Volume 6, Issue 21 Lent 2013A.D.

The Sanctuary of Golgotha Photo by Fr. Andrew Sagayam

Join the Morning and Evening Prayer call during this Lent. Wake up with God. You can join the prayer conference in the rhythm of daily morning and evening prayer. We have dedicated clergy and pos-tulants faithfully hosting the prayer call daily at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm central time. Ask your clergy for the phone number.

In the Koinonia masthead, the circle with the cross in the center symbol-izes the paten and the diverse elements which form a whole. The Mosaic represents the great cloud of witnesses and the church tradition. The red in the letters represents the blood of Christ with the font comprised of indi-vidual pieces of letters that are not joined until the blood unifies them. Koi-nonia is the official publication of the Anglican Province of the Holy Cath-olic Church-Anglican Rite (HCCAR) aka Anglican Rite Catholic Church. It is published quarterly at St. James Anglican Church, 8107 S. Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131. Phone: 816.361.7242 Fax: 816.361.2144. Editors: The Rt. Rev. Leo Michael & Holly Michael, Koinonia header: Phil Gilbreath; email: koinonia@holycatholicanglican.org or visit us on the web at: www.holycatholicanglican.org Cover picture: Golgotha by Fr. Andrew Sagayam. Opposite: The Passion byHOLBEIN, Hans the Younger 1524-25

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Editorial Holy Season of Lent is a time of bringing our souls home to God: Ponder-ing on SIN and REDEMPTION by Bishop Edmund Jayaraj, a reprint of an article by Bishop Charles Gore, the Anglo Catholic Bishop from the early 19th century that reverberates even in 2013, The need for Confession from the Holy Cross Publications, The Pilgrimage of Fr. Andrew and his wife Alphonsa to Holy Land, the great article on Anglican priest George Herbet by Canon Patric Comerford of Dublin, and guest articles. Don’t miss out the “C’mon man” - how God is frustrated with our conduct and our wandering away like lost sheep. Of course our heartfelt welcome Fr. Luca and Elisa Pero from Italy into the HCCAR and the remembrance day celebration at St. Mary’s in Venezuela. Great articles that make for wonderful Lenten readings. Hearty welcome to Fr. Andrew and Alphonsa Sagayam, Padre Luca and Elisa Pero. May the Lord grant you faithful ministry in His church! Fr. Rafael Carbajal renovated the crucifix at Corpus Christi Anglican Church. The image speaks of his passion for Christ through his masterful painting of the corpus. “Come closer to God and He will come close to you” (James 4:8) during this Holy Season of Lent.

Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary welcomes you!

Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary (HTAS) is owned and adminis-trated by the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite of the diocese of Holy Trinity and Great Plains. It’s location in Kansas City, mid-America makes travel easy to meet the campus schedule. It forms part of a long tradition of the Holy Catholic Church of Anglican Rite and continues this important work of evangelization of the Kingdom of Christ in the United States of America and beyond its mission territories. With the advancement of communications, Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary will offer online and on campus training for its students. Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary firmly believes that Good Formation will ensure FRUITFUL Ministry. Keeping in mind the Great Commission of the Lord, HTAS will train its candidates in strong Scriptural foundation, Sacramen-tal worship in the Apostolic Tradition as enunciated in the conservative Anglican Tradition. With qualified faculty and commitment to the cause of priestly formation, Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary is set to impart the traditional Anglican orthodoxy even in the emerging social and pastoral challenges. The seminary will also offer courses for lay students as well. The Seminary primarily serves the Holy Catholic Church Angli-can Rite while students belonging to other denominations are welcome to participate in our program of study and reflection. The Holy Trinity Angli-can Seminary will soon be accredited with a view to conferring the Bach-elor’s Degree in Theology. Holy Catholic Church pays special attention to the formation of her ministers. Church directives require that candidate to the priesthood undergo a minimum of three years devoted to an intense and specifical-ly priestly formation. These directives are implemented at this seminary, with particular emphasis on the Anglican traditions of the Holy Catholic Church.

As per the recommendation of the Synod of 2011, we have the rendering of the Missalette with commentaries for all our church use. More visitors friendly in two colors explaining different parts of the Holy Mass accord-ing to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the American /Anglican Missal. Let us learn it so that we can help newcomers cherish the Holy Mass. Expect its arrival along with the print edition of Koinonia.

See how much joy one can bring through Facebook on a snow day!+Leo: Kansas City had two feet of snow.Mareus Jimenez: “Bp. Leo Michael are these the 2 feet of snow you got in KC?”

The Bible from the begin-ning till the end calls man to submission to God’s Will and to a life of righteous-

ness. A life that is right with God and his neighbor without distinction. God’s Law was communicated orally, placed in conscience, written in the stone tablets through Moses, and finally put in the inward parts and written in the heart. God promises life and blessing if you obey Him and live righteously. He guarantees blessing and curse if you disobey and live unrighteously.

This call to submission and obedience has gone out in every generation beginning with Adam. Led by Adam people in every generation failed to submit to God and live righteously. So in Adam all died. No longer did grace rule. Grace depart-ed. Hard labor, disease, sufferings and death ruled over man. The cause of man’s predicament is sin which is the result of self-will, self-love, self-depen-dence and self-worship. Alienated from God man ran into hiding. He broke communion with God. He began to feel guilty. As every Anglican prays, “we have no health in us.” He began to be ruled by sinful passions. A Redeemer was needed who will save him from the clutches of sin, infuse grace and put him on the road to salvation or glorification or sanctifica-tion or divinization which is becoming god by grace and adoption, his original destiny.A Redeemer The All-powerful, King and Supreme Judge of all is also merciful and compassionate who does not desire the death of a sinner but that should forsake his sin and live. He sent His only Son Jesus Christ who is born of a woman, lived a righteous life, completely obeyed the commandments and thus fulfilled the Law. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He calls people of every generation to obedience and righteousness. “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He explained the Law and the Prophets in such a way that the disciples on the way to Em-maus exclaimed, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us when He ex-pounded the Scriptures?” He did not add to nor subtract from the

Scriptures but rather enhanced and elevated their true understand-ing in the hearers. Jesus promised salvation or eternal life to all who repent, confess, amend and intend to lead a new life of loving God and their neighbors as He Himself did. This Jesus the Christ bore the sins of the whole world in his Body and died on a tree. By His death for the sins many Jesus offered a pure, holy, reasonable and living sacrifice which is pleas-ing to the Father. This sacrifice is not substitutionary but representa-tive. Because Jesus offered this sacrifice as a representative of man-kind and not a substitute for any of them. Our actual sins were not transferred to Jesus nor His righteousness transferred to us. There can be no communion of holiness with uncleanness, righteousness with evil or light with darkness. Jesus said and we hear at Mass, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” He did not say he will give you salvation but rest. After availing of rest for a while you once again get up and continue

to carry on your burden caused by your sin. You do so until every sin has been confessed, pen-ance performed by living works and fruits worthy of repentance. Salvation is not in-stant. It is a long and hard struggle. Many times you will fall and get up by the process of repentance. St Paul said, “Sin is ever be-fore me.” One has always to be in a state of repen-tance. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”What next? Our church provides you with a method and supplies the equipment to respond to God’s call to obedience and righ-teousness. Repentance, confession, forgiveness, amendment, obedience and righteousness all the days of your life. Repen-tance is suggested by the

Fathers to be accompanied by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is very fitting to do these things in this season of Lent by examining your conscience through the commandments and test if there is any sin both voluntary and involuntary that should be confessed. Another gift the Lord has given us is the Blessed Sacra-ment where Jesus feeds us with the Living Bread. “Unless you eat this flesh and drink this blood, you shall not have life within you.” Nourished by His Sacred Body you will be strengthened day by day by the Spirit of Christ until you join Him in His mystical body without losing your own unique individuality. This shall take place finally when the Lord returns to judge both the quick and the dead.

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OF SIN AND REDEMPTION - REFLECTION Bishop Edmund Jayaraj, Missionary Bishop of Indian Diaspora, HCCAR

SIN AND REDEMPTIONBishop Charles Gore’s Creed of ChristianCorpus Christi Image painted by Fr. Rafael CarbajalPhoto: Annette Petty Lay Corpus Christi Anglican Church,Rogers AR

Thy spirit weighs the sins of men, Thy science fathoms all their guilt Thou sickenest heavily at Thy heart, And the pores open blood is spilt.

And Thou hast shuddered at each act. And shrunk with an astonished fear As if Thou couldst not bear to see The loathsomeness of sin so near.

