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.
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
God is opening doors for our partnership work with the church in Sudan. . . . As God opens these doors, keep praying so that we can walk through them faithfully to bring relief to those suffering, hope to those laboring, and effective support to those working hard to keep the peace.
There is no image of the Saviour as exploited by Christian art as that of the Good Shepherd. However, it too often puts before us an idyllic, somewhat effeminate figure, with insipid colours—in short, something very different from the rough, nomadic shepherd who inspired the words of Christ and who, alone,
Whatsoever the Spirit can convey to the body of the church, we may expect from this sacrament; for as the Spirit is the instrument of life and action, so the blood of Christ is the conveyance of His Spirit.
As I’ve considered Frances’ life, it’s struck me that she addressed one of the questions that all of us must answer. To use Cain’s phrasing, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” To put the question in more religious terms: “Does God have intentions for our relationships as God’s people?” “Are we responsible before God for more than our own lives?”
O thou who this mysterious bread
didst in Emmaus break,
return, herewith our souls to feed,
and to thy followers speak.
If you feel no sense of God’s presence within you when you pray, why worry? There is no precise dividing-line between emptiness and fullness, any more than between doubt and faith, or fear and love.
Jesus, great High Priest of our profession,
We in confidence draw near;
Condescend, in mercy, the confession
Of our grateful hearts to hear;