Icons and Eggs.

A new Icon of Our Lord

which has been written by Ian Knowles of Elias Icons has been installed at St. Mary's Priory Church Usk. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Solemn Evensong and blessing of the new Icon by the Bishop of Monmouth, The Rt. Rev'd Dominic Walker OGS last Sunday. However, Fr. Gray was kind enough to give me a private benefactor's viewing in the Vestry yesterday. The Icon is currently displayed on a movable stand so it can be moved within the Church for different occasions and to other churches within the group. This is good for teaching and prayer purposes, giving flexibility and resources for worship too.

My photos do not do the work justice (can any photo of what is really a continuous prayer do so?) however, anyone who sees it will surely sense that the Icon has a Real Presence in the Divine sense and perhaps these photos give some flavour of that. What is remarkable is that even when viewed from the side, the eyes of Christ draw one directly into His heart spiritually in a prayerful and joyfully awesome manner. I was thrilled with the work and hope that the slight attack from slugs lurking in the church attracted to the egg tempura, described to me by Fr. Julian can be rectified and prevented! The seal of Usk Priory

 can just be seen beneath the Lord's hand. The significance of the grouping of the fingers in three represents the Holy Trinity. 

Well done to Ian Knowles who has created before our eyes "the peace which only God can give". He continues with commissions for Icons amidst his Icon School work which he is setting up at Bethlehem in the Holy Land in partnership with the Tantur Ecumenical Centre see his website   www.eliasicons.co.uk The Bethlehem Icon School needs your support and your prayers.

Exsultet St Arvans

Part of the Easter Vigil Exsultet video is HERE

Holy Week and Easter 2012

The Lord is risen...He is risen indeed Alleluia! A Happy Easter to you all after the long and sometimes arduous journey of Holy Lent towards the glory and joy of today; all will be well and all manner of things will be well. Here are some souvenirs of our journey in this small part of His Kingdom where a warm welcome awaits you should you be able to join us in the great ongoing feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. Please pray for all Christians everywhere as we celebrate the mystery and joy of the empty tomb which gives light and life to all who would come to Him through the Saviour of the world.

Photos From Easter and Holy Week 2012

God Jeering

A good article from Alison Pearson on Christianity and the modern world. Here she expresses the views of many not so regular church-goers who value the tradition and saving grace within it. A refreshing start to the day....

Last September, in the final weeks of his life, the New Labour strategist Philip Gould gave a moving interview to The Guardian. Dying of throat cancer at the age of 61, Lord Gould had done a lot of thinking about the meaning of life in a short time. The interviewer mentioned, in passing, that his subject had found religion, lost it briefly when he had witnessed terrible pain in intensive care, and then rediscovered his faith.

That was all. They moved on swiftly to politics. I found that article so frustrating. Here was a highly intelligent, worldly man, a superb operator in a party which famously “didn’t do God”, who had chosen to become a believer. It was a position I knew Philip Gould would not have arrived at fearfully or lazily, but, rather, spiritedly, and maybe even full of hope. For Christ’s sake, if one of our leading pollsters had cast his vote for the life to come, then why didn’t he get the chance to tell us about his Christianity?

My guess is the interviewer found the subject hideously embarrassing. Too uncool for words. The fact that Gould, a brilliant moderniser of the Left, had chosen to be confirmed into the sad old Church of England! These days, celebrities can confess to pretty much anything – drugs, facelifts, deforestation of the front bottom – but when it comes to religious belief suddenly everyone squirms and studies their shoes. Homosexuality is no longer the love that dare not speak its name, Oscar; now it’s Christianity.

For a liberal elite, religion is amusing mumbo-jumbo at best; at worst, it’s Catholic priests who are always molesting choirboys (amazing how they find time to run all those missions in dangerous places, isn’t it?). As a nation, we have gone from god-fearing to god-jeering faster than you can say the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.

This was the point made by Baroness Warsi during her visit to the Vatican this week. British society, she warned, is under threat from a rising tide of “militant secularisation”. Naturally, it took a Muslim to mount a vocal defence of Christianity. Actually, I reckon that Lady Warsi understated the case. Mocked, marginalised and increasingly absent from people’s lives, the Church of England is on course to disappear from these isles within three generations, unless there’s a miracle. Anyone who doubts this thesis is simply not paying enough attention. At my funeral, still a few decades away, God willing, I expect the congregation will know the prayers and the hymns that have sustained mankind for centuries and are part of the mental furniture of my own life. But at the funerals of my children when they are old or at those of my grandchildren yet to be born? I seriously doubt it. Christianity may yet return to where it began; a faith practised in secret by small, devout sects poring over illuminated iPads.An English professor at Cambridge tells me that, for the first time, they have put the Bible on the undergraduate reading list. “We can no longer assume students will be familiar with it,” he says. So Christianity will die of ignorance because, shamefully, so many of our young people haven’t been taught the tenets of the great Judeo-Christian tradition which underpins their country’s laws, institutions and culture. Christianity will die of materialism, which measures out life in phone upgrades. Finally, Christianity will die out because people like me, who are supposed to believe in it, are too hesitant to nail our colours to the cross. Lord knows, many of us have sighed with Woody Allen, “If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank account.”