How can we have a new manhood ? In fact, we can-not, except in Jesus Christ. He alone is the New Man. He alone is man without sin. From

Him alone is there new birth. He alone can give, in truth and reality, what Plato and Carlyle demanded. Born of a Virgin, a new creation, true man but new man, He only can give us human nature without sin. “ He taketh away the sin of the world.” But what is sin, and how does He take it away ? Ah ! This is a big question, but we have all of us the most practical and direct interest in trying to arrive at the answer. The language and work of Jesus Christ is full of the thought that mankind needs a fresh start, a new birth ; or, in other words, that man-kind needs not merely to progress and be en-lightened, but to be redeemed, that is, bought back out of the slavery of sin. What is sin ? There are people who tell us that all that human nature needs is enlightenment. The only real evil is ignorance. This was the opinion of the wise Greek Socrates, and from the way people

talk of “education” and “culture,” as if it would remove all the troubles of

life, you would suppose that many people now hold this same opinion. But it is false and repugnant

to the plain tacts. Of course there is a great deal of ignorance in the world, and many of the wrong things that are done are done in mere ignorance, ignorance that is hardly, if at all, culpable. Thus truer knowledge would remove a great deal of the evil of the world, and the man is a fool who makes light of the value of

good education. For example, years ago, there was a great deal of religious persecution Catholics would burn Protestants, and Protestants Catho-lics, and think that they were doing God service. This, we may say, was due largely to ignorance. It needed only knowledge of the true principles of our religion to let good men see that such a way of dealing with religious opinions which they believed to be wrong, was not at all the

way of our Lord. Thus ignorance, I say, is the source of a great deal of evil, and good education

will do away with this. But it will not get to the root of the matter. Sin is not ignorance.

Once again, there is in the world, beyond all question, a great deal of moral poverty and weak-ness of nature. Men are born with some moral disease, some criminal tendency, some weakness of will. This is a question of more or less: for all men are by nature more or less inclined to evil in some form or another. This is what is called “original sin.” It is the inherited result of the wrong doing, the weakness and wilfulness and ignorance of those who have gone before us, back to the very beginning of our race. This fault or taint of our nature belongs to sin, and is the result of sin. But in the sense in which sin means personal guilt it is not sin of our own, for it is not our own fault. It belongs to the materials with which nature supplies us the “raw material “ we have to work with. It only becomes our fault’ when we give way to it and adopt it, or fail to take measures to resist it. Sin proper is our own fault. It is, as St. John says, lawlessness.(1 John 3.4) There is in the world no sin but lawlessness, and no lawlessness but sin. Every-where in nature is the reign of law. The stars and planets in the solar systems move on their appointed courses ; the forces of heat and light and electricity, the various forms of motion, go on each invariably by its own law ; the life of each plant or body develops or fails accord-

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ing to law; law reigns over the development of all human faculties and powers. But ... at the centre of man’s being there is a mystery. Man is a moral, and not merely a physical being. He can serve with a free service as lawfully as stars or dumb animals, and by his free choice. But he can also rebel. He can know the right and choose the wrong. He may be perfectly enlightened and yet wicked. He may set himself against God, against duty, against law. This is sin in its proper sense. Sin is lawlessness. Sin can, within limits, disturb and disorder God’s world. I say within limits, for man is not God, and God has not let go out of His hand the government of the world. ln the end the universe will reach the end God intended for it. The Kingdom of God will come. But, by the way, and (so to speak) down to a certain depth, man can disturb the order of God. He can introduce, he has intro-duced, lawlessness into the world. Look at society now ? Is it as God intended ? No. God never intended the lust, the selfishness, the cruelty, the godless-ness, which curse society to-day. The life of our big cities, the life of our country places, is a parody of God’s intention. “ Never did any public misery Rise of itself ; God’s plagues are grounded still On common stains of our humanity. And to the flame that ruineth mankind, Man gives the matter or at least gives wind.” Or look back to primitive man. You see him dimly, in the mist of the past, in a state of savagery. Was that God’s intention ? No ; no more than the present condition of civilized man. It was a parody of primitive simplicity, just as our pres-ent civilization is a parody of true civi-lization. It has sometimes been said that there is a conflict between religion and science, because, according to science, man begins at the bottom, and gradually improves ; according to religion, man begins perfect, and then “falls” into cor-ruption, and grows worse. This is shal-low talking. For, on the one hand, true science recognises that there is such a thing as degradation and deterioration among men ; it traces out its results in the destruction of great empires and splendid civilizations, and finds it also among sav-ages who have gone backwards instead of forwards. On the other hand, religion, where it knows its own business, never thinks of affirming that God made man perfect to start with. The Book of Genesis suggests no such idea. When the human body was fitted to be the dwelling place of spirit, man, as a spiritual being, began his career ; he was quite imperfect ; he had everything to learn ; he was simple as a child ; “ barbarous,” if you like. But he was not necessarily sinful. He need not have rebelled against God, and the laws of his own nature. Had he retained his innocence, we cannot doubt that the history of human development would have been more rapid, more glorious all ! how much more rapid and glorious than, in fact, it has been ; for, in fact, it has been at every stage tainted by sin. The first sin is described in the third chapter of Genesis. That chapter, like its surroundings, is probably rather allegory than history. But it is inspired to teach us the deepest les-sons of life. It is inspired to teach us the true character of sin. Sin is not human nature. It is the violation of the law of human nature. It is lawlessness. It is man refusing God and wanting to be a God

to himself, and so failing under trial and putting his nature out of joint. This is always and everywhere the nature of sin. Original sin is the result of actual sins. Actual sins are always acts of will by which men reject God, try to be independent of God, and so violate the law of their nature.

Sin is lawlessness. Jesus Christ came to perfect human nature, but He came also to redeem it. He came to deal with human nature as sinful. He came both to purge it from the guilt and taint of past sins, and also so to restore and convert the wills of men that they might be free from the commission of actual sins in the future. How is it then that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer ? 1. Because He is the Second Adam. Born of a Virgin, He has a perfect manhood, and a new manhood. In Him is a fresh creation of God, free from the baneful inheritance of past sins. He is the perfect man, both perfectly developed, and flawlessly pure from taint or stain. 2. Because, as perfect man, He sets the perfect pattern of human life, and summons all men to conform to it. He sets the pattern of what human life, free from sin, is Capable of being : the pattern of purity, and love, and devotion ; and He summons all men to be as He is to follow His example, to obey His commands. But, as a true physician, He gauges the depth of the malady under which human nature suffers. He knows that the true pattern of life will stimulate in men the desire to resemble it. But he knows also that they cannot be as He is without a radical change. “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Except

ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” But what is this con-version and new birth ? How is it possible ? How is it that “the Lamb of God” takes away the sin of the world ? 3. Because He makes a per-fect expiation for all the sins which men have committed, and sets flowing a foun-tain of spiritual renewal, of new life, to de-liver them for the future from the power of sin. But the meaning of these phrases will serve us for consideration in the chapters that follow. Meanwhile, I would summon all so-

cial reformers, all persons who desire to improve human life, to see to it that they learn the lesson of the one Great Physician, the one true Redeemer of man. Education and sanitary reform and political change may do much for human life, but they will never remove the fundamental evil. That fundamental evil is sin. There is no removing of sin but by “ the new birth.” There is no one who can give “ the new birth “ but He who first gave birth to man and to all things the Word and Son of God. The only true Redeemer is the Creator also, who for us men, and for our salvation, was incarnate and was made man. Look at Him at the grave of Lazarus. “Take ye away the stone,” He says. 2 There are many stones which lie on the graves of dead humanity, and prevent the free access of the life-giving Word. There are social burdens and political evils ; there are bad dwellings and bad drains ; there is ignorance and hopelessness. “ Take ye away the stones.” But when ye have done it the dead men will not live. The sick men will not be whole. These are necessary reforms, but they are not the new life. Jesus only is the Resurrec-tion and the Life. He only can say to the dead soul, “ Lazarus, come forth.” ><>

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Look at society now ? Is it as God in-tended ? No. God never intended the lust, the selfishness, the cruelty, the godlessness, which curse society to-day. The life of our big cities, the life of our country places, is a parody of God’s intention. Bishop Charles Gore -Anglo Catholic Bishop 1908

WHY I MAKE MY CONFESSIONFr. Karl Tiedemann, OHC Holy Cross, West Park, NY

THERE is only one really important reason why I make my confession, and that is because I am quite con-vinced that God wants me to do so. That is what mat-ters, -- God's will for me. I have come to this conclu-sion for several subsidiary reasons.

1. In the first place, in the twentieth chapter of St. John, part of which forms the Gospel for the Sunday after Easter (Prayer Book, page 171) I read these words: "The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He shewed unto them His hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you, And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose-soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." After a careful and prayerful study of this passage, using the best commentaries, I have come to the conclusion that these words witness to the institution by our Lord of the Sacrament of Absolution; and further, that He intended that this Sacrament should be used. Our Lord was lavish and prodigal of His love, but He never gave useless directions. His provision is for all men, that they should confess and be absolved. It is always dangerous for any soul to count itself an exception to the general provisions which God has made for the welfare of all His children. 2. The witness of Holy Scripture to the use of this Sacra-ment is taken up by the directions of the Book of Common Prayer. A number of passages can be cited. On page 7 in the Order for Morning Prayer, and on page 24, in the Order for Evening Prayer, occur these words: "Almighty God... hath given power, and com-mandment, to His Ministers, to declare and pronounce to His peo-ple being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins."On page 87, the last line at the bottom of the page, you will find this statement: "And because it is requisite that no man should come to the Holy Communion, but with a full trust in God's mer-cy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore, if there be any of you, who by this means [i.e., private contrition] cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but require further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other Minister of God's Word, and openhis grief; that he may receive such godly counsel and advice, as may tend to the quieting of his conscience, and the removing of all scruple and doubtfulness." On page 313 there is a very instructive rubric (or direction in italics): "Then shall [note the 'shall'] the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any matter; after which confession, on evidence of his repentance, the Minister shall assure him of God's mercy andforgiveness." In the Prayer Book of the Church of England the words of Absolution then follow: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who trulyrepent and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by His authority committed unto me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the Name of the Father and of the Sonand of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

