Archbishop Raymond Burke, the Roman Catholic Church’s top legal authority, has stated that reading at Mass or distributing communion is not a right of the baptized. “Assistance by “persons of the feminine sex” at the altar” is also not a right.
Pope John Paul II, of course, allowed “persons of the feminine sex” at the altar. The recent altar server pilgrimage to the Vatican drew thousands of boys and girls. “Archbishop Burke clarified, however, that the reality of the matter is that neither the presence of girls at the altar, nor the participation of lay faithful “belong to the fundamental rights of the baptized.””
The attitudes to women, particularly around menstruation, has a long history, going back into Biblical times. In 241 AD Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria, wrote: “menstruous women ought not to come to the Holy Table, or touch the Holy of Holies, nor to churches, but pray elsewhere.” Pope Gelasius I (494 AD) objected to women serving at the altar. The Decretum Gratiani (1140 AD), which became official Church law in 1234 AD, part of the Corpus Iuris Canonici has
Women may not distribute communion
Women may not teach in church
Women may not touch sacred objects
Women may not touch sacred vestments
The Corpus Iuris Canonici (1234 – 1916 AD) also has:
A woman may not touch the corporal
Women may not receive communion during their monthly periods
Women should receive communion in their hand on a ‘housel-towel’ or on the tongue
Women should be veiled when receiving communion
Women may not be singers in Church
From 1917
Women may not distribute holy communion
Girls or women may not be Mass servers at the altar
Women should have their heads veiled in church
Sacred linen must first be washed by men, before women touch them
Women may not read out Sacred Scripture in church
IMO, and with respect, I suggest the understanding of laity as there to pay, pray, and obey is not the understanding of Jesus. Renewal of liturgy has rediscovered liturgy is (as the origin of the word suggests) “the work of the people”. It is not a spectator sport. It is a team sport, where each has a particular role. I would suggest that the laity, in fact, are the ones appropriately reading lessons, leading the prayers of the faithful, bringing forward the bread and wine, taking up and presenting a collection and other gifts for the poor, etc. Clergy should not usurp these tasks. Laity have responses particular to them in the liturgy. Clergy should not usurp these responses. Many post-Vatican II church buildings do not have a “sanctuary” (this became a problem with a recent Vatican ruling that priests not “leave the sanctuary during the Sign of Peace”). In such a building, at which point is a “person of the feminine sex” deemed to be “assisting at the altar”? May she take up the collection, but not present it? In such a church building may no woman go beyond the front seats or pew? Or even sit in the front seats or pews if there is no physical barrier between her and the altar?
The 1989 Danish movie, Babette’s Feast, is full of deep theology. The story is set in an austere Christian sect in 19th century Jutland. There is much in the movie, even evident in the above clip, about meals and hospitality, Eucharist and community, reconciliation and joy, the generosity of God and the great banquets of which Jesus speaks…
Lord Jesus Christ,
you draw and welcome us,
emptied of pride and hungry for your grace,
to this your kingdom’s feast.
Nowhere can we find food for which our souls cry out,
but here, Lord, at your table.
Invigorate and nourish us, good Lord,
that in and through this bread and wine
your love may meet us
and your life complete us in the power and glory of your kingdom.
Amen.
An alternative to the Prayer of Humble Access; page 33.
From AN ORDER FOR THE HOLY EUCHARIST
The Church in Wales
Canterbury, 208pp, 1 85311 617 3
On this day in 1945, someone climbed not a holy mountain, but into the cockpit of a plane – a machine of war. There had been a lull of a week in the fighting between America and Japan. The Americans had a new secret weapon and they wanted to use it with the maximum psychological effect. On August 6 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Here we have a new voice booming from heaven. Here too was brightness, brilliant as burning magnesium. Here too is a cloud that has come and has covered us all with shadow. Truly, under the shadow of this new cloud, we are right to feel afraid.
The shape of that cloud hangs now forever in our sky. Look at the shape of that cloud. It is the new tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have eaten of its fruit and we shall never be the same again.
