Judgmental Much?

Jan thought about warning the diver that the pool wasn’t filled with water, but she didn’t want to appear too judgmental.

h/t Sacred Sandwich

Gone Fishin'?

According to this Reuters article, more Americans are going fishing.

As Americans forgo expensive vacations, costly dinners and shopping mall splurges, many are opting instead for the quiet simplicity of fishing, according to the sport fishing industry and reports from bait shops and fishermen.

From the icy north to fly-fishing streams in Texas, angling is on the rise. For families, it's an inexpensive outing. Those with a knack for it can trim their grocery bills. And for newly unemployed, it's something to do.

This will preach! The world is finally starting to see the vapidity of most of her pastimes.

HEY CHRISTIANS - Go fishing! (Matthew 4:19)

What's on the Shelf?

Here's a picture of the Dr. N. T. Wright at his desk. (I suspect it's from before his consecration to the episcopate, and the See of Durham.) I love the ordered chaos. But I really enjoy picking over his bookshelf. Click on the picture and you should get an enlarged version. (And it's quicker than reading one of his tomes!)

What do we have in common? What should I add to my own library? Any surprises?

Always happy to see the Loeb Library set (note both Greek Green and Roman Red). Oxford Encyclopedia of Saints, New Oxford Commentary on the Scriptures, and a Sacra Pagina volume here and there. But what caught my eye was the postcard we both have of the arms of the constituent colleges of Oxford University.

Anglican Evangelicals are blessed to have such a formidable intellect on the side of orthodoxy. May this bishop always be a defensor fides.

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings

...hast Thou ordained strength
because of Thine enemies....



...that Thou mightest still [silence] the enemy and the avenger.

Psalm 8:2 (Authorized Version)

Merciful God, whose image Thou hast maintained in the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; strengthen in righteousness Thy covenant-keeping children, that in their weakness they might speak with holy boldness, and in their innocence Thy wisdom shew forth; through the same Lord who took on infant flesh and knoweth the weakness thereof, even Christ Jesus who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, One God now and forever. Amen.

That's no moon

It's a moonbat!

h/t Tim from GairneyBridge

Commemorating Cyril of Jerusalem

Today the Church remembers Cyril of Jerusalem.

Cyril was born in Jerusalem around 315, and became bishop of that city in about 349. The years between the Council of Nicea (325) and the Council of Constantinople (381) were troubled years, in which the Church, having committed itself at Nicea, over the strenuous protests of the Arians, to the proposition that the Son is "one in being" (homo-ousios) with the Father, began to backtrack and consider whether there was some other formula that would adequately express the Lordship of Christ but not be "divisive." Experience with other ways of stating what Christians believed about the Son and his relation to the Father finally led the Church to conclude that the Nicene formulation was the only way of safeguarding the doctrine that Thomas spoke truly (John 20:28) when he said to Jesus, "My Lord and My God!" But this was not obvious from the beginning, and Cyril was among those who looked for a way of expressing the doctrine that would be acceptable to all parties. As a result, he was exiled from his bishopric three times, for a total of sixteen years, once by the Athanasians and twice by the Arians. He eventually came to the conclusion, as did most other Christians of the time, that there was no alternative to the Nicene formula, and in 381 he attended the Council of Constantinople and voted for that position.

Cyril is author of the Catecheses, or Catechetical Lectures on the Christian Faith. These consist of an introductory lecture, then eighteen lectures on the Christian Faith to be delivered during Lent to those about to be baptized at Easter, and then five lectures on the Sacraments to be delivered after Easter to the newly baptized. These have been translated into English (F L Cross, 1951), and are the oldest such lectures surviving. (It is thought that they were used over and over by Cyril and his successors to prepare catechumens, and that they may have undergone some revision in the process.) His work on the liturgy gives a glimpse of the worship which the apostles established at Jerusalem.

Every year, thousands of Christian pilgrims came to Jerusalem, especially for Holy Week. It is probably Cyril who instituted the liturgical forms for that week as they were observed in Jerusalem at the pilgrimage sites, were spread to other churches by returning pilgrims, and have come down to us today, with the procession with palms on Palm Sunday, and the services for the following days, culminating in the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We have a detailed account of Holy Week observances in Jerusalem in the fourth century, thanks to a a Spanish nun named Etheria who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and kept a journal which is a historian's delight.

You can read more of his writings here. In 1883, St. Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII, though he'd been recognized as such for more than 1400 years at that point. Still...it's nice of the bishop of Rome to catch up with the rest of the Church in his catholicity.

Read part of St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures On the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is very fitting meditation material for Lent.

Collect of the Day: Strengthen, O Lord, the bishops of your Church in their special calling to be teachers and ministers of the Sacraments, so that they, like your servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may effectively instruct your people in Christian faith and practice; and that we, taught by them, may enter more fully into the celebration of the Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Ironclad arguments against TEH GAY

Well...I wasn't going to trust him, but he does have his ring on. And his medallion is almost finished.

Oh...and he's almost ready to talk to girls.

The Lorica

Today is the Feast of St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland. He is well known for his teaching on the Trinity, his tireless evangelism of the heathen, and establishing a monastic community in Ireland that potentially saved Western Civilization from being lost during the Dark Ages. (Also, since the Irish had never spoken a vulgarized form of Latin, their independent study of it made them the premier ecclesiastical Latinists for most of the Middle Ages.)

A hymn of praise and supplication to the Most Holy Trinity is attributed to St. Patrick. It is known as the Lorica, or St. Patrick's Breastplate. Cecil Alexander set it to music and a lovely version is available here. It is found in the Liber Hymnorum, a collection of hymns found in two manuscripts kept in Dublin. It may be a lyrical adaptation of Ephesians 6:10-17.

If your Latin is any good, you can read his remaining writings (or at least those attributed to him) here. Otherwise, dip into some of his writings and life in this e-text. Don't miss out on St. Fiech's Metrical Life of St. Patrick!

Here's the Lorica:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the 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 for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes 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 shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

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 in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Needing a good pulpit ESV

I'm in love with the ESV and have been working hard to make it an authorized translation within the emerging orthodox Anglican consensus in America. (I'm opposed by its translation of the offices of ministry - diakonai, presbyter, and episckopoi - and its lack of consistent publishing with the Apocrypha. But I think these can and will be overcome.)

Anyway, Boomer in the Pew is giving one away. I hope to win it.