Another witness to this Sacrament in the Episcopal Church is taken from the Office of the Ordination of Priests. On page 546 occur these solemn words: "Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God, now commit-ted unto thee by the Imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful Dispenser of the Word of God, and of His holy Sacraments; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 3. I make my confession because I believe that it is the way which God has appointed for the removal of sins after Bap-tism. When I was baptized, I was made a child of God and graftedinto the mystical Body of Christ. One of the results of this union with God by Holy Baptism was the forgiveness of all sin. But souls do not cease from sin with Baptism. One of the exhortations very frequent in the early Church was the confession of sins. In later days this exhortation was emphasized by canon law. It was an ancient custom of the Church of England that all communicants should make their confessions at least once a year. But whatever the form of the exhortation to contrition, the real compulsion to make one's confession arises from within the soul which has seen the glory of God and desires to possess it. 4. I make my confession because it is God's way of assur-ing the soul that it is sorry enough to receive forgiveness. One of the privileges which come to us in the Church is that of assurance.In the Sacrament of Absolution, the priest who receives my con-fession is responsible for judging my contrition. The Sacrament is the way of assurance of forgiveness. A man once said, as he came to his first confession, "I've wasted too many hours wondering if I had been forgiven, and I've decided no to waste any more, I'd like to make my confession." 5. I make my confession, because I believe that all true life is social in nature, that the Church is the Body of the baptized, and since no man liveth to himself or dieth to himself or sinneth tohimself, some form of apology is due the whole Body of Christ which is the Church. The question is sometimes raised, "Isn't it all right to go to Mass with certain sins in mind, and, when the words of Absolution in the Mass are recited, apply those words to the special sins in mind?" The answer is that "it's all right as far as it goes," but such limited contrition does not penetrate very deeply. An act of private contrition will always bring God's forgiveness for what are called "venial" sins, but there are also "mortal sins," - transgressions of such magnitude that confession to a priest is needed. No man liveth to himself and no man sinneth to himself. When a baptized soul sins, it hurts all the members of the mystical Body of Christ. Some form of public and social apology is due the Church. The early Church answered this problem by having public confession in the case of certain flagrant sins. Such forms of con-trition were open to abuse. So the Church directed that confession be made to a priest who would represent the Body of Christ.I go to confession because a mere private acknowledgment to God, in the case of grievous sins, is not enough. I should tell the whole Body of Christ of my contrition and desire of amendment. I ac-complish this social act of sorrow by confession to a priest who represents the Body of Christ in receiving my sorrow and in pre-senting the forgiveness of the Whole Body. 6. I make my confession because it is Christ's appointed way of accomplishing union between Himself and the penitent

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soul. For a long time I delayed making my confession, because "I did not want any man to come between my soul and God." But I have come to realize that all life flows to us through other people, for we are all one Body in Christ Jesus. Just as physical life comes to us through other people, so spiritual life is ours through the Church and its ministers.It is true that in confession a man comes between the soul and God. But the important fact to realize is that the priest is present, not to separate us from God, but to unite us to Him. We call for a physi-cian in time of need, not to bother us, but to assist us. He takes his normal place in our lives in a natural way. So with the spiritual life. 7. Lastly, I make my confession because it is the way of perseverance in sorrow for sin. The way to God is through ever-deepening contrition and the reception of grace to deal with the stubborn sin and the willful self which would keep me from Him.

WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR CONFESSION

I HAVE gone into some detail to explain why I make my confession, but confession is good not only for my soul, good not only for the soul of the spiritually ill, but good for every soul, - good for your soul. Let us, then, con-sider why you should go to confession. Here again, there is only one really important reason. It is because confession is the divinely appointed way to “get right with God.” God’s will is all that matters. You ought to have this blessed experience, first of all for God’s sake. God created you because He loves you and desires you to be wholly His. Humble confession is the way to God. Secondly, you should make your confes-sion for the sake of the mystical Body of Christ, the Church of God. As we have thought before, “no man liveth to him-self.” Just as a hurt in one part of a body causes discomfort to the whole person, so one sinful soul causes great suffering to the Body of Christ. For His Body’s sake, the Church, you should come into full union with God. And thirdly, you should make your confession for your own sake. It is the way of escape from sin and self; the way of finding spiritual guidance in perplexing problems; the way of growing in holiness; the way of happiness; the way by which we learn to help others. Let us examine these points in detail. 1. In the first place, you must “get right with God.” You know there are things which keep you awake at night. The first step in the spiritual life, after we have seen the vision of love in the face of Jesus Christ, is to find release from the things which dog out waking hours. We cannot put away “self” by “self.” To try to do so will only result in an increase of selfishness and self-centeredness.But we must get rid of our baser selves. Certainly the psychologists tell us that we must find release from the things which worry us and frighten us. The way of release is not byalcohol, or sin, or self-culture, or the mad rush of modern life, or by suicide, but by confession of sin and reception of Absolution.

Do not wait until it is too late. There may come a time when a soul becomes so enmeshed in selfishness that it loses the vision of God which is the compelling motive to contrition. And there may come an hour when our physical senses are so dulled, as we lie upon our bed for death, that it is well nigh impossible to make an act of contrition. Do not postpone your act of contrition until it is too late. 2. Secondly, you should make your confession because, after you have made your initial act of contrition and all your sins are washed away, there will still remain the “old man” with his many temptations and problems and imperfections. If you need expert medical advice, you go to a physician who will both assist you and observe the seal of secrecy of his profession. If you lack legal information, you go to a learned lawyer who will enlighten you and will respect your confidence. If you need spiritual advice, (and all souls need some guidance until the hour of death) you will find it awaiting you, under the seal of the confessional. Every soul is beset by special temptations, fears,“complexes.” The spiritual life is not a trackless wilderness,

it has a map all its own. While every soul differs in its particular battles, there is a science of the spiritual life which is yours for the asking. Furthermore, - and this is so very important, that we here repeat this truth previously mentioned, - there is a special power in God’s forgiveness thus received, which will enable the penitent soul to meet its own particular temptations. Even if both you and the confessor be ignorant of the real nature of your temptations, God will know. In Absolution He will supply grace to meet your real problems. The devoted soul welcomes this means of receiving spiritual power in this very perplexing life. 3. Then there is the problem of growth in holiness. What the Church needs above all else is a great host of souls thirsting for holiness, - all on fire with the love of God. The confessional isone of the principle aids to the develop-ment of sanctity. It is not easy to make one’s confession,and it is right and necessary that it should cost the soul much in the way of faith and humiliation. It must be so. It was not easy for our Lord to redeem us and it

must cost us dear to enter into the work of redemption. 4. And, after we have learned the way of contrition and the path of illumination through the use of the Sacrament of Ab-solution, then, having humbled ourselves, we are in a position to try humbly to help others. For the end of the spiritual life is not only the salvation of our own souls. Salvation is the entering into a social experience. It is true that it begins in the individual soul and souls are saved, not by nations, or by armies, but one by one. But each soul, after it has found the way of redemption, realizes that its vocation is to know and love and serve God, and to work along with Him. Find your own salvation, face your own problems,grow in holiness, and when sin and self are met, turn away from your-self, forget yourself in working for your fellows. If this is what you want, your first step is to get right with God.This tract was published with permission of Bro, Robert OHC, the Superior Order of the Holy Cross, West Park, New York

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Whereas, in accordance with the Sec-ond Exhortation attached to the Order of Holy Communion in the Book of Com-mon Prayer, it is requisite that any with a troubled conscience shall resort to some discreet and learned Priest, that by the ministry of God’s holy Word he may re-ceive the benefit of Absolution, together with spiritual counsel and advice; such Ministry shall be exercised in any Dio-cese or other such jurisdiction of this Church only by Priests who have been in Orders not less than two years from their admission to the Priesthood, and possess the authority of the Bishop Ordi-nary of that jurisdiction either by virtue of the Office to which such Priests have been instituted and inducted, or licensed, as the case may be, or otherwise holding that Bishop’s written Faculty. HCCAR Canons Title XII #5

When pertaining to my faith, I have always seen myself in the shoes of St. Thomas. Perhaps this is so because I was born where St. Thomas is said to have preached

and lived among the people to bring Christianity to them - the land of India. India has a variety of religious traditions and has given birth to many of the popular religions of the world. I have always respected the writings of other religions and thus I wanted to know what made the Christian Scriptures different from the others. My pilgrimage to the Holy Land gave me the answer. What I discov-

ered is that though all the various scriptures offer guidelines to be and do good, only the Christian Scriptures contained prophecies spoken in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the New Testa-ment through the birth, life and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Visiting the Holy Land was a blessing and a call for me; a dream come true. At the age of seven, when I first began to serve in my parish, clothed as an altar server, I became conscious of three desires. First, to become a priest to serve the people with honor and integrity. Secondly, to someday visit the Land that God had chosen, the Holy Land where Jesus had walked as a human

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Journey to the Holy Landby Father Andrew Sagayam