We today commemorate Hiroshima day, world peace day, by telling again the story of another climb, another light, another voice, another cloud. Jesus there was speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Jesus was speaking of his death, his destruction by another tree, the cross. And we meet today below that cross, to break bread and proclaim the victory of Christ’s death over every evil, even the total annihilation by human evil.
This is a reposting of an earlier reflection. The full reflection is here.
image: JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings were selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings. See: www.jesusmafa.com and www.SocialTheology.com.
A couple of days ago I asked the question in relation to Sunday’s readings: Does the gospel really imply that nagging God works?
I just want to briefly spend time with part of the readings, Luke 11:5-8. I translate this, pretty literally, but trying to keep some English sense:
5 And he said to them, “Who among you (Τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν) will have a friend, and come to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves (of bread)
6 because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey to me, and I do not have anything that I will set before him.’
7 And that one within, having answered, may say, ‘Do not cause me troubles; already the door has been shut and my children are with me in the bed; I am not able to get up and give you (anything).’
8 I say to you, even if he will not give to him, having arisen, because he is a friend of him, yet because of the shamelessness of him (ἀναίδειαν αὐτοῦ), having arisen, he will give to him as much as he needs.
Τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν is used to mean, “imagine the unthinkable” (cf Luke 12:25; 14:5, 28; 15:4; 17:7). Then the story is set in a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean village, an unexpected person arrives, and the mores of hospitality means that this person will be provided with good food, the best, and more than the person would require. I have experienced this personally.
The story presumes the host either does not have good enough, or quantity enough, or both. The person turns to a friend. Key words in what follows are “ἀναίδειαν αὐτοῦ”.
ἀναίδειαν means “shamelessness” or “impudence” in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, all classical references, and all usages in the early church. A “negative” word. But it has often been translated, incorrectly (IMO), as “persistence”. There is, you will have noticed, no actual persistence in the parable, the friend outside only asks once. Shame is a central motivator in this culture.
αὐτοῦ (of him). It is not clear to whom this refers. (a) Is the shamelessness a reference to the friend indoors? A positive use of “shamelessness” where the one indoors is avoiding dishonour. (b) Is the shamelessness referring to the friend outdoors asking? In the usual negative sense.
First century peasants lived precariously, hand to mouth. Here we have a story where the village looks to be in a hazardous economic situation that the original hearers would immediately identify. The person has gone beyond asking kin for help, to friends. And hospitality is foolishly extravagant, resulting in great vulnerability. This is the kind of generous hospitality acted out in the meals of Jesus, and ultimately in his death (also recalled/relived in a meal).
This parable of three friends reads a bit clumsily, even in the Greek – friendship in that context and in ours is possibly a wonderful image to explore in our relationship with God as a metaphor alongside father in this gospel reading.
This site offers a good variety of tools to access the original texts even for those with limited to no original language skills.
Of course he meant it kindly. I know that.
I know Josh—as well as anyone can know
The Son of God. All the same, he slipped up
Over this one. After all, a Son is only a son
When you come to think about it. And this
Was between sisters. Marty and me,
We understand each other. For instance, when Lazzie died,
We didn’t need to spell it out between us,
Just knew how to fix the scenario
So Josh could do his bit—raising Lazzie, I mean,
From the dead. He has his own way of doing things,
Has to muddle people first, so then the miracle
Comes as a miracle. If he’d just walked in
When Lazzie was iII, and said OK, Lazzie,
You’re off the sick list now — that’d have lacked impact.
But all this weeping, and groaning, and moving of stones,
And praying in public, and Mart saying I believe, etcetera,
Then Lazarus, come forth! and out comes Lazzie
In his shroud. Well, even a halfwit could see
Something out of the ordinary was going on.
But this was just ordinary. A lot of company,
A lot of hungry men, not many helpers,
And Mart had a go at me in front of Josh,
Saying I’m all on my own out there. Can’t you
Tell that sister of mine to take her finger out,
And lend a hand? Well, the thing about men is,
They don’t realise how temperamental good cooks are.
