The Feast of St. Mary, Mother of God

August 15 is the Christian Festival day commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ -- and thus properly called, as the Council of Ephesus (in 431) and the Council of Chalcedon (in 451) taught (and the Formula of Concord [1580] affirms), "Mother of God." This morning one of my friends, a priest in the Swedish Church, posted on his Facebook page the following prayer from the Swedish (Lutheran) Reformer, Olavus Petri:

O rena moder Maria, det är dig väl att du har funnit en sådan stor nåd i Gud, att Han i sin stora barmhärtighet och godhet ville utvälja dig att bli hans moder, skänka dig större nåd än till någon annan människa, lovad och ärad vare Hans eviga barmhärtighet och godhet, och välsignad är du, mot vilken han ville vara så nådig.

Google Translate renders it thus (with a couple of adjustments that I think make it more accuriate):

O pure Mother Mary, it is well with you that you have found such a great grace of God, that He in His great mercy and goodness would select you to be His mother, give you more grace than any other person, blessed and honored be His eternal mercy and kindness, and blessed are you, towards whom He would be so gracious.

While there certainly could be a more elegant English translation (perhaps someone knows of one), even here one sees a lovely prayer, no? Thank you, Father Fredrik Norberg.

Over at the For All the Saints blog, Todd Granger reproduces much of a brief essay on St. Mary from Philip Pfatteicher's book, The New Book of Festivals and Commemorations: A Proposed Common Calendar of Saints, where I was struck by the sentence that read,

More is known about her that about most of the apostles.

It is worth reading the entire essay here.

This Blog's Sidebar

It's been some time since I've updated the Blogs for Faithful Churchmen blog roll on the right column here, so I thought I'd draw attention to my addition of one blog and my deletion of two others.

New is For All the Saints, though perhaps it would better be described as a "renewal" or even "resurrection," albeit in a slightly different guise. This For All the Saints blog (not to be confused with the Lutheran breviary [daily prayer books] For All the Saints) -- subtitled "encouraged by their examples, aided by their prayers, strengthened by their fellowship" -- is a new effort by an old blogosphere "friend," Todd Granger. In starting it last November 28, he wrote:

One of the features of my near-defunct weblog, The Confessing Reader, was the posting of the commemorations of the saints in the sanctoral (saints’ days) calendars of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, along with some commemorations from the Lutheran Book of Worship.

This weblog will continue that function of The Confessing Reader. For each commemoration, or “lesser feast” as The Episcopal Church’s sanctoral supplement to the Book of Common Prayer described them, I will post a brief biographical sketch, the collect for the commemoration, and the propers for the day (or a link to the Lectionary Page’s propers for the day). For most of the posts, there will also be an icon, or an iconographic depiction, of the saint whom we are commemorating and for whom we are giving thanks that day.

Read more of his (re-) introduction here.

The Confessing Reader itself has been on my blog roll for as long as I've had one, but (as Todd notes) it is nearly defunct. In its heyday it not only featured the calendar of saints, but regular theological reflection on current matters (including the controversies within the Episcopal Church, most of which were quickly immersing the ELCA) and news from the Nordic (Lutheran) churches -- something notoriously difficult to find in English. Now, there's still plenty of good things in The Confessing Reader's Word Press archives (though much more got lost in the fall of CANNet), but apart from occasional posts of the calendar of the saints, which is now on Todd's newer blog, it's been pretty quiet the last couple of years.

Pontifications has also been on my blog roll forever, another must-read CANNet-hosted blog written by Fr. Alvin Kimel, started when he was a reasserter Episcopal priest. What one finds on the current Word Press iteration is but a shadow of the wonderful reflections and discussions that were lost (at least to the blogosphere) in CANNet's fall. Fr. Kimel's blog quieted down when he gave up the struggles of being faithful in the Episcopal Church and was received into the Roman Catholic Church and ordained a priest under the Pastoral Provision. He is, I suspect, much more content -- at least that's what I read between the lines of a blog whose last post was a year-and-a-half ago.

A Christian's Death (?)

Today in Vadstena, Sweden, my friends in the Society of St. Birgitta have been celebrating her heavenly birthday with a High Mass, the prayer offices, a "formal lecture" by Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig (the Papal Nuncio to the Nordic lands) entitled The Reason for Christian Hope in a Joyful Future, and have concluded with their grand procession into the Vadstena Klosterkyrka (Abbey Church).

If I could afford to go to Sweden every summer, I'd be there for that and I expect that it, along with the entire week of the SSB's General Chapter, would have lifted my spirit from some of the angst of being in the ELCA these days. (Oh, well -- next year in Vadstena!).

All this as a way of introducing this reflection of death by Martin Luther that appeared as the fourth reading in For All the Saints for the Monday of the week of Pentecost 7 in year 2 (or a week ago Monday):

At birth a child comes forth amid pain and danger, from the narrow dwelling of the mother's womb, into the broad light of day. In a similar way a man goes through the narrow gate of death when he departs this life. And though heaven and earth under which we now live appear so wide, so vast, yet, in comparison with the heaven that shall be, it is far narrower and much smaller than is the womb in comparison with the broad expanse of heaven. That is why the death of saints is called a new birth, and their festivals birthdays.

A woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world. Likewise in death. We wrestle in anguish, yet know that hereafter we shall come forth into a wide, open space, and into eternal joy.

When I feel the dread of death, I say, "O death, you have nothing to do with me, because I have another death which kills my death. And the death which kills is stronger than that which is killed."