Fr. Andrew & Alphonsa Sagayam in Jerusalem

Tbeing so many years ago. And thirdly, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, as a martyr. My first wish for priesthood became a reality in 2002; the second in 2012. I am awaiting the third. My companions for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land were my wife Neenu Alphonsa and a group of Christians representing different rites. I was filled with emotion as I eagerly looked for-ward to the day I would place my feet, breathe the air and see the places where my God physically planted Himself in our universe. My imagination and joy were fulfilled when we reached God’s Chosen Land. Even though the landscape had probably changed over time due to natural disasters, invasions, civil destruction and modernization, we could still experience within us, the rich history of God’s work and presence in his Holy Land. We began our pilgrimage in and through the country of Jordan, since much of the Old Testament history takes place in that area. On that first day, we travelled to Mount Nebo and stood with Moses as he viewed a Promised Land that he was forbidden to enter even though he had led the Israelites out of Egypt to this place. There on Mount Nebo, we visited the Christian memorial to the burial place of Moses. As I looked out from the top of the mountain, all I could see was a land of valleys and hills with little greenery. I wondered what Moses must have thought as he looked across the same ex-panse so many millennia ago. His vision must have been different from ours so I prayed there on the mountain that God would grant me the grace of understanding to see beyond my own human vi-sion. We left the mountain and continued by bus across Jordan and soon reached Israel. Our first stop was the Jordan River, where

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It was fitting that our group immersed ourselves in the waters of the Jordan, renewing our bap-tismal vows... perhaps as earlier pilgrims had done in the past. In this spot, I found myself experiencing many mixed feelings. One becomes very aware of the political situation in the Holy Land and the possibility of terrorism and how a pilgrim like myself could be affected, especially during the Christmas season. A sense of danger was not far from my mind and I wondered if I was destined to die there. Even though I was ready to give my life for Christ, I was still filled with a sense of foreboding about the

future. A thought prevaded my mind, as though something were saying, “Your time starts now! Good luck!” These mixed feelings remained with me until we reached the Sea of Galilee. As I stood there watching the fishermen catch-ing their fish, I almost expected to hear Jesus calling out to me to “Come, follow Me.” Instead, I heard a call from a fellow priest inviting me to come and eat “Peter’s fish” as these were commonly referred to. I was reminded that Peter had been a fisherman too and had spent many hours on the lake in his boat catching fish just as the fishermen were doing today. On the morning of Christmas Day, we arrived in Jerusa-

lem and began walking the Stations of the Cross. My tears flowed as I thought about the last footsteps of Jesus. He had walked many miles during His ministry, calling people to be happy and peaceful. In return, He received just the opposite. As I walked along I noted a difference between the pil-grims and the local people. The eyes of the pilgrims were filled with tears as they remembered what Jesus endured along the way to Golgotha... In contrast, the locals walked along as though noth-ing had ever taken place in their city. The distance between the praetorium where Jesus was condemned and Golgotha, the Place of the Skull is not far, but the burden of grief that one feels as one walks in His footsteps is dif-ficult to bear. Who cannot weep when one remembers that Jesus was already so weakened by the loss of blood from the scourging, that He falls three times along the way. What sorrow and help-lessness pierces His mother’s heart as she sees her beloved Son

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scarcely able to walk. How grateful we feel when we recall that Simon of Cyrene helped Him carry the cross and Veronica uses her veil to wipe the precious blood from His face. Despite His weakened condition, Jesus still thinks of others as He tries to console the women of Jerusalem. As we reach Golgotha, the horror of His crucifixion drains our own emotions as we see Jesus unceremoniously stripped of his clothes and thrown down on the cross. The soldiers stretch out his arms and anchor his feet. We can hear the hammers ring as the nails are pounded into his wrists and feet. Finally, we hear His last words as He commends Himself into His Father’s hands. Finally, when I arrived at the sepulcher where the crucified Jesus was placed after His death, I found peace. The empty tomb... the only one like it in the whole world! This was the only place during my entire pilgrimage that I did not want to leave. I could have stayed there forever! My thoughts have dimmed about the other places we visited, but not the tomb. I often think about my experience at the tomb and wish I could recover the sense of peace I found there. On the way back, we were shown the upper room - the site of the Last Supper. There I thanked God for the gift of the institu-tion of the Eucharist and the priesthood. From there we visited the tomb of David on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and later, to the Gar-den of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed with His apostles before His arrest. We also visited the tomb of Mary, known as the Church of the Assumption, a church cut into the rock with the traditional site of Mary’s tomb below it. From Nazareth, we travelled to Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle at someone’s happy wedding reception. “Do as he tells you,” Mary had instructed the servants... Our next stop was Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, which has been considered the hometown of Jesus. Here he often preached in the synagogue and performed some of the miracles of his public ministry. It is believed that Capernaum was also the home of Peter and several of the other apostles. The town has become more of a museum than a place for people to live. Because of this, I pondered the prophecy of Jesus who cursed Capernaum because its people would not accept his teachings. Later, not far away, we were shown the place where Jesus had first appeared to his apostles after the Resurrection. West of the Sea of Galilee, we find Mt. Tabor, considered the place of the Transfiguration, another site we visited during our pilgrimage. I learned some important things from my pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is good to walk in the shoes of St. Thomas. Doubt-ing paves the way to a zeal and desire to confirm what is true. I discovered that our faith is true and has its sources and foundation in the Holy Land. I also came to the realization that every Christian is blessed with gifts beyond their comprehension. I wanted to see with my own eyes where the history of salvation had begun. I found that despite the turmoil we hear about every day from that part of the world,salvation history is still available for us to discover. ><> ><> ><>Koinonia Page 10

Soul CheckCanon Owen Loftus, Dean Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary

It is February now. During a curious “Indian Summer” in the month of January in South Carolina, we had a lot of sunny days, and I found myself saying “Let’s skip winter due to lack of interest.” This happens when you are in your eighties and are not too keen on cold weather. Especially if you remember the days you

were in Korea on the Manchurian border in the winter. I told myself I would never go anywhere, voluntarily, where it is cold again. Now, I know a lot of Koinonia readers are in, shall we say, other climes and deal with cold, wet, weather every year. However, as I look out the window of my study/chapel, I see it is darkish, though it is not six o’clock in the evening - yet. And cold. And rainy. And I had to bundle up and hold an umbrella over my head as I went only a few yards to our mailbox here in the “sticks” of rural South Carolina. I thank the Lord that I can remember sunny days. I remember the warmth which had me shedding my suit coat, and maybe having a little sweat under my clerical collar. But I love it. Looking out my window at the gloom I think of the season of Lent, and the opportunity to look at another aspect of my life. Is it as gloomy in my soul? I wrote an article about conscience. Thank we God we have it. It is God’s way of saying “Hey, dude! What are you doing? Don’t you know I don’t want you to do that? Stop now!” So I look inside. Is is as cold, rainy, and miserable as it is outside? Well, I wouldn’t say I was a Saint yet. Not in the sense of the Church triumphant. In the sense of the Church militant here on earth, I’m, like y’all, working on it. On the wall of my study, there is a crucifix. On a bookshelf at eye level, I have pictures of family, of course, but also a “triptych” which is a three piece Ikon. In the center is a iconic representation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, On the left “wing” there is an angel. On the right wing there is a lady whom I take to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pictures of my family (just behind the ikon), elicit feelings of love and belonging. Memory of their presence (of those who are not here); especially my grown children, bring forth feelings of love and belonging. Should not the ikon elicit the same feelings? So also should the icon of Christ, bring forth feelings of love and belonging. After all, He died on the cross for us all, didn’t He? Maybe I need to do better and keep Lent and take the time to “examine my conscience” but better still, not only “eliminate the negative” but “latch on the positive” (and don’t mess with Mr. In-between!) Many Christians here in the South do not like Ikons. They are “iconoclasts”, and the best they do in that respect is to have a bare cross representing the Risen Christ. Many of the same folks con-sult prayerfully the Word of God in their King James Bibles every day. So should I, and usually I do, though I wander over into the aca-demic side, not the spiritual side. After all, we also have the Book of Common Prayer, and clergy are under obligation to read prayerfully Morning and Evening Prayer Daily. In an Orthodox Version of the 1928 Prayer Book which I also have, there is not only Mattins and Evensong, but Compline, or bed-time prayers as well, carried over from the monastic offices from which our Book of Common Prayer Daily Offices came. Now my conscience is speaking to me. I have been an Anglican Christian for a while, and still don’t do as well as I should in the prayer department. How are y’all doing? Well, Lent is a good time to “pull you socks up”, listen to your conscience, for it is God’s way of saying -- in the words of the Prayer Book, “....we have erred and strayed from thy ways, like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us”So during this season of Lent, maybe we can go back to our own heritage and keep Lent by keeping “in touch” with our Crucified Jesus Christ through the medium of the confessions, prayers, and thanksgivings in our Book of Common Prayer and get them to our souls, so it might be a little sunnier and not rain so much inside! ><>

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The Lenten Season is a time for us to focus on the suffering, death and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. We cannot know the true joy of Easter with-out knowing the darkness, the pain and the sacrifice of the cross.

