Pentecost Links Around the Blogosphere

Still under the weather, so for now here are a few quick Pentecost links. I’ll try to post some of my own reflections on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit within the next few days
- Karen:

Pentecost Blog Carnival (I’ve tried not to duplicate too many links. The blog carnival has several EXCELLENT links I have not posted.)

Splendor in the Ordinary: Ideas for Celebrating Pentecost as a Family (FANTASTIC! Don’t miss this…)

Anglican Mainstream has a collection of reflections on Pentecost from various saints & Church Fathers – Must reading! : Pentecost: the living water of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us

Fr. Tim Fountain at Northern Plains Anglican has Come Down O Love Divine, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reflections on Pentecost and a prayer of preparation for Pentecost

Pat Dague at Transfigurations has Pope Benedict’s The Gift of God is the Holy Spirit

Ten O’Clock Scholar: Pentecost: Reignite Your Ember

At A Hen’s Pace: Pentecost Sunday

Cruciform Life: Preparing for Pentecost and Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart

Kingdom People has a Pentecost Prayer

Victor Hoagland has two reflections on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit

Amy at On a Joyful Journey has posted St. Augustine’s Prayer to the Holy Spirit. I’ll close with that:

Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Saint Augustine of Hippo

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
Amen.

An Easter Praise Litany from New Zealand

The risen Christ meets us at the tomb, and turns our tears to joy.
For your love and goodness
we give you thanks, O God.

Christ comes through our locked doors, and turns our fear to courage.
For your love and goodness
we give you thanks, O God.

Christ comes to daily life and work, and turns our failure to new vision.
For your love and goodness
we give you thanks, O God.

Christ breaks the bread, and turns our despair to hope.
For your love and goodness
we give you thanks, O God.

from a longer Easter service, found here.

Collects & Prayers for the Third Sunday of Easter

Collect One

Almighty God,
who hast given thine only Son
to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin,
and also an ensample of godly life;
Give us grace that we may always
most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit,
and also daily endeavour ourselves
to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect Two

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
Give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread.
Open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

From the Church of Ireland

Collect for the Second Week of Easter

I’ve fallen behind in posting various Easter collects.  Here is the collect for the second week of Easter

Collect
Almighty Father,
you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification:
grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness
that we may always serve you
in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits 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. Amen.

Post Communion
Lord God our Father,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ
you have assured your children of eternal life
and in baptism have made us one with him:
deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in your love,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

From the Church of Ireland

Originally found here in a collection of Easter collects.

Collect for a church convention

Meeting this weekend are the diocese of Western Michigan and the Province I synod.

Almighty and everlasting Father, who hast given the Holy Spirit to abide with us for ever: Bless, we beseech thee, with his grace and presence, the bishops and other clergy and the laity here (or now, or soon to be) assembled in thy Name, that thy Church, being preserved in true faith and godly discipline, may fulfill all the mind of him who loved it and gave himself for it, thy Son Jesus Christ our Savior; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the unity of the church

The Anglican Consultative Council will meet May 1-13.

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, even as thou and he are one: Grant that thy Church, being bound together in love and obedience to thee, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom thou
didst send, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Prayer of Adoration for Easter: Te Deum Laudamus

From our archives, originally posted January 12, 2005

ADORATION: Te Deum Laudamus

Filed under: Prayers & Prayer Themes, Adoration, Illustrated Devotionals — Karen B.

Te Deum Laudamus (1662 BCP)

WE praise thee, O God : we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee : the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin : continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy : Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty : of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world : doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man : thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death : thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants : whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people : and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us : as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted : let me never be confounded.

art credit: Web Gallery of Art Fra Angelico, Transfiguration, 1440-41, Fresco, Convento di San Marco, Florence

Collects for Tuesday & Wednesday of Easter Week

Apologies for not being able to post the Easter Tuesday collect yesterday.

The collect for Easter Tuesday:

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

The collect for Easter Wednesday:

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The readings and the collect for Easter Monday

You can find today’s reading and collect (BCP, 1979) here.

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

St. Leonard’s Prayer before Confession

From our archives – this prayer ties in very well with my earlier post today re: our need for Christ’s cleansing:

St. Leonard’s Prayer Before Confession

O most loving Trinity, and most worthy of all love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, my God, I adore Thee. Behold this wretched creature at Thy feet, who desires to make his peace with Thee by means of a good Confession. But since, O my God, without Thy help I can do nothing but evil, I beseech of Thee, by the bowels of Thy compassion, to grant me light, that I may recollect all my sins; make me to perceive the hideousness and the enormity of sin, so that I may abhor and detest it with all my heart.

