Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, First Sunday in Lent
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the First Sunday in Lent.
Category: Prayers and liturgy
The First Sunday in Lent
The collect for today, the First Sunday in Lent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights: Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
The Gospel: St Matthew 4:1-11
Artwork: William Blake, The Second Temptation (from Milton’s Paradise Regained), c. 1816-25. Pen and watercolour over pencil on wove paper, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor and Poet
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274), Priest, Friar, Poet, Doctor of the Church (source):
Everlasting God,
who didst enrich thy Church with the learning and holiness
of thy servant Thomas Aquinas:
grant to all who seek thee
a humble mind and a pure heart
that they may know thy Son Jesus Christ
to be the way, the truth and the life;
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Lesson: Wisdom 7:7-14
The Gospel: St. Matthew 13:47-52
Born into a noble family near Aquino, between Rome and Naples, St. Thomas was educated at the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino until age thirteen, and then at the University of Naples. When he decided to join the Dominican Order, his family were dismayed because the Dominicans were mendicants and regarded as socially inferior to the Benedictines. Thomas’s brothers kidnapped and imprisoned him for a year in the family’s castle, but he finally escaped and became a Dominican friar in 1244.
The rest of Thomas’s life was spent studying, teaching, preaching, and writing. Initially, he studied philosophy and theology with Albert the Great at Paris and Cologne. Albert was said to prophesy that, although Thomas was called the dumb ox (probably referring to his physical size), “his lowing would soon be heard all over the world”.
His two greatest works are Summa Contra Gentiles, begun c. 1259 and completed in 1264, and Summa Theologica, begun c. 1266 but uncompleted at his death.
Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs
The collect for today, the commemoration of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their companions (d. 203), Martyrs at Carthage (source):
O holy God,
who gavest great courage to Perpetua,
Felicity and their companions:
grant that we may be worthy to climb the ladder of sacrifice
and be received into the garden of peace;
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: Hebrews 10:32-39
The Gospel: St. Matthew 24:9-14
Perpetua, Felicitas, and five other catechumens were arrested in North Africa after emperor Septimus Severus forbade new conversions to Christianity. They were thrown to wild animals in the circus of Carthage.
The early church writer Tertullian records, in what appears to be Perpetua’s own words, a vision in which she saw a ladder to heaven and heard the voice of Jesus saying, “Perpetua, I am waiting for you”. She climbed the ladder and reached a large garden where sheep were grazing. From this, she understood that she and her companions would be martyred.
Tertullian’s The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas is posted here.
Artwork: Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Mosaic, Saints Perpetua and Felicity Chapel, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
Ash Wednesday
The collect for today, The First Day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: St James 4:6-11a
The Gospel: St Matthew 6:16-21
Artwork: Joseph Noel Paton, Christian at the Foot of the Cross, 1873. Oil on canvas, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, U.K.
Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Quinquagesima
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on Quinquagesima Sunday.
Quinquagesima
The collect for today, the Sunday called Quinquagesima, being the Fiftieth Day before Easter, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth: Send thy Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 18:31-43
Artwork: Sebastiano Ricci, Christ Healing the Blind Man, c. 1712-16. Oil on canvas, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.
Saint David of Wales
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint David (c. 520-589), Bishop of Menevia, Patron Saint of Wales (source):
Almighty God,
who didst call thy servant David
to be a faithful and wise steward of thy mysteries
for the people of Wales:
in thy mercy, grant that,
following his purity of life and zeal
for the gospel of Christ,
we may with him receive the crown of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory,
world without end.
The Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 2:2b-12
The Gospel: St. Mark 4:26-29
Artwork: Saint David, stained glass, Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London. Photograph taken by admin 20 October 2014.
George Herbert, Priest and Poet
The collect for today, the commemoration of George Herbert (1593-1633), Priest, Poet (source):
King of glory, king of peace,
who didst call thy servant George Herbert
from the pursuit of worldly honours
to be a priest in the temple of his God and king:
grant us also the grace to offer ourselves
with singleness of heart in humble obedience to thy service;
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.
Amen.
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 5:1-4
The Gospel: St. Matthew 5:1-10
The hymn, “Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing”, was originally a poem by George Herbert, published in The Temple.
Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing,
My God and King.The heavens are not too high,
His praise may thither fly:
The earth is not too low,
His praises there may grow.Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing,
My God and King.The church with psalms must shout,
No door can keep them out:
But above all, the heart
Must bear the longest part.Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing,
My God and King.
George Herbert was born to a wealthy family in Montgomery, Wales. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he appeared headed for a prominent public career, but the deaths of King James I and two patrons ended that possibility.
He chose to pursue holy orders in the Church of England and became rector at Bemerton, near Salisbury, in 1629, where he died four years later of tuberculosis. His preaching and service to church and parishioners contributed to his reputation as an exemplary pastor. He did not become known as a poet until shortly after he died, when his poetry collection The Temple was published.
He is buried in Saint Andrew Bemerton Churchyard.
Artwork: William Dyce, George Herbert at Bemerton, Salisbury, 1860. Oil on canvas, Guildhall Art Gallery, London.
Saint Matthias the Apostle
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O ALMIGHTY God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles: Grant that thy Church, being alway preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 1:15-26
The Gospel: St. John 15:1-11
The name of this saint is probably an abbreviation of Mattathias, meaning “gift of Yahweh”.
Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after Judas had betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide. In the time between Christ’s Ascension and Pentecost, the small band of disciples, numbering about 120, gathered together and Peter spoke of the necessity of selecting a twelfth apostle to replace Judas. Peter enunciated two criteria for the office of apostle: He must have been a follower of Jesus from the Baptism to the Ascension, and he must be a witness to the resurrected Lord. This meant that he had to be able to proclaim Jesus as Lord from first-hand personal experience. Two of the brothers were found to fulfill these qualifications: Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas also called the Just. Matthias was chosen by lot. Neither of these two men is referred to by name in the four Gospels, although several early church witnesses, including Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea, report that Matthias was one of the seventy-two disciples.
Like the other apostles and disciples, St. Matthias received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Since he is not mentioned later in the New Testament, nothing else is known for certain about his activities. He is said to have preached in Judaea for some time and then traveled elsewhere. Various contradictory stories about his apostolate have existed since early in church history. The tradition held by the Greek Church is that he went to Cappadocia and the area near the Caspian Sea where he was crucified at Colchis. Some also say he went to Ethiopia before Cappadocia. Another tradition holds that he was stoned to death and then beheaded at Jerusalem.
The Empress St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, is said to have brought St Matthias’s relics to Rome c. 324, some of which were moved to the Benedictine Abbey of St Matthias, Trier, Germany, in the 11th century.
Artwork: Jan de Beer, Martyrdom of Saint Matthias, c. 1510-15. Oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.