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COMMEMORATION OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE ATTACK ON THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY CENTER IN QUEBEC CITY JANUARY 29th., 2017
Saint John Fisher Eucharistic Catholic Mission, Renfrew ON INTROIT Psalm 42 1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?" 10 As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. Amen. Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, and all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen. Lord have mercy upon us. [iii] Christ have mercy upon us.[iii] Lord have mercy upon us. [iii] The Lord be with you. *And with thy spirit. Let us pray. COLLECT O Merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesu Christ, who is the resurrection and the life: In whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die: And whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shal not die eternally: who also hath taught us (by his holy Apostle Paul) not to be sorry as men without hope for them that sleep in him: We meeky beseech thee (O Father) to raise us from the death of sin, unto the life of righteousness, that when we shall depart this life, we may sleep in him (as our hope is these our brothers do), and at the general resurrection in the last day, both we and these our brothers departed, receiving again our bodies, and rising again in thy most gracious favor: may with all thine elect Saincts, obtain eternal joy. Grant this, O Lord God, by the means of our advocate Jesus Christ: which with thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth one God for ever. Amen. EPISTLE A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. 4: 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. The Word of the Lord. *Tnanks be to God. GOSPEL The Holy Gospel according to Saint John. *Glory be to thee, O Lord. 6: 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." The Gospel of the Lord. *Praise be to thee, O Christ. I BELIEVE in one God.. The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesu Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made: Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man, And was crucified also for us under Poncius Pilate, He suffered and was buried, And the third day he arose again according to the Scriptures, And ascended into heaven, And sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the prophets. And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, And I look for the Resurrection of the dead, And the life of the world to come. Amen. OFFERTORY Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, even so do you unto them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7: 12 Let us pray. ASSIST us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose the way of thy servants toward the attainment of everlasting salvation; that, emong all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help; Through Christ our Lord. Amen. THE peace of God (which passeth all understanding) keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. AND the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you alway. *Amen. (readings NRSV) January 31st., 2017
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EPIPHANY 4 January 29th., 2017: nor thy stranger that is within thy gates
A homily by Father Richard Sorfleet, Saint John Fisher Eucharistic Catholic Mission, Renfrew ON EX 20:10 There are different translations depending upon the version of Scriptures being used of the term 'stranger' with some using alien and others immigrant. The message however is the same on how to treat people not born in the land. For a nation constantly invoking God and God's blessing and promoting Christian values as a cornerstone of its world-view, it is shameful that God's Word is so conveniently forgotten when it becomes an inconvenient contradiction to ill-prepared and poorly thought-out policy. The traditional epistle for Epiphany 4 [Roman 13: 1- 7] is on state authority and our required attitude towards it as God's instruments of social peace and good government; nevertheless, the whole reading is qualified at the outse in verse 1 with 'for there is no power but of God'. Our rendering unto Caesar does not include our condoning or our approval of things which are clearly contrary to God's words and commandments. And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt Leviticus 19: 33- 34 ASV That clearly means showing kindness, respect, generosity and impartiality on immigrants, dual nationals, visitors and residents whether legal or illegal, where bigotry, hate and racism have no place in a godly society that those in authority are called to uphold. Further Exodus 20 calls out those who indulge in the manufacture of 'alternative facts' and false news [once called disinformation] in the promotion of their fashionable anti-immigrantism, and its dissemination. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Ex 20: 19 It is worth recalling Christ's answer to the lawyer's question in Luke 10: 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? where Jesus recounts the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and concludes with 36 Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers? 37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. ASV What sort of godly society are we when we see as our neighbors only those who agree with our racial, social or personal political convictions and are joyful and generous in giving loaves, eggs and fish to our children, yet toss scorpions, stones and serpents to those who are not? For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? MT 10: 46 Walls also exist in hearts and minds and we construct them always at our own cost. The brick and mortar walls may keep the aliens out of our gates, but those which are erected in minds also keep God out of hearts. In other words we are banning God each time we use false witness and promote wrong to ban those we do not like who are within or at our gates without just cause or due process with open malice and cheap prejudice expressed on scraps of paper. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. ROM 13: 10 And that should be written in our hearts and reflected in our laws if we truly see and believe ourselves to be a godly people.  The Confession of Saint Peter January 18th
by Father Richard Sorfleet, Saint John Fisher Eucharistic Catholic Mission One of the important liturgical changes to the Anglican tradition has been the return of the celebration of the feast day of Confession of Saint Peter [January 18th] albeit partially to bracket with the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul [January 25th] the week of Christian prayer, but more importantly as an expression of belief in the unity the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church by recalling the words of the gospel Matthew 16: 13- 19 Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ESV It is the profession of belief that Jesus is the Christ which leads to the granting of the power of the keys. Too often the emphasis in the Western Church's history and theology it has been on the jurisdictional powers to bind and loose, rather than the actual confession of faith by the Apostle Peter. It is very appropriate that the ECC newsletter for January 2017 discusses the third characteristic of our church ie Roman Catholic tradition while not under Vatican jurisdiction, and what and how that relation relates on and to the meaning of MT 16 from which the issue flows theologically. Equally the further expansion of the position with 'our Church admits a variety of practices stemming from the well-established traditions of different Churches recognized to be consistent with Roman Catholic tradition', makes this return of the feast day to the calendar for Catholics from the Anglican tradition a welcome opportunity to celebrate the faith we hold in common. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Richard Sorfleet |
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