O my Jesus, Fountain of pity, I draw near to Thee that Thou mayest wash and cleanse me of my filth. O Sun of justice, illuminate this poor blind creature. O Divine Physician, heal this poor sick man. O infinite Love, inflame this soul with Thy love, so that it may break down and dissolve in tears of grief. And may this my confession be such that I may now in earnest change my life, and never again find myself separated from Thee, my God my hope, my love, the salvation, life, and peace of my poor soul!

Lent Prayers: Lancelot Andrewes – A Prayer of Penitence

The following Prayer by Lancelot Andrewes was included in a longer devotional entitled “Remember Lot’s Wife” by Jeffrey Steel which we published in Feb. 2006 as part of our 2006 Anglican Bloggers’ Lenten Devotional series

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A Prayer of Penitence from the Preces Privatae of Lancelot Andrewes

Pleading
O remember what my substance is; that I am:
dust and ashes, grass and a flower,
flesh and a wind that passeth away,
corruption and a worm,
like a stranger and a sojourner,
dwelling in a house of clay,
days few and evil, today and not tomorrow,
in the morning and not so long as till evening,
now and not presently,
in a body of death,
in a world of corruption,
lying in wickedness.
Remember this.

Petition for Mercy

Have mercy,
Look upon me and be merciful forsake me not,
remember mercy,
have mercy upon us and that soon;
be not wroth,
regard not my sins neither have indignation;
forgive,
refrain wrath: put off wrath,
lay not to charge,
impute not,
remember not,
be not extreme to mark,
enter not into judgment,
despise not,
cast not away from thy presence.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we ask. Amen.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer (aka the Lorica)

We first posted this prayer 5 years ago.  It was perhaps the most popular entry of all on the old L&B site, so popular in fact that we eventually linked it on our sidebar under the category of “Lent & Beyond favorites.”

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Wednesday, March 17, 2004

St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer

The following prayer/hymn is usually attributed to St. Patrick. I don’t think I’d ever read the whole thing before. What a powerful prayer! There is the traditional translation by Cecil Frances Alexander first, then a more modern translation of the prayer following.

As we engage in spiritual warfare for our church, this may be a prayer to learn well and return to often!
———-

The Lorica, or, St. Patrick’s Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up he heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet “Well done” in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors’ faith, apostles’ word,
the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
the vice that gives temptation force,
the natural lusts that war within,
the hostile men that mar my course;
of few or many, far or nigh,
in every place, and in all hours
against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
against false words of heresy,
against the knowledge that defiles
against the heart’s idolatry,
against the wizard’s evil craft,
against the death-wound and the burning
the choking wave and poisoned shaft,
protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

An alternate translation, by Kuno Meyer, is the following:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of
Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of
His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of
His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of
His descent for the judgement of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of
the love of the Cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of the resurrection
to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In prediction of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak to me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me,

From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From every one who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers
between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless
power that may oppose my body
and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and
smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge
that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poising, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So there come to me
abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of
every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of
every one who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of
every one who sees me,
Christ in every ear
that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

Prayer for March 17: St. Patrick’s Day:
Almighty God, who in your providence chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light, that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.

From our archives: Captain Yips – A Contrite Heart

From our archives, originally published in March 2006 as part of our Anglican Bloggers’ Lenten devotional series.  The prayer which Captain Yips is reflecting on is here.  This post was one of the most popular of our 2006 series.

Captain Yips blog is here.

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Captain Yips: A Contrite Heart

Earlier in the season, Lent and Beyond uncovered a Tenth Century Latin Litany for Lent. The accompanying English translation was, I thought, a bit stiff and “churchy,” a little abstract where the original was very active and physical. So I’ve been trying to English it myself. I’m a long way from done, hung up on one poignant phrase that casts new light on one of Thomas Cranmer’s most famous prayers, and incidently highlights how language drifts with time.

The Latin phrase is

contrito corde pandimus occulta

This phrase is stunning, spiritually and emotionally. My attempts at translation have sent sparks flying off all over.

Contrito Corde

It’s tempting to translate this as “contrite heart,” and for an Anglican that phrase raises echoes of the magnificent Collect for Ash Wednesday:

Almighty and Everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Over time, “contrite” has devolved to mean little more than “really, really, sorry.” The Latin contritus is a very physical word that has little to do with sorrow or shame. It describes the state something is in after being rubbed down, abraded, pounded. It comes from a verb meaning, approximately, to wear out, to use up, to grind up, even obliterate. It’s a compound word, too. The root verb is terere, to rub, to wear away, with implications of to polish, to grind, to thresh, to use up, to wear out. A related adjective is teres, polished, rounded, even, elegant.

