A Ritualist thought.

It is superstition to put one's hope in formalities: but it is pride to be unwilling to submit to them.
Pascal

True!  Mass, ritual, posture gesture and vesture cannot and do not bring salvation, hope and new life.  But they can be pathways or enablers to finding them.  It struck me the other day that all the surroundings of faith (including the Church visible and structured here on earth) contain just enough of the reality of the Divine to draw us into exploring and encountering more deeply Communion with the God who is the ultimate source of our existence and our truest and deepest happiness.  Of course, we have to cut through a serious amount of guff and garbage to meet it but that is what it's about - selling all you have to obtain the Pearl of Great Price.  The Church as we know it is not God (though it acts as if it is sometimes) but God is still in the Church with all its faults.

11th November.

 

The Papal Archbasilica of St John Lateran  - of which the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, is ex officio the "first and only honorary canon" of the basilica, a title inherited from the Kings of France, who have held it since Henry IV.

Now I could go on about St Martin of Tours (who influenced Scotland's St Ninian) or Remembrance Day, but it is also the 296th anniversary of the 4th Lateran Council (12th Ecumenical and it was binding on the medieval church in Scotland). Amongst other things it passed the following Canons:

Canon 1: Transubstantiation rules OK. (Good-ish)

Canon 4: An exhortation to the Greeks to reunite with the Roman Church and accept its teaching, so that, according to the Gospel, there may be only one fold and only one shepherd. (Not welcome at Constantinople I'm sure.)

Canon 5: Proclaimed the Papal primacy. After the Pope, primacy is attributed to the patriarchs in the following order: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem. (But not Canterbury - sorry ++Rowan!)

Canon 6: Provincial councils must be held annually for the reform of morals, especially those of the clergy. (So That's what General Synod's really for!)

Canon 13 forbids the establishment of new religious orders, lest too great diversity bring confusion into the Church. ( Franciscans founded 1209, Dominicans 1216 so it was pretty much ignored soon after!)

Canons 14-17: Against the irregularities of the clergy — e.g., incontinence, drunkenness, attendance at farces and histrionic exhibitions (so we can avoid General Synod?).

Canon 21, the famous "Omnis utriusque sexus", which commands every Christian who has reached the years of discretion to confess all his, or her, sins at least once a year to his, or her, own (i.e. parish) priest. This canon did no more than confirm earlier legislation and custom, and has been often but wrongly, quoted as commanding for the first time the use of sacramental confession. (Anti-mendicant order really!)

Canons 78 & 79: Jews and Moslems shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians. Christian princes must take measures to prevent blasphemies against Jesus Christ. (Oh well, every Ecclesiastical gathering makes horrible mistakes I suppose - but ain't it funny/ironic that nowadays it's the Right (Theological) wing of both Judaism and Islam who want the right to dress distinctively, rather than see it as a form of persecution or discrimination which it originally was?)

Ah, the joys of Church History!

St Willibrord

We are in Communion with the Continental Old Catholics, so a commemoration of St Willbrord seems apt today.

Collect:

"O Lord our God, you call whom you will and send them where you choose: We thank you for sending your servant Willibrord to be an apostle to the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve you, the living God; and we entreat you to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of your service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. "

A November Sunday.

I liked this picture, so decided to post it for no better reason that it made me chuckle: (gaun yirsel, Mr Spock!)

Today has been quite chilled.  I sub-deaconed High Mass, then decided to be less couch vegetable than normal.  Instead of sitting in front of a computer, I went out, grabbed a Spicy Italian from Subway (a sarnie rather than Bruno Tognoli! Ooer Missus!!) and caught a bus to Blackford Hill, where I enjoyed some superb views of Edinburgh and Fife.  Home and a nice cuppa of Whittard's excellent 1886 Blend and then a splendid dinner of chicken casserole followed by Bread and Butter pudding.  A fine autumn Sunday indeed!

How to view the world.

The Vatican map of Europe.

This particular funny made me chuckle: perhaps the Vatican diplomatic corps need to see it?  Mind you,  describing the Irish Free State as "Our Britain" is pretty inaccurate now that the Paddies are withdrawing their Embassy: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-stunned-irish-embassy-closure-131052801.html