And Mart is very good. Believe you me.
She was just blowing her top. No harm in it.
I knew that. But then Josh gives her
This monumental dressing-down, and really,
It wasn’t fair. The trouble with theology is, it features
Too much miraculous catering. Those ravens feeding Elijah,
For instance. I ask you! They’d have been far more likely
To eat him. And all those heaven-sent fast-food take-aways—
Quail, and manna, and that. And Josh himself
The famous fish-butty picnic, and that miraculous
Draught of fishes. What poor old Mart could have done with
Was a miraculous draught of coffee and sandwiches
Instead of a ticking-off. And the men weren’t much help.
Not a thank you among them, and never a thought
Of help with the washing-up.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course I love Josh,
Wonder, admire, believe. He knows I do.
But to give Marty such a rocket
As if she was a Pharisee, or that sort of type,
The ones he has it in for. It wasn’t right.
Still, Josh himself, as I said—well, he is only
The Son of God, not the Daughter; so how could he know?
And when it comes to the truth, I’m Marty’s sister.
I was there; I heard what was said, and
I knew what was meant. The men will write it up later
From their angle, of course. But this is me, Mary,
Setting the record straight.
‘Unauthorised version’, From U.A. Fanthorpe, Collected Poems 1978-2003, (Calstock, Cornwall: Peterloo Poets, 2005)
H/T Colin Gibson on Dunedin Methodist
Jesus: The cold case by Bryan Bruce (Random House New Zealand Ltd 2101) 272pages $40
Warning: don’t read this book at the breakfast table. If you know anything about the subject at all you will be constantly in danger of either choking on your corn flakes or spraying them all over the table! As I began to read this book, nearly every page at the start has a factual error on it.
And I’ve already read a two-page newspaper article about this book that is supposedly going to revolutionise our understanding of Jesus and of religion.
Here’s the spin description:
The book behind the documentary. For true crime investigator Bryan Bruce the death of Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate cold case. The two deceptively simple questions, Who killed Jesus? And Why? serve as the starting point for his landmark re-examination of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the most famous person in history. His conclusion is that the Gospels’ account of the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus is so flawed that the traditional Easter story in which the Jews set Jesus up to be executed by the Romans simply does not make any sense. He argues that it is based on a lie told in the first century by Christian writers and copyists trying to spin-doctor their new religion to appeal to the Romans. In the process they laundered the character of Pilate and darkened the character of the Jews. The terrible outcome of this lie takes us right to the gates of Auschwitz. This deeply researched book is a remarkable achievement, and an extraordinary contribution to the many-layered fascination with life and death of Jesus.
Spot the pattern: well-known antitheist, well-qualified in a specific area, now suddenly regards himself as an expert in religion, produces a book which will once-and-for-all rid the world of this evil thing called religion. If you are really skilled and knowledgeable in one area, this now gives you the right to present yourself as really skilled and knowledgeable in what the general public, pretty unthinkingly, sees is a related area.
Bryan Bruce is a well-known award-winning documentary maker and author. He’s run a TV One series, The Investigator, in which he sets out to throw new light on what are called cold criminal cases, such as the Bain case. So he’s clearly got excellent contemporary skills.
So Bryan Bruce is going to apply his contemporary skills to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He is not going to try and apply his skills to other ancient cases first – that would demonstrate too clearly that they just don’t apply. They would demonstrate too clearly that Mr. Bruce obviously hasn’t got the needed skills or knowledge.
He’s not going to apply it, say to Alexander the Great, We’re not certain of the date of Alexander’s death. We don’t know if Alexander died from poisoning, assassination, or one of any number of infectious diseases. He’s not going to practice his skills on the assassination of Julius Caesar. And see if he recognises that every school student’s rendition from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1 “Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar” isn’t at all likely to be historically accurate. No, without testing his skills elsewhere to show how inadequate they are, Bryan Bruce is, tiresomely, going to go straight for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And he will of course sell books, in a country where Religious Education is a subject the vast, vast majority of our population are pretty ignorant about (only about 15% have received Religious Education as teenagers).
