known as Candida Casa (“White House”). Recent archaeological excavations in that area have found white masonry from what could be an ancient church.
Saint Ninian’s ministry was centred in the Whithorn and Galloway areas of Scotland, but he is also remembered for bringing the gospel to the “southern Picts”—people living in the areas now known as Perth, Fife, Stirling, Dundee, and Forfar.
As early as the 7th century, Christians were making pilgrimages to St. Ninian’s shrine. By the 12th century, a large cathedral had been built at Whithorn, but it fell into ruins after the Reformation. Yet today, pilgrims still travel there to visit St. Ninian’s Cave, where the saint would go when he needed to pray in solitude.
During his 2010 visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Scotland on Saint Ninian’s Day.
Saint Ninian’s Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia (“New Scotland”), is the Episcopal Seat for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.
Artwork: Saint Ninian, stained glass, Saint Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh Castle. Photograph taken by admin, 24 July 2004.
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The collect for today, the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Galatians 5:16-24
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:25-37
Artwork: Joachim von Sandrart, The Good Samaritan, 1632. Oil on canvas, Brera, Milan.
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Cyprian (c. 200-258), Bishop of Carthage, Martyr (source):
O holy God,
who didst bring Cyprian to faith in Christ
and didst make him a bishop in the Church,
crowning his witness with a martyr’s death:
grant that, following his example,
we may love the Church and her doctrine,
find thy forgiveness within her fellowship,
and so come to share the heavenly banquet
which thou hast prepared for us;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 5:1-4,10-11
The Gospel: St. John 10:11-16
Artwork: Jaume Huguet, Altarpiece of St. Cyprian (detail), Last quarter 15th Century. Tempera on wood, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona.
The collect for today, the commemoration of Edmund J. Peck (1850-1924), Priest, Missionary to the Inuit, Translator (source):
God of our salvation, whose servant Edmund James Peck made the testimony of the Spirit his own and gladly proclaimed the riches of Christ among the Inuit people, give the joy of your gospel to us also, that we may exalt you in the congregation of all peoples and praise you in the abundance of your mercies; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: 1 St. John 5:6-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 28:16-20