The message of Lent is sometimes hard for Christians to understand. Lent means depriving ourselves, looking into our own souls, reflecting on our own sinfulness, facing our tempta-tions, finding strength in scripture and ultimately looking to the cross of Jesus Christ and seeing our sins being nailed there. Be-cause Jesus died on that cross and thus paid for our sins, we have life, and because Jesus rose from the dead, we will have eternal life with him. A few days ago, I received a call from someone outside my Parish, asking my opinion of the power of prayer. In answer to his question, I told him the true story of a family in South-ern Missouri that actually received a miracle in answer to fervent prayer. This is a powerful story and I know that it is true. A couple of years ago, I had the occasion to speak to a man in far Southern Missouri who asked me questions about the differences between Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism. After we had discussed those differences and what we Anglicans be-lieve, he became very quiet for a moment, and then told me a beautiful story of how God had granted him a miracle. He pulled a folded, wrinkled and well-worn piece of pa-per from his wallet and told me that his miracle had happened 30 years ago. He had made a hand-written, pencil account of the incident and had carried with him ever since. He allowed me to make a copy of that account, and although I will not use his name in order to protect his privacy, the following is a direct quote from that hand-written account of 30 years ago: “On the 23rd day of October, 1983, my wife Susan gave birth to our third child, a beautiful little girl. Shortly after that, Satan struck. The doctors came in and told me that my wife was bleeding to death. I was not a practicing Christian at the time, but praise God, I was brought up in a Christian home. The doctors told me that they would immediately send Susan to the University Medi-cal Center, as they had done all they could for her. I called all the members of my immediate family and asked them to start praying to God to spare Susan’s life. I was scared that God would not answer my prayers, because I knew that I had not lived the life that I knew was right. On October 24th, the doctors told me they had no hope of my wife surviving. I was praying to God to please let her live, but she was just getting worse and worse. At 6:03 that evening, I forgot all my pride and all worldly things and fell down on my knees and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. I was totally humble to the will of God,…..and while sitting in the waiting room in the intensive care unit, God spoke to me. He said, ‘What you have asked of Me has been done.’ I praised Him for the healing of my wife. Over the next 5 days, the doctors continued to tell me that Susan would not pull through. But I stood on God’s word and told them that she would live, because God had told me so.My wife went through 7 operations in 6 days and used 250 units of blood and blood products, but today praise God, she is still here and she is totally healthy and whole. All of the glory goes

to our Lord God.God will heal your loved one too. James 5:15 says, ‘and the Lord shall save the sick. The Lord shall raise them up; and if they have committed sins, they shall be forgiven them.’ God loves each of us as we love our own children, and he will help us in our time of need if we just pray and ask Him for His help. John 11:28 says, ‘and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither sall any man pluck them out of my hand.’ God loves us so much that he offers us eternal life. There could be no more love given to us than that. I stand with you in faith that your loved one shall be healed too. God does not lie, and His word is true, so expect a miracle.” Those were the words of a tough former Marine, from a well-used piece of paper that he had carried with him since 1983. “What you have asked of me had been done!” God’s answer to a fervent prayer of repentance, confession, humility and faithful-ness; A prayer for mercy that did not go unanswered, the conver-sion of a tough former Marine to a life of dedication and faithful-ness to Jesus Christ. I found out later that Marines went by the busload to do-nate blood to help their fellow Marine and his wife. God, of course was true to his word. “What you asked of Me has been done.” God said. And so it was. But that’s not the end of the story. Susan was told by her doctors that she would never walk again, that it was impossible for her to walk. You see, in an effort to save her life, the surgeons had severed the nerve systems in both her legs and they said it was impossible for her to walk. Two weeks later, she took her first step, and within a few more weeks was able to walk on her own out of the hospital. All of the doctors were amazed, admitting that in fact they had just wit-nessed a miracle. They all agreed that it was an impossibility for that nerve system to re-attach itself and allow her to walk. They had no explanation other than, “it was a miracle.”Is there power in prayer? Is there hope for a sinner? Does God hear our innermost thoughts? Susan and her husband reply with a resounding “ABSOLUTELY”. I promised them I would tell their story as an example of God’s grace, His love, His power to heal, to answer prayer and to forgive sin. The season of Lent is the perfect time for us to reflect on our own sinfulness and to ask God to forgive us. Because waiting at the end of Lent is Holy Week….and at the end of Holy Week waits the cross. It is there that all of our failings rest….it is there that all of our sins reside….it is there with the blood of Christ that we find our true comfort. There on the cross we receive the great-est gift ever…freedom from the burden that rests on our shoulders, freedom from the sin that taints our souls, and freedom from the penalty of death as a result of our failures. If we truly walk these forth days of Lent as our savior has asked, then we will be able to experience the true depth of what happens on that cross,…..and then truly feel the power behind the joy on Easter morning as we declare…..

”HALLELUJAH, CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST HAS RISEN INDEED”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen! ><> Fr. Don Holley, St. Paul’s HCCAR, Branson, MOThanks to Fr. Don Holley and the congregation of St. Paul’s for their help in recording the Stations of the Cross on Youtube!

THE POWER OF PRAYER by Fr. Don Holley

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As was saying my morning prayers I asked God for forgiveness for the things I have done and the things I have left undone. Wow what have I left undone? When was God speaking to me and I was not listening? My mind raced to recall all the ways God speaks to us; I was recalling classes we had taken during our journey. Let’s see through Bible Study, prayer,

circumstances, dreams, .......... my mind then starts racing to think of times in my life when I might have missed God talking to me and left something He needed me to do undone. This concerned me and still concerns me. My mind now races to Monday night football, I know what you are thinking. Monday night football are you kidding me? Give me a moment to explain. on Monday Night Foot-ball they run a segment called C’Mon Man! During this segment the hosts will discuss and show plays that made them scratch their heads and end each by saying C’Mon Man! One play from last season showed a wide receiver that had obtained great deal of separation from the defensive back, he was wide open! The quarterback threw the ball and it went right through his hands.....C’Mon Man!!! This show has become so popular that fans tweet and text in suggested C’Mon Man plays of the week. C’Mon Man...........

I wondered how many times God looked down at me after sending me a message of something he was calling me to do and when I missed it he would say C’Mon Man!! God must have a sense of humor. And it made me pon-der does God have a heavenly version of C’Mon Man?? On Monday nights do all the Angels, archangels and all the company of heaven gather in a big stadium (can you imagine God’s Big Screen High Definition TV?) and watch a heavenly version of C’Mon Man? All week long do Angels submit “plays of the week” to vote on for review in front of all of heaven? I can picture it; God shows me someone in need, someone who I am being called to serve and I miss it. The scene is played out on God’s Big Screen High Definition TV in front of the entire company of heaven and when the scene ends they all shout C’Mon Man!!!! Ouch! How many times have I been on Heavenly C’Mon Man? How many times have you been on the Heavenly version of C’Mon Man??? ~ Steve Kinner ><>

THE UPS AND DOWNS (NOTHING NEW) Fr. Jimmy Dean, Church of the Holy Family, Casper

I’m sure all of you feel quite often the way the way I do regarding the world we live in. You feel sad,discouraged, and quite angry when you hear about the violence, the reckless and empty agendas of those who are pushing our

culture into a way of life we never would have imagined. We ask ourselves, how could this ever have happened? Satan is hard at work, and is having some suc-cess at least for the time being I could go on with the down-side much longer,but everyone knows it all too well. We have all seen the upside too. We just have to wait a matter of hours or a day or two at the most until we hear something on the news, read something, or see it for ourselves, something that is uplifting and this revives our faith and hope in the many good people we share the world with. Good people pick up the pieces, keep moving forward, doing good things, and I’m sure they get angry and disgusted too. In the psalms and the epistles we read of the up and down feelings of long ago. Same thing nothing new. Believers have always had that Spirit that kept them strong in the long run if things. Believers in the New Testament days and today have that perfect and perpetual reminder that will keep them focused. The Summary Of The Law. Something I read recently that was quite humbling and uplifting to me is also something I wanted to share with all of you.

“When a poor person dies, I want them to die in the arms of somebody who loves them. I want them to be able to look for the last time into the eyes of somebody who cares for them” Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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As we journey through Lent towards Easter, I am re-minded of three of my favourite poems by George Herbert (1593-1633) a Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. The poet Henry Vaughan described him as “a most glorious saint and seer,”

while the Puritan Richard Baxter was moved to say: “Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and whose busi-ness in the world is most with God. Heart-work and heaven-work make up his books.” George Herbert was a skilled priest, poet and teacher, and an accomplished musician, who in his poems brings together poet-ry, music and architecture. His spirituality is the Anglican Via Me-dia or Middle Way par excellence. His poetry is constantly evident of the intimacy of his dealings with God and his assurance that, alone in a vast universe, he is held safe by the Crucified Christ. Herbert stands alongside John Jewel, Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes for his profound influence on the Caroline Divines, including John Cosin and Jeremy Taylor, and he is ranked with John Donne as one of the great metaphysical poets. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote of Herbert’s diction that “Nothing can be more pure, manly, or unaffected.” The poet lau-reate WH Auden wrote of him: “His poetry is the counterpart of Jeremy Taylor’s prose: together they are the finest expressions of Anglican piety at its best.”