So Bryan Bruce is shocked to discover that not every detail of the birth stories of Jesus is historically accurate. Shock, horror… yawn. And therefore he goes on to say that the gospels aren’t always historically 100% accurate… yawn – nothing someone who has studied Religious Education wouldn’t have been able to tell him. Nothing that anyone who had actually read the gospels seriously wouldn’t have been able to tell him.
He has reputable scholarship stating that most people in Jesus’ day were illiterate (page 47). And he has reputable scholarship stating that most could read (page 47). In his breathless attack on Christianity, he doesn’t pause to reflect on this contradiction and what it might tell us about difficulties in reconstructing some of the historical facts.
Some errors are so appalling it is astonishing they got through to publication. That Jesus died outside the walls of Jerusalem, not inside them as his map indicates (p. 202) I hope would be picked up by everyone of my 13 year old students. Martin Luther did not nail the 95 theses starting the Reformation in 1520 (caption photo 17, opposite page 65). I would expect every one of my 15 year old students to know the 1517 date. By 1520 the Inquisition had met, the Papal bull Exsurge Domine had been issued, and Luther had burnt it. By January 3 1521 Luther was excommunicated.
Mr Bruce uses sources such as Bishop John Spong and Lloyd Geering. Spong, for example, is given as stating that Mary’s husband, Joseph, never existed – he is merely a literary construct.
The problem with my post is that there is no such thing as bad publicity and controversy can encourage rather than discourage sales. Kiwis, not having any religious education, can add Bryan Bruce to Dan Brown (whom, incidentally, Mr Bruce mocks!) as a significant source of their knowledge of Christianity. No doubt when the documentary arrives it will also be a great success.
When the book appears to not be able to find an interesting conclusion, it suddenly finds a good emotional last quarter. Anti-semitism. Let’s be clear: Christians have an appalling history of anti-semitism. But, Mr Bruce’s attempt to shift the blame totally to Pontius Pilate and so lay the blame for Auschwitz on the gospel authors is nothing short of disingenuous. “The Jews” in John’s Gospel are οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. This can also be translated as “the Judeans”. It does not take much thinking to realise the suggestion that early Christianity was anti-Jewish, when Jesus and all the early followers were Jewish, is obviously laughable. Far more likely is that there is in John’s Gospel evidence of Judean-Galilean rivalry. Many Judeans will have been suspicious of the Jewish prophet from Galilee.
Mr. Bruce gives his readers no help to distinguish “the Jews” opposing Jesus from the Jesus movement which is composed, in many cases, of just other Jews who happen not to have accepted Jesus’ identity as Messiah.
If you do, however, want a “cold case” type book on Jesus, why not purchase Ian Wilson’s book, Murder at Golgotha, instead. He also is a populariser, but at least his work is not so riddled with errors as to make its reliability on anything it says unsafe.
There is much to enrich us in monastic spirituality. Benedictine spirituality in many ways is the undergirding spirituality of Anglicanism. The monastic tradition of “fuga mundi” (“flee the world”), however, is too easily misinterpreted as an anti-creation, other-worldly, so-heavenly-minded-as-to-be-of-no-earthly-use spirituality. This has little validity in a world in ecological crisis, or in a religion that believes in Incarnation. And resurrection. And sacraments.
God did not dress up in a human body and then discard this at death, returning to some preferable spiritual state. God’s hypostatic union to creation is permanent. Christ retains his full, created, creaturely, humanity in the resurrection. Including his body. The Ascension proclaims and celebrates Christ takes this creation into the full presence of God. The metaphorical language of “up” must never allow for an escapist spirituality. If we do not find God in our everyday life of work, sport, friends, food, music, nature, bodies,… we do not find God at all.
