Regula

Homily: “On Abiding in His Love”

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Offered by Father Matthew Dallman, Obl.S.B., for the Parish of Tazewell County on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, 2018.

Jesus taught that if we keep His word, that we will abide in the love between Him and the Father. As mysterious as that may sound, Jesus appears to have intended that to be accomplished through relatively simple means. The means that the disciples were given amounts to what is called the “Rule of the Church” (or Regula): the Eucharist, their daily prayer life flowing out of their Jewish tradition, and fellowship of service toward each other reflecting on their experiences of Jesus in the light of the Sacred Scriptures—all to find the way to do a new thing: abide in the love of God through Christ crucified.

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Thornton and Catholicity

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Conceiving the term “Catholic” from a Thorntonian perspective means that catholicity emerges when a particular parish is seen as the whole/holy Church in microcosm. Thornton’s theology is anchored in parish life, and hence his sense of what Catholic means is fundamentally parochial, as well. Distilling from Benedictine/monastic order a highly original “parochial theology” (a term … Read more

Homily: “On Saint Peter and the Rock”

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Offered by Father Matthew Dallman for the Parish of Tazewell County, on the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16, Year A), 2017.

We hear in both our reading from the prophet Isaiah and from the Gospel according to Matthew the word, “rock.” So from Isaiah: “Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance, you who seek the Lord; look to the rock from which you were hewn.”. And from Saint Matthew, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” Let us see again that when God calls someone by name, something important is happening, as for example, when Jesus called Mary Magdalene by name at the empty tomb, when but the word He spoke was “Mary,” she was healed. But that said (and this could be a sermon unto itself), with regard to the passages from Isaiah and Matthew, in order to properly understand these passages, we must ask whether there is a unique, biblical understanding of “rock” that is distinct from its regular, secular meaning. And in fact, the answer to that is, yes, there is.

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The Anglican Spiritual Tradition, parts 1 and 2

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By Martin Thornton

PART ONE
There is good reason for dividing this lecture into two unequal parts. I must first offer a brief resumé of what I take the Anglican spiritual tradition to be; then I should like to look rather more fully at the contemporary impact of our tradition, concluding with a somewhat dangerous game of attempting to read the signs of its future unfolding.

Pedantic haggling over the meaning of words is not the most exciting exercise, but it is apparent already that some attention must be given to that most ambiguous and abused term “Tradition”; paradosis, traditio, literally a giving-over, or handing-over. Handing-over be it noted and not handing-down.

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On Marian Imagination

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Doctrine and dogma have consequences for our prayer life, that is, our relationship with God, and how that relationship is concentrated and focused into acts of prayer—normatively the threefold Regula, including private prayers myriad in variety. What, then, is the consequence on our prayer of the Assumption of Mary? There are many, for Our Lady … Read more

Offices of Praise, Silence and Readings

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This is my own pattern of offices, which is a threefold form. This form is built of a Prologue Office of Praise, a Holy Office of Silence, and a Daily Office of Readings. This can be summarized as, respectively, set-prayer, silence, and scripture. Most everything is chanted. What this reflects is “devout experimentation” within Anglican … Read more

A Prologue Office of Praise: Antelogium laudis

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For the praise and glory of his Name, for our good, and the good of all his holy Church. PDFs: noted version | said version. [display_podcast] Preces Officiant    O Lord, open thou our lips. People     And our mouth shall show forth thy praise. Officiant    O God, make speed to save us. People … Read more

The Divine Office, “Devotionalized”

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It is my sense, based on wide observation, that the Divine Office, through well-intentioned use, has in fact become “devotionalized.” It has become optional, and it has become overly burdened by the dozens of variations through the Church. This, owing more to social and technological upheaval than to anything else, I suspect is true in … Read more