Herbert’s life George Herbert was born on 3 April 1593 in Montgomery Castle, Wales, the seventh of 10 children in an eminent, intellec-tual artistic and wealthy Welsh landed family. When the first folio of Shakespeare’s plays was published in 1623, it was dedicated

to Herbert’s kinsmen, “the most noble and incomparable pair of brethren,” William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip Her-bert, Earl of Montgomery. George Herbert’s mother Magdalene (nee Newport) was a patron and friend of many poets, including John Donne, who dedicated his Holy Sonnets to her. His older brother, Edward Her-bert, later Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was an important poet and philosopher, often referred to as “the father of English deism.” Herbert’s father, Richard Herbert, Lord Herbert of Cher-bury, died in 1596, when George was three, leaving a widow and 10 children. The poet’s mother was determined to educate and raise her children as loyal Anglicans. The family moved first to Oxford in 1599 and then to London in 1601, and George Herbert was tutored at home before entering Westminster School in 1604 at the age of 10. In his first year at Westminster School, he came under the tutelage of Lancelot Andrewes, then the Dean of Westminster Abbey. As early as 1604, he penned Musae Responsoriae, later published in 1620, a collection of lightly satirical verses directed at the Presbyterian controversialist Andrew Melville. In 1606, Herbert’s widowed mother, Magdalene, mar-ried Sir John Danvers, who was then only 20 but proved to be a benign and generous stepfather.

On 5 May 1609, Herbert was admitted to Trinity College, Cam-bridge, where he excelled in languages and music, and there he first considered becoming a priest. There too he began to write otional poetry and his first two sonnets, sent to his mother in 1610, maintained that the love of God is a worthier subject for verse than the love of a woman. His first verses, published, in

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The Finest Expressions of Anglican Piety at its Best

Lent and Easter with George Herbert Canon Patrick Comerford

1612, were two memorial poems in Latin on the death of the heir apparent, Prince Henry. Herbert graduated first with the degree BA (Bachelor of Arts) in 1613. He became a minor Fellow of Trinity College in 1614 before proceeding MA (Master of Arts) in 1616, the year William Shakespeare died He was elected a major fellow of Trin-ity in 1618, and was appointed Praelector or Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge. In 1619, he was elected the Public Orator of Cambridge University. In this post, Herbert represented Cambridge at public occasions, writing and addressing formal official speeches in Latin to king and court and to visiting dignitaries and ambassadors. He described the post as “the finest place in the university,” and he continued to hold that post until 1628.. He spent some time away from Cambridge when he was MP for Montgomery in King James I’s last parliament in 1623-1624. A fellow MP at the time was Nicholas Ferrar, who was a contemporary of Herbert’s at Cambridge as an undergraduate at Clare Hall. However, a potentially promising parliamentary career was short and Herbert was ordained deacon in 1625 or 1626. By this time, John Donne was a close family friend. In 1626, while still a deacon, Herbert was appointed Preb-endary of Leighton or a canon in Lincoln Cathedral and became Rector of Leighton Bromswold, a small village in Huntingdon-shire. Herbert was not even present at his institution as a prebend, and it appears he never resided in Leighton Bromswold, appoint-ing two vicars to take charge of the parish. However, with the help of Nicholas Ferrar, he raised funds to refurbish the church, which had not been in use for 20 years. Ever since then, Saint Mary’s Church has two pulpits dating from 1626, attributed to Herbert’s emphasis that a parson should both pray and preach. Herbert’s mother died in 1627, and John Donne preached at her funeral in Chelsea. Herbert resigned as university orator in 1627, and later he moved to Wiltshire. On 5 March 1629, he mar-ried Jane Danvers, a cousin of his step-father. He became Rector of Fugglestone with Bemerton on 26 April 1630, and nine months later, on 19 September, he was or-dained priest in Salisbury Cathedral. He spent the rest of his life as a rector of the little parish of Fugglestone St Peter with Bemerton St Andrew, a Wiltshire rural parish near Salisbury and about 75 miles south-west of London. In Bemerton, he preached and wrote poetry and helped to rebuild the church, drawing on his own funds. He was known too for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill, and providing food and clothing for needy parishioners.

In those three years, he came to be known as “Holy Mr Herbert” around the countryside. His practical manual offering practical pastoral advice to country clergy, A Priest to the Temple (or The Country Parson) (1652), exhibits the intelligent devotion he showed to his parishioners. He tells them, for example, that “things of ordinary use,” such as ploughs, leaven, or dances, could be made to “serve for lights even of Heavenly Truths.” On his deathbed, he sent the manuscript of The Temple to his friend, Nicholas Ferrar, who had founded the semi-monastic Anglican religious community at Little Gidding – a name best known today through the poem Little Gidding by TS Eliot. In his letter, Herbert said of his writings: “They are a picture of spiritual conflicts between God and my soul before I could subject my will to Jesus, my Master.” He asked Ferrar to publish the poems if he thought they might “turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul,” but otherwise he should burn them. Suffering from poor health, Herbert died of tuberculosis on 1 March 1633 at the age of 40, less than three years after being ordained priest. An inscription found in the Rectory at Bemerton after his death reads: To My Successor:

If thou chance for to find A new House to thy mind, And built without thy cost; Be good to the Poor As God gives thee store, And then my Labour’s not lost.

Another version reads:

If thou dost find An house built to thy mind, Without thy cost; Serve thou the more God and the poor; My labour is not lost.

His first biographer, Izaak Walton, described Herbert on his deathbed as “composing such hymns and anthems as he and the angels now sing in heaven.” The Temple was edited by Nicholas Ferrar and was pub-lished in Cambridge later that year as The Temple: Sacred poems and private ejaculations. It met with such popular acclaim that it had been reprinted 20 times by 1680, and went through eight edi-tions by 1690.

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Izaak Walton’s The Life of Mr. George Herbert (1670) traces his spiritual development and his career, dividing his life into two op-posing halves: the first half full of worldly success – his brilliant mind, fine education, exalted social circle, and court ambitions – and the second half showing him turn away from the world to serve God, love the poor, and lead a life of “almost incredible” virtue. Herbert’s reputation as a firm rejecter of the vanities of the world – “like a saint, unspotted of the world” – is supported by his own self-identification as a “country parson.” The term “country” at the time was often used in direct opposition to the court as well as to the city, so that the idea of a country “parson” or pastor implies someone in retreat, exile, or isolation from court and city life. Herbert implicitly contrasts the ideal parson with the intellectual, with the poet, and with the courtier, preferring the parson’s emotional “patience, temperance ... and orderliness” to the poet’s clamours of the soul. Critical interest in Herbert’s poetry struggles in a debate about whether his voice is that of the philosopher or the country pastor. When he is thought of as a parson, his poems may seem simple; when he is considered as a metaphysical philosopher, his poems may seem academic and complex. Herbert is as much an ecclesiastical poet as a religious poet, yet all sorts of readers have responded to his quiet intensity, and for many readers in recent decades, he has displaced John Donne as the supreme metaphysi-cal poet.

Lent by George Herbert

Staying in Sidney Sussex College over many years has brought the privilege of being within strolling distance of most if not all of the major churches, chapels and colleges in Cambridge.

The Classical Gate in Sidney Sussex College was originally erected in Hall Court to replace the first main gate. During Wy-atville’s alterations in 1832, the gate was moved to the north-east corner of the gardens, where it remains an eye-catching feature. But the gate must be closed permanently, for I have never seen it open into Jesus Lane, which forms the northern boundary of the grounds of Sidney Sussex. On the same side as the Classical Gate is All Saints’ Church. The ‘Saintly Cambridge Anglicans’ window, installed in the church in 1923 by Kempe & Co, has three panels of stained-glass designed by John Lisle honouring three Cambridge saints: the priest poet George Herbert (1593-1633); Bishop Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901); and the missionary Henry Martyn (1781-1812). Herbert and Westcott were fellows of Trinity College Cambridge, while Martyn was a Fellow of Saint John’s College, which explains why the coat-of-arms of each college is also depicted in the window. Below the panel depicting George Herbert is an im-age of Saint Andrew’s Church, Bemerton, and the words: “Here George Herbert ministered and beneath the Altar of Bemerton Church was buried A.D. 1632.” Of course, Herbert never min-istered in All Saints’ Church, and he died in 1633, not in 1632. But as I pass by the Classical Gate in at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, I am reminded of George Herbert’s words in his poem ‘Lent’: ‘That ev’ry man may revel at his door …’

Lent

Welcome dear feast of Lent: who loves not hee, He loves not Temperance, or Authority, But is compos’d of passion. The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church says, now: Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow To ev’ry Corporation.

The humble soul compos’d of love and fear Begins at home, and lays the burden there, When doctrines disagree, He says, in things which use hath justly got, I am a scandal to the Church, and not The Church is so to me.

True Christians should be glad of an occasion To use their temperance, seeking no evasion, When good is seasonable; Unless Authority, which should increase The obligation in us, make it less, And Power itself disable.

Besides the cleanness of sweet abstinence, Quick thoughts and motions at a small expense, A face not fearing light: Whereas in fulness there are sluttish fumes, Sour exhalations, and dishonest rheums, Revenging the delight.

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Then those same pendant profits, which the spring And Easter intimate, enlarge the thing, And goodness of the deed. Neither ought other men’s abuse of Lent Spoil the good use; lest by that argument We forfeit all our Creed. It’s true, we cannot reach Christ’s forti’eth day; Yet to go part of that religious way, Is better than to rest: We cannot reach our Saviour’s purity; Yet we are bid, ‘Be holy ev’n as he,’ In both let’s do our best.

Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone, Is much more sure to meet with him, than one That travelleth by-ways: Perhaps my God, though he be far before, May turn and take me by the hand, and more: May strengthen my decays.