The New Zealand Prayer Book Commission’s alteration of the Sursum Corda to “Lift your hearts to heaven/ where Christ in glory reigns” is one of the more unfortunate innovations, encouraging a dualistic as well as triumphalistic spirituality. Thankfully, General Synod 1987 had the wisdom to restore “Lift up your hearts/we lift them to the Lord” in several New Zealand Prayer Book Eucharistic rites.
Ascension is not a literal date – even Luke, whose chronology most quickly springs to mind, has the Ascension on Easter Day in his gospel, and forty days later in his volume two, the Acts of the Apostles. For John, Jesus ascends, is lifted up, on the throne of his cross. Roman Catholics, in New Zealand and elsewhere, celebrate Ascension 43 days after Easter Day!
Ascension Day is a feast, not a season. The Season is the fifty days of the Easter Season. The Easter Candle continues to burn until and including the Day of Pentecost. The Lectionary’s referring to it as “Ascensiontide” is confused and confusing. I cannot locate the formulary that would have this collect read daily from now until the following Thursday as advised by the New Zealand lectionary. Nor can I see any logic in this. Nor can I understand the liturgical purpose of following its suggestion to have two collects.
Ascension Day commences the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Southern Hemisphere. That the Northern and Southern Hemisphere cannot even agree on dating the week of prayer for Christian Unity is in itself, sadly, worthy of reflection.
Let us pray (in silence) [that we may consciously live in the presence of the Risen Christ]
pause
Eternal and gracious God,
we believe your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to have ascended with triumph
into your kingdom in heaven;
may we also in heart and mind
ascend to where he is,
and with him continually dwell;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and forever. Amen.
As well as reflecting on this, you can add any other Ascension reflections or resources in the comments box below.
8 = 7+1
ie. 8 is beginning again (as in the musical scale)
a new beginning
the eighth day is the beginning of a new week
The ark has 8 people saved through the water (2 Peter 2:5)
The Jewish male is circumcised on the eighth day
The Hebrew word for eight שְׁמוֹנֶה (Sh’moneh) is from a root meaning to make or to cover with fat – it is about superabundance.
In John, the Risen Jesus appears on the “eighth day” in John 20:26ff (poorly translated in NRSV, NIV, etc)
The Day of Pentecost is the eighth Sunday of the Easter Season.
It has been suggested that the English expression “Whitsunday” derives from the French huit (eight), Pentecost being le huitième dimanche, the eighth Sunday of Easter.
Octagonal (eight-sided) fonts are no accident. They occur from at least early in the fourth century and form one of the most common shapes for fonts and baptistries in Europe. This is not known in North Africa or the East. Octagonal fonts interpret baptism as resurrection with Christ, and new life in Christ (cf Rom 6:4b,9-11; Col 3:1)
The last NZ Catholic reports the Advertising Standards Complaints Board not upholding complaints about the offensiveness of the Christmas billboard of St Matthew’s in the City.
I do not want to discuss the billboard here – there are plenty of other sites to do that. Nor the Easter billboard, which some regard as even more offensive. I want to look at a phrase in St Matthew’s statement to the Board:
We recognize that there are Christians who believe Mary was forever a virgin and immaculately conceived [emphasis mine]. We do not. These are legitimate theological differences within the Christian community. If differences of strongly held beliefs are to be relegated to being offensive by those who disagree, then free speech on any topic will be suppressed.
The point is that Mary’s immaculate conception has absolutely nothing to do with the billboard. The statement appears to be based on a misconception about what the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception actually is about, a confusion shared by a good number of Anglicans and protestants, and probably a surprising number of Roman Catholics.
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is NOT her Virginal conception of Jesus.The Immaculate Conception of Mary is about her conception in her mother’s womb. It is the belief that although the rest of us are conceived with Original Sin, God preserved Mary from this – she was conceived without Original Sin. Furthermore it is not a biological statement, as Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus entails. Mary’s immaculate conception does not imply her parents didn’t conceive her through sexual intercourse – unless, of course, you hold to sexual intercourse by a married couple being somehow sinful and that sin being somehow passed on to any resulting conception.
The belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary goes with a belief that she was sinless her whole life. This, again, has no relationship with St Matthew’s billboard, unless, again, you regard sexual intercourse by a married couple to be sinful – a position that the Roman Catholic Church would certainly not endorse.
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus regarded Mary as the “new Eve”. The feast of Mary’s conception (December 8 ) traces to at least the seventh century. Bernard, Albert, Bonaventure, and Aquinas were either against it or very hesitant. Generally Franciscans were for it and Dominicans against it. The history turned in the fifteenth century from when it began to gain strong grounds. In 1854 it was defined as a dogma.
Anglicans celebrate two conceptions: that of Christ (March 25) and that of Mary (December 8 ). Here is the Church of England collect for the feast of The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Almighty and everlasting God,
who stooped to raise fallen humanity
through the child-bearing of blessed Mary:
grant that we, who have seen your glory
revealed in our human nature
and your love made perfect in our weakness,
may daily be renewed in your image
and conformed to the pattern of your Son
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
I was in a gift shop with a cafe, having a coffee, when I spotted the above Maria & Jesus salt & pepper grinders for sale. I went over to the counter with “Maria” and asked the young woman working there:
“Who is this?”
She paused, hesitated, looked at the box (”Maria”, it says). “Mary Magdalene?” she ventured. Immediately I sensed that her knowledge of Christianity clearly had one source: Dan Brown.
“Well, Mary Magdalene isn’t normally shown holding a crucifix, is she?” I suggested.
Blank look.
“Do you know the Christian story?” I asked with, I hope, a friendly smile.
She admitted, a little – translation: not much, not really.
It’s not her fault.
It’s illegal in New Zealand State primary schools to present religious instruction. Some primary state schools allow their premises to be used once a week for a half hour of religious education prior to the school being legally open, and parents give permission for their children to attend such classes. It’s run by volunteers – and you are lucky if your school has it.
In State secondary schools religious education is legal. But I only know of one school in the country that has it as an option.
Only about 15% of Kiwis receive their education in faith-based schools with religious education. So Jesus’ mum’s name can be as difficult a question for some people in NZ as Siddhartha Gautama’s mum’s name might be elsewhere.
And identifying the “Maria” statue above can be a real struggle.
Clearly it was for the creator of this grinder.
Faith and meaning aside, it must be such a struggle to make sense of Western art, history, religious allusions in literature, music, films, etc. When it comes to encountering the Christian story for the first time some might argue that such people arrive without prejudice, presumptions, or particular baggage. It’s another interesting option for a thesis research.
[ps. my closest guess - I think "Maria" looks like a poor representation of Thérèse of Lisieux - any better guesses?]
Update April 15: I put up an image yesterday unaware that this was a prank. Observant regular to this site, Robert Greaves, discovered the source. Following the link he provides , it appears that this price tag was produced by Kyle Hepworth of Seatle, WA and then placed in a local Safeway store where he remarks that at least one of his tags stayed up three days. Someone else photographed his tag and that’s how it ended up on this site. My apologies for any hurt I caused in my part in continuing this unwittingly. I hope it has lead to some positive reflection on what Christ actually did die for. And: go and buy something extra from Safeway – what we call a “girlcot”. I am also removing the image from my site.
I found the image here Seven whole days and I am also informing him of its history.
The Exsultet (Exultet) can be a good source of reflection during the Easter Season. The Exsultet originates from some time between the fifth and seventh centuries and is the traditional Western Rite hymn of praise intoned by the deacon during the Easter Vigil after the procession with the Paschal Candle.
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.
Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Deacon: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.
It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”
The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!
Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum:
exsúltent divína mystéria:
et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus:
et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta,
tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia,
tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus:
et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis claritátem,
una mecum, quæso,
Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte.
Ut, qui me non meis méritis
intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est aggregáre,
lúminis sui claritátem infúndens,
cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[Vers. Dóminus vobíscum.
Resp. Et cum spíritu tuo.]