God appointed death to be the destroyer of death. It is evidence for God's surpassing goodness, that after death has entered, [Gen. 3:19] it is not permitted to hurt us ultimately, but is taken captive at the outset, and made to be the punishment and death of sin.

A Christmass Prayer

As a prayer, I found this to be a bit awkward on a couple of levels. As a Christmass meditation, though, it's a wonderful way to begin the Twelve Days of Christmass. spt+

O Merciful, Eternal God, heavenly Father, we Thy children thank Thee from the inmost of our hearts, that Thou hast so faithfully kept Thy promise and didst turn to us They heart of fatherly love, in sending to us the highest Good, Thine only begotten Son, for our Savior, and making us acceptable in Thy Beloved.

O Christ Jesus, Thou eternal Son of God, we honor, praise and magnify Thee, that Thou on this festal day didst become our brother and Emmanuel, that is, God with us; that out of unspeakable love, Thou hast befriended us and clothed Thyself with the garb of our flesh and blood. In no wise didst Thou assume the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, our human nature, that is but earth and ashes and dust, Thou didst so honor as to unite Thyself with it personally, inseparably and eternally. Thou wast conceived without sin and born into this world by a pure and chaste virgin; thus Thou didst sanctify and consecrate our sinful and impure conception and birth, that it may not be harmful to us, we being by nature the children of wrath, conceived in sin, and flesh born of flesh. Thou wast born in a stable and didst lie in the manger on straw in abject poverty and Thou didst not take offense, so that, having enriched our souls, Thou couldst make us great lords in Thy heavenly mansion. Thou hast humiliated Thyself in order to exalt us; Thou didst come down upon this earth, that we might go up to Thee in heaven.

O God, The Holy Spirit, our highest teacher and comforter, we today offer Thee the sacrifice of our lips, heartily thanking Thee that Thou hast revealed unto us this great "mystery of godliness"; and as the angels proclaimed and chanted it to the shepherds on the field, even so dost Thou proclaim it to us through Thy Word and Thy servants. Glory be to Thee, O God, Father Son and Holy Spirit in the highest, peace on earth and good will towards men. Grant, O faithful God and Father that sharing in the benefits of the human birth of Thy dear Son and delivered from the evil results of our sinful birth, we may be and remain newborn children of Thy grace and heirs of Thy kingdom. O dearest Jesus mine, Do Thou in my heart's shrine, As on a bed incline, That I be ever Thine.

Do Thou, O God the Holy Spirit, bring it about that this our Savior be spiritually born and grow in us at present and ever after. Help us also to rejoice over this birth and find comfort in it amidst all temptations, to suffer all things patiently and to gain the victory, so that we may honor, praise and glorify Thee with all the angels of God, here in time and hereafter in eternity. Amen.

- from Abridged Treasury of Prayers (early 1930s), as used in For All the Saints as the Closing Prayer for Christmass Day of Year Two

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

At the beginning of this portion of his Sermon 293, St. Augustine of Hippo notes why this Festival celebrated on June 24th is so unusual. Part of what captured my fancy when I read it -- this is the fourth reading for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in For All the Saints, and also a reading in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours -- was the confession of this Doctor of the Church that his explanation may not really be up to the occasion. Another part is the theological respect he offers to his hearers as he begins. And it fit very well with the Gospel appointed for this Festival Day, St. Luke 1:57-80.

The Church observes the birth of John as a hallowed event. We have no such commemoration for any other fathers; but it is significant that we celebrate the birthdays of John and of Jesus. This day cannot be passed by. And even if my explanation does not match the dignity of the feast, you may still meditate on it with great depth and profit.

John was born of a woman too old for childbirth; Christ was born of a youthful virgin. The news of John's birth was met with incredulity, and his father was struck dumb. Christ's birth was believed, and he was conceived through faith.

Such is the topic, as I have presented it, for our inquiry and discussion. But as I said before, if I lack either the time or the ability to study the implication of so profound a mystery, he who speaks within you even when I am not here will teach you better; it is he whom you contemplate with devotion, whom you have welcomed into your hearts, whose temples you have become.

John, then, appears as the boundary between the two testaments, the old and the new. That he is a sort of boundary the Lord himself bears witness, when he speaks of the law and the prophets up until John the Baptist. Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the new era to come. As a representative of the past, he is born of aged parents; as a herald of the new era, he is declared to be a prophet while still in his mother's womb. For when yet unborn, he leapt in his mother's womb at the arrival of blessed Mary. In that womb he had already been designated a prophet, even before he was born; it was revealed that he was to be Christ's precursor, before they ever saw one another. These are divine happenings, going beyond the limits of our human frailty. Eventually he is born, he receives his name, his tather's tongue is loosened. See how these events reflect reality.

Zechariah is silent and loses his voice until John, the precursor of the Lord, is born and restores his voice. The silence of Zechariah is nothing but the age of prophecy lying hidden, obscured, as it were, and concealed before the preaching of Christ. At John's arrival Zechariah's voice is released, and it becomes clear at the coming of the one who was foretold. The release of Zechariah's voice at the birth of John is a parallel to the rending of the veil at Christ's crucifixion. If John were announcing his own coming, Zechariah's lips would not have been opened. The tongue is loosened because a voice is born. For when John was preaching the Lord's coming he was asked: Who are you? And he replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The voice is John, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word." John was a voice that lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal.

Here ends the reading.