Yet Lord instruct us to improve our fast By starving sin and taking such repast, As may our faults control: That ev’ry man may revel at his door, Not in his parlour; banqueting the poor, And among those his soul.

Easter, by George Herbert

Herbert’s poem ‘Easter,’ first published in The Temple shortly after his death, is a highly complex connotative poem that is often difficult to grasp. This poem, in two parts, is an example of how Herbert’s poems sometimes take a double-poem organisation with two separate stanza forms – a structure he uses too in a companion poem, ‘Good Friday.’ ‘Easter’ was originally written by Herbert as two sepa-rate poems, but the call in the first verse, ‘Rise heart; thy Lord is risen,’ and the musical images of verses two and three, find their fullest expression in the song of praise in the final three verses. In this poem, Herbert addresses his heart as he prepares for Easter. Reflecting on the Resurrection, he is moved in the first part of the poem to compose a song (lines 1-18), and he then shares this song in the second part of the poem (lines 19-30). There is good reason to believe that Herbert intended the second, less formal part of this poem to be sung to the accompaniment of a lute.

Easter

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise Without delayes, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With him mayst rise: That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more, just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part With all thy art. The crosse taught all wood to resound his name, Who bore the same. His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song Pleasant and long: Or, since all musick is but three parts vied And multiplied, O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, And make up our defects with his sweet art.

I got me flowers to straw thy way; I got me boughs off many a tree: But thou wast up by break of day, And brought’st thy sweets along with thee. The Sunne arising in the East, Though he give light, and th’ East perfume; If they should offer to contest With thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this, Though many sunnes to shine endeavour? We count three hundred, but we misse: There is but one, and that one ever.

Easter Wings by George Herbert

‘Easter Wings’ by George Herbert is a pattern poem in which the work is not only meant to be read, but its shape is

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poem was first published in 1633, it was printed on two pages of a book, sideways, so that the lines suggest two birds flying upwards, with their wings spread out. Herbert is using a form of poetry called carmen figu-ration, manipulating the overall shape of the poem to mimic its subject. In this way, he shapes both stanzas to look like wings when the poem is turned sideways, representing the ultimate flight of humanity when Christ claim his followers. This style of writing poems with shapes that mirror their theme was adopted from the ancient Greeks and was popular when Herbert was writing in the early 17th century, with many poets adopting similar styles and forms of writing. The shape of the poem represents a dying or falling, then rising pattern, which is the theme of the Easter story. The top half of each stanza focuses on the problems caused by human sin, while the bottom half reflects the hope made pos-sible by Christ’s Resurrection at Easter. The wings may evoke also the angels present at the empty tomb on that first Easter morning (John 20: 12). But Herbert also adopts other styles in this poem about the fall of humanity and the Resurrection of Christ. He uses capitalisation at the beginning of each line and punctua-tion at the end of most lines in ‘Easter Wings,’ so that each line stands on its own with a capital letter at the beginning. This method of form, together with hard punctuation, gives each line more stress. In this way, Herbert gains the reader’s attention and invites us to consider the importance of each single line.

Easter Wings

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With thee Oh let me rise As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne: And still with sicknesses and shame Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With thee Let me combine And feel this day thy victorie: For, if I imp my wing on thine Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

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The Revd Professor Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, an Adjunct Assistant Professor, Trinity College Dublin (University of Dublin), and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Fr. Patrick is almost a regular contributor to Koinonia and we appreciate his contributions.

The “Gesima” Sundays and Lent

Fr. Lewis Shepherd, HCCARHoly Trinity HCCAR, Sheridan WY The Liturgical preparation for Easter may be viewed as taking place in three periods or steps. The first is the “gesima.” The common theme for these Sundays is the Grace of God. Septuagsima. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. The Collect for this Sunday implores God to graciously hear us, who are justly punished for our sin, so that we may be de-livered by God’s goodness. The goodness of God is empha-sized in the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (St. Mt. 2:1-16), where all the laborers receive the same reward be-cause of the goodness of landowner. So we too receive the reward of eternal life, because God is good, and Another has borne the heat and burden of the day for us. Sexagesima. Grace is received through the Word of God. In the Parable of the Sower (St. Luke 8:4-15), the seed of God’s Word is received in good hearts. Quinquagesima. Salvation is by the Grace of God, who gave His only-begotten Son for us. Grace is not easily un-derstood. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus predicts His Pas-sion, and the disciples “understood none of these things.” (St. Luke 18:31-43) The second step of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, when we are reminded of our mortality. “Remember, O men, dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.” The use of ashes also expresses our mourning and sorrow for sins. (see Job 42:5-6) During the four Sundays in Lent, the focus is on tempta-tion and faith, and the Christian’s struggle. Lent I. Christ is tested in the Wilderness. Lent II. The faith of the Canaanite woman is tested. Lent III. The people tempt Christ to show them a sign from heaven. Lent IV. This Sunday is Laetare Sunday, so called from the Introit at Mass, “Laetare Jerusalem” (“O be joyful Je-rusalem”). It is also known as “refreshment” Sunday – a respite from the rigorous demands of the Lenten Season. The final stage is Passiontide, which begins on Palm Sunday and extends through Holy Week and the Triduum (“three holy days” which include Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday). Now the focus is exclusively on Christ’s Passion. Throughout Lent and Passiontide, the intensity builds until we finally arrive at the empty tomb. The mood of the entire period from the gesima Sun-days through Holy Saturday becomes progressively more somber. At first, the “Alleluias” are dropped along with the Gloria. During the four Sundays of Lent, flowers no longer adorn the altar. On Passion Sunday, statues and images are draped in purple. After the Mass on Maundy Thursday, the Blessed Sacrament is removed and the altar stripped. Call it a liturgical death of the Church - a death that reveals to us how Christ emptied Himself of His glory in order to save us. All this finally leads us to the joy of Easter. Have a meaningful and blessed Lent.

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The Least of the Sheep Those who offend our sensibilities and violate the laws of society are often beyond empathy given their histories of life choices. They are a difficult group of individuals who largely fail to muster compassion or understanding among members of the general population. Prisoners and their family members by exten-sion have become the 21st Century Lepers. As Christians, we have received a mandate from Jesus Christ to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, and so on. It is not a command that yields easily to our concept of convenient outreach to others. The family members of those in prison as well as the spouses and chil-dren are serving their sentences every day in the community. They are largely invisible although there are an estimated 90 million citizens having a family member who has been through the justice process. Like the lepers of old, we are plagued by the spectacle of rejection and the imposition of modern day exclusionary practices. It appears that once they have crossed the threshold of criminal conviction, offenders are relegated to a shadow land exile for the rest of their lives. You may not see the harm inherent in the grow-ing numbers of citizens fighting for existence in the post prison world. Perhaps some basic numbers will inform the public policy issues contributing to this growing dilemma. Consider the follow-ing numbers: 2 million currently in prison. 8 million currently under probation or parole supervision. 30 million estimated former felons within our national borders. 14 million new arrests each year. !1 million estimated new felony convictions each year. 500,000 mental health professionals and clergy to work with them. 90 million estimated family members with prior justice system experience. The current way to manage the concerns of those who have lived through this experience seems to focus on ignoring the problem. Given the social stigma, shame and pain few fam-ily members, spouses or children would give public voice to their personal sufferings. So they manage to become invisible in our communities and cities, rural and urban areas. They are there if you care to look for them. Dismas Project is a Christian ministry to families of of-fenders. This ministry has developed regional outreach workshops for all family members and concerned individuals at no cost. In giving voice to their sorrow and pain, we are beginning to take the first step toward inviting our lost brothers and sisters and their families to return to fellowship in our churches and communities. Restoring relationships starts with establishing a bond of trust and communication. Only in that context can true healing begin. Churches and community organizations may sponsor a local workshop for disenfranchised families or simply request fur-ther information by contacting Dismas Project staff at 888-545-5128; online at www.dismasproject.com, Facebook @Dismas Project or Twitter @Knowetics. Individual service requests will be treated as personal and confidential. In most cases, these children and family members are without support and are truly the “least of the sheep.”Kevin J. McCarthy, Ph.D. Dismas Project, Inc. P.O. Box 1484 Slidell, Louisiana 70459

RELGIOUS LIBERTY This was passed on by Fr. Julio Jimenez and we have ob-tained permission from Jerry David of Open Doors USA to reprint this article

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

Ron Boyd MacMillan is a perceptive communicator. He writes for the next two days: As my plane touched down after a trip to the Middle East, I breathed a big sigh of relief. I was back where I did not have to watch my back, be careful what I said, or where I went. Whew. I was back in a country that had religious freedom. I prayed to God, “Thank you for the men and women who fought to bring me this freedom. Thank God they won.” Then two incidents happened one after the other that made me think again. I was at an art exhibition and looking at a painting en-titled, Man startled on a horse. I sought out the artist and said, “Was that the Apostle Paul on the Damascus road you were depicting?” I thought he would be pleased I had figured it out. But he looked horrified, and glancing around he hissed, “For goodness sake keep quiet. Do you want me to get labeled as a religious artist? I’d never sell another painting if that hap-pened.” Then I was talking to a priest in charge of a large church in my city. His church had just received a large sum of money from the state for the refurbishment of a church hall. Then he said, “Well, we had to sign an agreement that the church would be available for everyone of any religion, and that we would not try to convert anyone. But we were happy to do that. We just want to be a community resource.” Suddenly I became aware that I had to fight for reli-gious liberty in my own country. I had thought that because certain toleration laws were in place, I was safe. But no, it was clear from the artist that to admit one’s Christian faith in a public context was professional suicide. How did my society suddenly get so prejudiced? And look at the priest blithely giving up his right to evangelize, without a thought to the long-term cost. Who was asking him to refrain from evangelizing? And how could he be so unaware of the freedom he just signed away? RESPONSE: Today I will not assume that freedom is automatic. I will stand up for the truth of God’s Word and be truly free.

