What is fascinating about Mysticism, and a thread through all of Underhill’s writing, is her simple insistence that spiritual experience is about God, and not (primarily) about our own internal psychology or makeup. A thoughtful and well-reasoned Christian apologist, she is unapologetic about insisting on the “reality” of God as the ground of mystical experience.
Puritan missionary activity was not an early form of the aggressive evangelism so familiar to twentieth-century Americans. As several scholars have observed, the Massachusetts charter enjoined the planters to “win and incite the natives to . . . the Christian faith” through “your good life and orderly conversation.”
The nature and scope of Charles’ liturgical reforms were determined by his desire to secure a uniformity in the church commensurate with that which he was trying to secure in the realm of political affairs. The Frankish Church with its numberless local “uses” could not be expected to furnish the requisite model. Accordingly, he decided to adopt the Roman use, so that the Frankish and Roman churches, one in doctrine and in faith, should be one in form and in ritual. The Roman chant, the Roman sacramentary, the Roman calendar and the Roman form of baptism were all to be approved.
Mr. Bowyer claims, in columns published on April 20 and May 11, that seminary is, basically, a waste of time. Clergy are not trained properly in seminary, he says. Among the claims he makes is that learning about such topics as Church History and Theology does nothing to prepare a person for leading a congregation.
St. Dunstan’s life at Canterbury is characteristic; long hours, both day and night, were spent in private prayer, besides his regular attendance at Mass and the Office. Often he would visit the shrines of St. Augustine and St. Ethelbert, and we are told of a vision of angels who sang to him heavenly canticles.
“I will be their shepherd,” he says, “and I will be close to them,” as clothing to their skin. He desires to save my flesh by clothing it in the robe of immortality, and he as anointed my body. “They shall call on me,” he says, “and I will answer, ‘Here I am.’” Lord, you have heard me more quickly than I ever had hoped.
The United States is now fighting three wars concurrently: one each in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. That is correct, Libya. Even though no formal declaration of war exists, the U.S. is at war with Libya and we need moral clarity about that fact and about whether the war is just or unjust.
Rev. Father in God: This presentation of a Bishop’s Robes is the first that has occurred in the history of our youthful diocese. We who have the privilege of making it wish that it may be regarded as an expression both of our gratitude to Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, and also of our love and respect for our fellow-man who has been placed over us in the Lord. The gift itself is small; but to us it implies much
Compare the Vatican’s treatment of the former Australian bishop who expressed an openness to women’s ordination with its treatment of bishops who knowingly moved abusive priests into position in which they could abuse children yet again.
The resources that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music have gathered in fulfillment of Resolution C056, are now available online. It includes Diocesan resources, resources for liturgy and worship, and others.