And what will we have instead of the C of E – Richard Dawkins? God help us. The high priest of atheism – known as The Dork to his students at Oxford, and not affectionately – has been everywhere this week trumpeting a poll by his foundation, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for the Worship of the Supreme Rational Being (Richard Dawkins). A jubilant Dork pointed out that his poll showed that even those of us who say we are Christians don’t always believe in its teachings. As a result, he says Christianity should be banished from the public realm; we should evict bishops from the House of Lords, abolish faith schools and get rid of chaplains in NHS hospitals for the crime of bringing comfort to the lonely and the dying.

Dawkins is incapable of understanding why people would go on calling themselves Christians when they don’t read the Bible or go to church. Words like ritual and mystery are, well, a mystery to him. When the National Secular Society won its case against Bideford council last week and had prayers banned at the start of council meetings, I could see how certain councillors might object to addressing words they don’t understand to a supreme being they don’t believe in. Who couldn’t? But I still felt the decision was wrong. It was the start of the erosion of something precious which, once lost, we can never get back. Just as we are now desperately trying to pour education back into schools where tradition, respect and even learning itself has drained away.

A week ago, I attended Evensong at Jesus College, Cambridge, where the Small Boy is a chorister. I hadn’t been to church in a while and it took me a few seconds, waiting for the faith muscle-memory to kick in. The choir sang. They say the Devil has all the best tunes. Well, they’re wrong; Jesus has Hubert Parry and Johann Sebastian Bach. We knelt. We stood, then knelt again. We sang “Immortal Invisible God Only Wise”. We turned to face the altar. “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth.” I’m not sure what I believe, but I do know every word of the Creed, and when I say them I feel I am joining myself to generations who spoke those words centuries before I was born, and that custom is deeply consoling. I thought about my friend, stranded in New York by snow when her son was hurt in a car crash. Ann hadn’t prayed for years, but she slipped into a church on Fifth Avenue, “I can’t manage it alone,” she emailed, “I know that sounds strange.” Religion is strange, infinitely mysterious and easy to mock, but all I can say is that its rituals feel full, not hollow, as so much of modern life does. The Dorkists argue that you don’t need organised religion to hand down the wisdom of ages or a system of morality. Don’t you?

And so we come to the story of hundreds of commuters in Greater Manchester who stepped over 14-year-old Oliver Tiplady as he lay unconscious for 20 minutes after falling and striking his head. The boy was clearly not a drunk; he was in school uniform holding his satchel. Oliver’s mother Susan said: “This walk-on-by society has got to stop and think. How can people justify leaving a child, or anybody for that matter, on the floor like that? They must have lacked any basic humanity and obviously had no compassion.”

Lacking in basic humanity and compassion? Sounds remarkably like the Dork, high priest of atheists. By the way, there’s a story telling you not to walk by on the other side when a vulnerable stranger is in trouble. It’s in this rather good book.

reference DT here HERE

Bishops who will be Women

A Well Known River in Italy

Unlike many I am not particularly getting excited or flustered about General Synod's decision to go ahead with ordaining women bishops or what "safeguards" are being argued over (or rather omitted)  for those who can't accept the innovations of the Anglican church. After all we are only watching in slow motion what was begun years ago and is coming to its natural conclusion, very sad though it may appear. What is even sadder is to see the desperation of those who have lost a long time ago clutching at anything they can on the hoof without proper thought for either themselves, their consciences and the position of those who have looked for leadership. These words of William Oddie are in todays news; 

"If a woman is a priest, she can also be a bishop: if she’s not, she can’t. Either way, there is now only one way out for Catholic Anglicans: it’s over the Tiber"

These are pretty stark words but will be read and re-read by loyal Anglo- Catholics over coming months and even over some years for some; for there is no need for rushing and panic, the only timescale is one's own in discernment of God's will for each. The whole article is HERE

Moving Forward; tribute to a friend.