PRAYER: Lord, may I never take the free expres-sion of my faith for granted. Help me to understand the challenges that representing Your truth will bring. Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS) A daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission

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I easily become overloaded, overburdened, and go overboard with busyness. I’ve often thought to myself that life would be perfect if bad times had fast forward buttons and good times had pause buttons. I’d also like to clone myself to get more done and never have to sit back and wait for anything. But is that really what I want?

Wait is a tough word to deal with in today’s busy world. Being too busy can distract us from the really important things in our lives—people. Do I really like being so busy that I’m worn out by noon? No. I know deep within my heart that being overloaded is a way for the enemy to distract me from those most precious to me. If I’m really honest, I would have to admit I learn more during those calm and peaceful times when my heart, soul, and mind all unite to seek God’s will than I do when I’m stretching my mind to hold more and more while I’m falling apart. One thing I have to remember on a daily basis is that wait is not an ugly word and “busy” is not a spiritual gift. After all, God says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Isn’t being still waiting? When you have a personality like mine, it’s hard to be still, but it is only during those moments alone with God that I can truly feel a peace that surpasses all understanding. Busy is the enemy of peace. Busy steals precious time. Busy robs my bless-ings.Waiting Time Is Never Wasting Time In this fast paced, jungle-like world we build for ourselves, we rarely have “waiting” time anymore. We expect instant gratifi-cation and instant results—at lightening fast speed! We become so engrossed in paperwork that we delete all the “people” work in our lives. We become so busy that we can’t remember the last time we took a full day off or sat at the dinner table with the family.Life can bring about big storms and the waves hit hard if we don’t slow down. Busy can beat upon us like a drum. When those closest to us have stopped asking for our time, it’s because they know we are too busy for them. That’s crushing to the heart. We all need “wait-ing” time, whether we think we do or not. Waiting time is when we say adamantly, “It can wait!” and we step back and do what is really important. I discovered this after I found myself checking my appoint-ment book to see if I could squeeze in lunch with my 18-year-old daughter. I knew then that I had to back up and take a good look at my priorities. The world would momentarily stop if something ever happened to her, so why can’t I stop when she wants me to have lunch? It’s amazing how busy I allow myself to be. To actually clear my schedule for a day or two feels impossible. I feel as if everything would fall apart if I said, “No, I’m sorry. I can’t do that task,” or if I refuse to answer my phone. God puts his healing hand under my chin and assures me of one thing—he will never leave me and he wants me to trust him as he helps me clear my overloaded plate to a man-ageable amount. The storm that rages inside me is shouting, “Slow Down!” and demands my attention. But if I heed that call, the Creator of peace will shower me with a peace that surpasses all understanding if I just trust him. The fragrance of grace and mercy will overflow in me when I come to peace with being less busy. Breaking old patterns

is hard, but God reminds me that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.Morning by Morning New Mercies I See I began to sing the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” as I awoke each day. I asked the Lord to help me give up a life of unbridled busyness and to show me how to achieve balance between worshiping God, loving my family, and enjoying my work. Somehow during the course of my life, I mixed those up and put work at the beginning. From this day forward, busy was not going to win out any more. Busy was not going to push me around till I was worn out from the struggle. I stood up tall, held my shoulders back, and smiled. I began to seize the opportunity to truly listen to God’s plan for my life. Some-one once told me peace smells like cupcakes. Step back and welcome that smell. Let your house begin to take on the odor of a bakery and watch how you begin to see and taste that the Lord is good once you grow still and begin to slow down. If you are in a season of fast-paced insanity, no fun frustration, and running around like a road runner, I encourage you to seek God with all your heart and ask him to help you clear the unnecessary chaos that you have brought to your life. Sit and wait as he begins to show you the things to remove, and be ready to listen. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? Yes. Do you love some of the things he might remove? Yes. But trust him and hang on to your faith with an iron fist as you seek to glorify the Lord with your life. Begin to say, “Use me, Lord!” not, “Why me, Lord?” God is going to see you through and when he does, you will stand taller and bolder, and be more faithful. You’ll begin to smell the roses, taste the rain, laugh more, and not miss out on the important things in life. You’ll overflow with good things rather than be drained from exhaustion. You’ll come out of the desert singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and knowing that God is in control after all. It’s such a relief to not have to try to control everything. And the best part is that one day, as you awaken to sunshine peering through your win-dow, you’ll feel the joy of the Lord has returned to your life. You’ll know that joy comes in the morning when you realize that busyness is not a spiritual gift. The ultimate peacemaker said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled …” (John 14:27). He releases you to run free from chaos and to break free from busyness so you can experience a peace that surpasses all un-derstanding. So, when your heart is calm, thank him. And once you’ve done that, go to lunch with a loved one and don’t forget to turn off your phone.

*** Tammy Whitehurst, a Christian speaker, is the found-er of Joy for the Journey Ministries. You can read more about her at tammywhitehurst.com.

Tammy Whitehurst | posted 11/06/2012 Copyright {2012}, {Tammy Whitehu-

rst} and Christianity Today/ChristianBibleStudies.com. Used with permission.

Busyness Is Not a Spiritual Gift‘Wait’ is a tough word to deal with in today’s busy world.Tammy Whitehurst

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Each Year The Cathedral Parish of St Mary´s HCCAR , Caracas, Venezuela hosts the Remembrance day and Veterans day Service (Domingo del Dia Commemoracion del Armisticio y Dia Del Veterano de Guerra). This Service is attended by The Ambassadors of the various Embassies within the City of Caracas. For example the British Ambassador, Katherine Nettleton, The Canadian Ambassador, Paul Gibbard and the United States Charge de Affairs, James Dearham. The Ambassadors participate in the Service by Reading the lessons and offering a short address. Of course, the Biblical understanding of “Rememberance” is not simply recalling past events or persons no longer with us, but rather making that event or person present, particularly within the Liturgy. As always, the Service is very meaningful for those who are present that day particularly the minutes silence after the playing of the “Last Post.” - Fr. Barrie Hodgins HCCAR, Rector, St. Mary’s HCCAR, Caracas, Venezuela.

St. Joseph of Glastonbury HCCAR, Wichita: First Holy Communion of Arlín, Aarón, Iván, Irvin by Fr. Julio Jimenz

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Baptism of Royce Moses, grand-son of Deacon Bill and Judy Brummett and the son of Ken and Megan Moses at the Church of the Holy Family on Nov 10, 2012 below the Holy Family Congrega-tion. Photos: Ken Knight

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In 2000, while working as a teacher in private school teaching Italian to foreign students, I left everything, and I went to Rome to follow the vocation that as a child I felt in my heart, to serve the Church and the people of God as a priest. In Rome, I spent a year at the International Seminar of John Paul II and I studied at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei) during the studies I met the Benedictine monks (Dom Claudio Crescimanno) who wanted to found a community young and new ... in Italy it is very common today! I was ordained His priest in 2007. I have always been a popular and typical Catholic conservative, even as a priest. I love the liturgical and personal prayer together with the Holy Bible and the Ro-man Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) my favorite book is, also actually, “The Imitation of Christ”. After our mar-riage in 2011, the discovery of the Bible (or rediscovery) for me signified a change of perspective but not an aban-donment of the Faith. After a year of attending the Baptist Church here in Cesena, Italy, my wife and I sensed a lot of anti-catholic feelings from the evangelicals as they had suffered perse-

cution in the 70s at the hands of catholic hierarchy. We both did not absorb this anti- catholic feelings from the evangelicals either. We continue to believe that in the Catholic Church many things are good as the liturgy, catechesis, charity, while other aspects need to be reformed. We think that the modus operandi of the Anglican reform is good: reformed theology and liturgy, and put Christ and the Bible at the centre. Personally, I wish I could continue my mission as a priest, I have always believed in this vocation to the priesthood and I would live it with the same enthusiasm and love in a country and in a church where we can operate, in communion with the bishop and priests. So we would like to bring our enthusiasm and our ability in the Anglican Church: working with young people and families, serve the elderly and make them feel loved and help the poor in which is hidden Christ. The love for the liturgy has united us (me and Elisa) and continues to unite, it seems strange but there it is! With my wife and many other parishioners friends have experienced the beautiful liturgies with which we sent the Christian mystery. We would also like to be educated in the Anglican faith. I would like to be able to complete my studies and to be able to speak very well English language. We desire to be a sign of friendship for many Catholics friends in Italy and in USA: a sign of how we can live together (Elisa and I) the priestly mission, and that marriage is a help for the priest and not a problem. We ask God’s humility, which is the way of the saints, the patience and strength to be able to enter in the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite in America. To God be the glory! Amen! ><>

BEN VENUTODon Luca ed Elisa a HCCAR Welcome!

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