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habémus ad Dóminum.
Vers. Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem
Filiúmque eius unigénitum,
Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum solvit,
et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur,
cuius sánguine postes fidélium consecrántur.
Hæc nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, fílios Israel
edúctos de Ægypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est,
quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est,
quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in Christo credéntes,
a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum segregátos,
reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est,
in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis,
Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit,
nisi rédimi profuísset.
O mira circa nos tuæ pietátis dignátio!
O inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis:
ut servum redímeres, Fílium tradidísti!
O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!
O vere beáta nox,
quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit!
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur:
et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat:
et reddit innocéntiam lapsis
et mæstis lætítiam.
Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat
et curvat impéria.
O vere beáta nox,
in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis divína iungúntur!¹
In huius ígitur noctis grátia, súscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum,
quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne solémni,
per ministrórum manus
de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia nóvimus,
quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis accéndit.
Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes,
mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquántibus ceris,
quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius lámpadis
apis mater edúxit.²
Orámus ergo te, Dómine,
ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis consecrátus,
ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam,
indefíciens persevéret.
Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus,
supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat:
ille, inquam, Lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus,
qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Easter Vigil Exultet (cathedral of Nice in France, 2008)
Rejoice, all creation!
Let the heavenly chorus sing!
Jesus Christ, our light, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour, the light of Christ will warm our autumn night. Christ has conquered!
Glory fills you! Darkness will vanish for ever!
Rejoice, O church of God! Exult in glory! The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy. Echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
The Lord is here. God’s Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to God. It is right to offer thanks and praise.
It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise you the eternal God, and your First-born, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
For Christ is the true passover lamb who at this feast has set your faithful people free.
This is the night when you saved the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
This is the night, when the pillar of fire brought light to your wandering people.
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from gloom, and are restored to grace, and grow together in fullness of life.
This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and we are reconciled with God!
Therefore, Holy God, in the joy of this night, accept our evening sacrifice of praise, your church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to your honour, O God.
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue burning to lighten the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star find this flame still burning among us. Christ is that Morning Star, who rises to shed your peaceful light on all creation.
Christ is now alive and glorified with you for ever and ever. Amen.
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
O Universe, dance around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the victorious trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in glory, revealing the splendour of your creation,
radiant in the brightness of your triumphant King!
Christ has conquered! Now his life and glory fill you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice,O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour, our Lord of life, shines upon you!
Let all God’s people sing and shout for joy.
Or Alternatively, the Introduction could be sung by the whole congregation to a tune of the metre 10.10.10.10 using the following form. Note: not all tunes of 10.10.10.10 metre are suitable.
All Sing, choirs of heaven! Let saints and angels sing!
Around God’s throne exult in harmony!
Now Jesus Christ is risen from the grave!
Salute your King in glorious symphony!
Sing, choirs of earth! Behold, your light has come!
The glory of the Lord shines radiantly!
Lift up your hearts, for Christ has conquered death!
The night is past, the day of life is here!
Sing, Church of God! Exult with joy outpoured!
The gospel trumpets tell of victory won!
Your Saviour lives; he’s with you evermore!
Let all God’s people sound the long Amen!
The minister continues
The Lord be with you All and also with you.
Lift up your hearts. All We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. All It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is right and good that with hearts and minds and voices
we should praise you, Father almighty, the unseen God,
through your only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who has saved us by his death,
paid the price of Adam’s sin,
and reconciled us once again to you. All [Glory to you for ever.]
For this is the Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb of God, is slain
whose blood consecrates the homes of all the faithful. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when you first saved our ancestors,
freeing Israel from her slavery
and leading her safely through the sea. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when Jesus Christ vanquished hell,
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when all who believe in him are freed from sin,
restored to grace and holiness,
and share the victory of Christ. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night that gave us back what we had lost;
beyond our deepest dreams
you made even our sin a happy fault. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Most blessed of all nights!
