Bishop Miller has asked parishes to view services at the Cathedral of Milwaukee website. Below is the link to the services. Sunday services are live streamed each Sunday at 10:00 am. Fr Holtzen's 'Soundings' will continue until we meet again.
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Have you ever wanted to do Morning and Evening Prayer but been frustrated trying to find all the Scripture lessons, or even with the different Rites? The good news is there is an app for that. Here are two apps from Mission St Clare, one for Android and the other for iPhone, that you can download for free onto your mobile phones or computer. Click the button below the image to download a free app.
Spiritual Communion is a way of receiving Christ without partaking of the Blessed Sacrament. The Church has long taught that if someone wants to receive Eucharist but is prevented from doing so, a person may still receive the benefit offered in the Eucharist by desiring to do so. The Early Church taught that Baptism by desire, was valid, if someone was prevent from actually being baptized. The same is true of Eucharist. With that in mind, I have posted the service at St Paul's.
The three traditional Lenten disciplines are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. At a time when our nation and our families are being threatened by COVID-19, prayer comes easily to mind. Prayer is the way in which speak with God. He longs to hear our prayers. He longs to spend time with his children. At a time like this we should remember God's promise to us: '“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you"' (Isa 43:1-2). Because God has loved us enough to redeem us, to save us from sin and death, he listens to an answers our prayers. We can pray for the health and well being of our nation, those health care workers who serve others, and even for the health of our families. Scripture even tells us that we can ask for the help of angels in our time of distress. As Heb 1:14 says, 'Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?' God's holy angels are sent to protect us against evil. We can even pray for the protection of God's holy angels in our lives and in the lives of those we love.
We can also fast from food as an aid to prayer. Fasting either a meal or more, on Fridays has a long time honored tradition going all the way back to the Didache, one of the earliest Christian documents. But we must be careful with fasting, making sure it comes from a pure heart. As Scripture says in Joel 2:12-13, '“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. God desires us not only to fast, but to return to him with penitent hearts and serve him. This comes with a promise. God will forgive our sins because he is a gracious and merciful God. Finally, we can also give alms to God. We often think of this a giving a tithe to the Church. But as St Augustine pointed out, alms are not only given to God, they are also given to ourselves. In his Handbook of Faith, Hope, and Love (76), St Augustine said that 'the person who wishes to give alms . . . should begin with himself'. There he describe baptism is the chief alm that give to ourselves because as almsgiving is a work of mercy, so God's forgiveness is a work of mercy we receive in baptism. In this time of the Coronavirus, we too might think of giving ourselves the alms of God's mercy, by confessing our sins, and receiving Christ's forgiveness. The Book of Common Prayer has a wonderful General Confession on pp. 79-80 that you can say by yourself. In this we can claim that simple promise of God: 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9). What a great and merciful God we have! |
AuthorFr Tom Holtzen is an Episcopal Priest in the Diocese of Milwaukee and is Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Nashotah House. Archives
March 2024
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