“Wow,” I said to myself after this rooting around. “Double wow.” Some words are like barges, carrying so many associations of meaning that to pluck one meaning off the heap is to diminish meaning. Contrito corde appears to mean something like

with/by means of/because of a heart broken down/worn out/ground down/broken to pieces/scoured clean

Further, the word implies a transformation, a change of state, possibly even improvement if we look to the related adjective; it’s not unlike the transformation of a raw gemstone to its cut and polished and sparkling form. It looks back a bit to a previous line in the Litany,
ablue nostri maculas delicti

Wash away the stains of our crimes.

So the contrite heart is also the heart that has had the stains scoured away.

Returning to the Collect, was Cranmer thinking of this bargeful of meanings as he wrote it? While “contrite” certainly included “sorry” among its meanings in English in the 16th century, I would guess, probably so. He was a better Latinist than I am, that’s for sure, and better than many alive today, and a profound scholar. There’s also a hint to be found in Cranmer’s prose style. One hallmark of Cranmer’s style is his use of parallel Anglo-Saxon and Latinate words to supplement each other. In the bad old days when ECUSA was bent on selling it’s patrimony, Cranmer’s style was defamed as repetitive and dowdy and elaborate. I think that’s dead wrong. He used parallel constructions to deal with very complicated material, including as much as possible by implication. In the Collect, we get “create and make,” Latinate and Anglo-Saxon words with similar but not identical meanings. In his parallel phrase, “new and contrite hearts,” I suspect that Cranmer had in mind, not a heart that was perpetually aware of and grieving for its sins, but a heart polished from its sins, clean and shining as part of the new creation in Christ, as a result of sorrow for and rejection of sin. Contrition, if I am right here, is the state one is in when God has washed the stain and disfigurement of sin away. The soul as passed through grief to a new state of restoration.

Secondary evidence about what Cranmer may have had in mind can be found in (of course) Shakespeare. By the 16th century, the primary meaning of “contrite” certainly had to do with repentance, but also effective repentance, with absolution; not sorrow alone, but effective and accepted sorrow. Shakespeare used “contrite” in this sense in Henry V, where the guilt-wracked king on the eve of Agincourt ponders his effort to secure forgiveness for his father’s murder of Richard II. He knows that despite his efforts, despite the tomb he built for Richard and the tears he has shed there, despite the 500 poor whom he supports for the purpose of praying for Richard, he, Henry, is still King and Richard is still dead, and the crime of his father cannot be undone. Henry fears that he will lose the next day’s battle because he is unforgiven, but Shakespeare is looking ahead; he knows who won Agincourt, and uses the outcome to show that Henry IV’s crime is forgiven, to legitimate Henry V’s dynasty and (by complicated interactions, exchanges and implications) also to legitimate the Tudor dynasty that sprang from Henry V’s widow (and patronized Shakespeare). Thus Shakespeare has Henry describe his contrite tears at Richard’s tomb, cluing us that Henry’s repentance is effective. This is all poetry, of course, not theology or even English usage, but goes a little to show how very delicate the meanings of “contrite” were at the time.

This is a lot of meaning to squeeze out of two words, but I think all these subsidiary meanings trail along in the wake of the primary meaning.

So what we get in the Litany, and perhaps also in the Ash Wednesday Collect, is a meaning for “contrite” that is not merely “I’m sorry,” but also, “broken down by sin but restored and rebuilt by God.” The sense of sorrow leading to transformation is essential. The Collect, maybe, looks forward to the result of repentance, a state in which God has so polished the heart that is shines in the sun like adamant diamond.

Over a thousand words! Enough! And I didn’t even get to pandimus occulta, almost equally complicated and packed with meaning.

Lent Prayers: EB Pusey – May we weary of all which is not His

What a fantastic classical Anglican prayer.  Many thanks to Nova Scotia Scott and Project Canterbury for making it available to our generation online.

God, give us grace, this coming Lent, so to lay to heart our ways, that we may weary of all which is not His, from Him, to Him: and may, through Him, the Living Way, by new love and obedience, attain to Him, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the End of our being, the Fulness of bliss of all creation, “the Eternal Infinite Truth, the origin, fountain, measure, end, and cause of all created truth,” the ever-blessed, beatific Life; to which He, of His mercy, bring us sinners, to Whom be all glory and thanksgiving and adoration and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

Source of prayer: Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayers, compiled by Christopher L. Webber. Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, 2004.

More on EB Pusey and his writings here.

Lent Prayers: St. Augustine – Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit

From our archives, originally posted March 2007

Lent Prayers: St. Augustine
Filed under: Quotable, Saints & Church Fathers, Lent 2007, Lent Prayers — Karen B.

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.
Guard me, O Holy Spirit, that I myself may always be holy.
— Augustine of Hippo