Evil and hatred are put to flight and sin is washed away,
lost innocence regained, and mourning turned to joy. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Night truly blessed, when hatred is cast out,
peace and justice find a home, and heaven is joined to earth
and all creation reconciled to you. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Therefore, heavenly Father, in this our Easter joy
accept our sacrifice of praise, your Church’s solemn offering.
Grant that this Easter Candle may make our darkness light.
For Christ the morning star has risen in glory;
Christ is risen from the dead and his flame of love still burns within us!
Christ sheds his peaceful light on all the world!
Christ lives and reigns for ever and ever! All Amen.
It was a difficult call on April 1 whether to focus on April Fool or Maundy Thursday. They need not be unrelated. In the end I put up the post that the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury are trading places for a day. Episcopal Cafe had Barbie ordained to the priesthood, Friends of Jake had a new app, the substantiator, and a nice liturgical one from Scottish Episcopal Church Communications, updating the method for calculating Easter and fixing a problem: “This has been resolved by using the New Revised Algorithm which will mean that Easter will be kept on the same day as the Church of England on alternate years. On other years, the date of Easter will be aligned with the Episcopal Church in the USA.”
There have been famous April 1st jokes in the media. One was that the Alabama Legislature voted to change the value of pi, there was a BBC documentary showing Italians harvesting spaghetti from trees; Dutch Television reported Tower of Pisa had fallen over; BMW seems to do one each year. Last year BMW Magnetic Tow Technology (MTT) – ‘This ingenious new system locks onto the car in front via an enhanced magnetic beam. Once your BMW is attached, you are free to release your foot from the accelerator and turn off your engine. The vehicle in front will then ‘do the pulling’ without noticing any change in manoeuverability.” 2 years ago YouTube had all featured videos on YouTube’s front page hyperlinked so that you were Rickrolled.
We don’t know the origin of April Fools day, and April Fools pranks. Some theories suggest it is due to a change in the start of the year. Fools being those who kept to the old year – which started in April. Others even suggest April Fools goes all the way back to Noah sending off his dove too early. Apparently that happened about now.
Around April 1st is the time of year that Christ is made a fool, especially in his trial. Saint Paul often talks about becoming a fool: 1 Cor 4:10 We are fools for the sake of Christ.
Think of some of Jesus’ teachings:
if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek
if someone asks you to walk a mile with them, go two
if someone asks you for your shirt, give him your jacket, too
if you lose your life for God’s sake, you’ll gain it
the greatest among you is the servant of all.
there is freedom in obedience
there is God in the poor, in the “least of these”
there is salvation in a man dying on a Cross
and a little bit of bread and wine is the greatest feast in the universe.
Only a fool believes Christ’s ideas. Only a fool for Christ would try to live these
The joker, the jester, the fool, is the one who can get away with telling an important truth, a strong truth – and doing it through humour – like a political cartoon. Jesus often does it in his parables. If you’ve ever seen Godspell, there Jesus is a clown.
Jesus is God’s Clown, God’s jester, God’s fool. The circus came to town, and they killed the clown, because they did not understand him. They did not like what he taught and did.
Let’s, hence, do something foolish.
do a random act of kindness
give to someone who can’t pay you back
be kind to someone who doesn’t really deserve it.
give expecting nothing in return, not even a thank you
pray for someone
go to communion
Pray and give thanks to God for Christ and what Christ did for us this Holy Week.
Jesus: The cold case by Bryan Bruce (Random House New Zealand Ltd 2101) 272pages $40
If you do, however, want a “cold case” type book on Jesus, why not purchase Ian Wilson’s book, 
There is much to enrich us in monastic spirituality. Benedictine spirituality in many ways is the undergirding spirituality of Anglicanism. The monastic tradition of “fuga mundi” (“flee the world”), however, is too easily misinterpreted as an anti-creation, other-worldly, so-heavenly-minded-as-to-be-of-no-earthly-use spirituality. This has little validity in a world in ecological crisis, or in a religion that believes in Incarnation. And resurrection. And sacraments.
Recent Comments