Holy Communion Anglican Church
East Greenwich, RI – Standing Firm on Biblical Truth and Christian Tradition
We may not be able to see all which God is doing to redeem our present difficulties, but we can see His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, standing before us, ready to sustain us, and asking, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” My dear brothers and sisters, we have seen Him; He is here, and He is able to keep us from falling and bring us to his glorious presence, without fault and with great joy. May we respond like the man born blind, saying, “Lord, I believe.”
Since the days of the Early Church, the season of Lent provided a time when converts to the Faith were prepared for Holy Baptism; when those who were separated from the Body of the Faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness and restored to the Church; and all Christians reminded of their need to renew their repentance and faith.
Jesus’ merciful love, manifested in his washing of the Apostles’ feet, as Benedict XVI has written, is the “basin in which he cleanses us.” This need to be completely dependent on Jesus’ mercy and love is meant to be continued in the life of the Church Catholic, Christ’s Body on earth, as sacrament and example, received and shared: for there is still much filth to be washed clean in this broken world.
Once we acknowledge we are sinners and we cannot save ourselves, we must know we are saved by the Blood of Christ. We can then bring all our troubles, all our worries and problems to the Cross of Christ. And this is done with the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Epiphany has not ended; it shines forth to this day, radiating out from the day of Christ’s Incarnation; it is the very reason we as Gentiles can share in the riches of Christ’s inheritance. This means that we who have received this light have the responsibility to both continually seek its source and reflect it so that others may do the same.
I am personally very sad and feel a great loss that the last and preeminent orthodox churchman of the Greatest Generation is no more, but immensely glad that Benedict XVI is at last free of this fallen world.
The Incarnation – the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ – shall for all all-time illuminate the darkness that inevitably surrounds our world and our hearts with its light — and bring hope and joy to the faithful Christian soul.
It is important for the Church to continually look forward in prayer to understand as best we can the cultural trends coming our way, that we may faithfully prepare the next generation, and each other, to do the work of ministry. One such trend for thinking Christians to consider is not specifically cultural but instead technological, though the two are closely intertwined. This is the trend of artificial intelligence (AI), a field progressing far more rapidly than many realize.
The Eucharistic Celebration is the greatest and highest act of prayer. In fact, this "knowing" and "being known" in Christ and, through him, in the Holy Trinity, is none other than the most true and deep reality of prayer. The disciple who prays much, and who prays well, is progressively drawn out of him or herself and is evermore united to Jesus the Good Shepherd, he who is the selfless servant of the brethren.
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, we lose one of the final links in the chain of history which binds us to the storied history and tradition, and indeed the greatness of Western Civilization, blessed by God and founded on Judeo-Christian principles, to which we owe nearly every comfort and luxury which we enjoy today.