After the initial weeks of shock since Jeremy Winston's untimely death I realise that it is nearly a year ago that we went together with friends to see the marvellous film "Of Gods and Men" and I wrote about it HERE. Yesterday's obituary in the Daily Telegraph hit the spot exactly with wonderful photos both in the printed editions and in the online version HERE taken at Glastonbury Abbey pilgrimage. However, there could be no space in the Telegraph or for that matter at the recent memorial service at Abergavenny to give a fuller understanding of what could and should have been (see the final words of the obit.). If the words "always show graciousness" is to be a two way grace and not a self-serving one sided soundbite, the other side of the story in many events; and indeed I believe in lives lived pursuing truth and holiness in all conscience, needs to be told by those closest to those events and lives themselves. This post is in part a response to "anonymous" who left a comment on my blog (if you want comments published please be good enough to declare yourselves) after I published THIS. In tribute to my friend I therefore publish the homily which I gave for his Requiem:

Requiem Homily. Jeremy Hugh Winston, Priest.
St Arvans Parish Church, Chepstow. 10th December 2011 12 noon.

From the Gospel of St. Jn. Chapter 6v 58
“The one who eats this bread will live forever”.

It is entirely appropriate that we have chosen to mark the death of dear Fr. Jeremy in our parishes with a celebration of the Eucharist. The daily Mass was what sustained him throughout his busy and sometimes turbulent life. It is the way in which he is now re-united with his Saviour Jesus Christ and it is in direct obedience to the Lord’s call for us to “do this in Remembrance of Me”. The Eucharist here on earth foretells the banquet that we hope to share in, in heaven.

Jeremy knew how to throw a banquet didn’t he! Many is the time we have left his table swimming on the homeward outgoing tide of butter and cream and five courses of exquisite food, washed down by gallons (sometimes literally) of lovely wine! But even that will be nothing to the banquet that we hope that he and we shall share in there in heaven. For every time we share in the earthly food of the Eucharist we through this Holy Sacrament share together both here and there with the whole Church living and departed the heavenly food in the real presence of Jesus.
There were so many talents and gifts that Fr. Jeremy had and which he shared with us and with the whole church here on earth. I hope to at least recall some of them.

Pastoral Gifts.
Throughout his ministry he was a great doer of the word and not a hearer only. He sacrificed himself in more ways than one. A celibate by vocation, he could not ever stand being inactive. He came to these parishes in 1983 (for ten years as it turned out) a young lean thin beaming Priest itching to make a success of his first incumbency…. He loved the five churches of this group very much and the people too and most of them loved him greatly in return. He set about restoring and repairing the buildings and re-invigorating the faith and the liturgies with many services, having little regard for himself. After only a few madly overactive and impossibly overworked years and with frustrations with a few people who didn’t or wouldn’t share his dynamic vision or speed for the mission of spreading the Gospel, he had to have a period of enforced time off to recover. This he did and others began to realize that this was a vocation that needed to be better supported and shared in. So it was that renewed with greater help and better delegation and teamwork he was able to empower the laity and others to grow the congregations under his care. 

So many people have said to me that he had a great gift to give confidence and a true sense of purpose and vocation to their lives. Some were ordained and are serving in all parts of England and Wales. But many are lay people supported to be Christians in that world in a myriad of situations
Now I don’t want to give the impression Jeremy was perfect! All of us are sinners, even those who the church has later called Saints. But his theology was very much to do with the Incarnation; all of us are called to be Saints and faithful followers. This is the same Incarnation the feast of which we shall celebrate on Christmas Day. He believed that Jesus was sent into the world to make everything holy and that we are sent in to this world to live and live to the full and share in that task too. To live out our vocation as Christians in the everyday details and the sometimes messy, imperfect and sinful situations that we humans manage to get into. The Gospel imperative he lived in his life was very much that of the harvest being plentiful but the labourers being few and he did his best to address that need.

He was a sought after Confessor absolving the sins of penitent people under his charge, both laity and sacred ministers, with kindness and strong spiritual direction. As a pastor he was skillful and wise. There are large numbers of people who recall the care he had for them and their loved ones, this ministry of healing to the sick, the dying, the bereaved and those searching for something meaningful in life is spoken of wherever you mention his name. The people he baptized and married, the anniversaries and the holy days and holidays were what he and they loved most.

Remember the wonderful pilgrimages he led us to; the visits to Walsingham, Rome, Llantony and the Holy Land (three times no less), these will never be forgotten by those who went with him. He was teacher in schools, baptizer, confirmation preparer, friend to servers, and Minister to countless marriages; sponsor and encourager of many men to be Deacons and Priests, Missioner who brought many especially young people to know Jesus Christ, Ecumenist, faithful celebrant at Mass.
To say nothing of his work in the Christian Men’s societies, the choirs and choral societies he worked with. The Ordinations, Chrism Masses and large liturgical events he planned; the obtainer of Royal patronage for mission-based projects that achieved more than anyone else we could name. He was the best Bishop the Church in Wales should have had, and was so willfully negligent and partisan and ungracious to deny itself.

As Producer and Musician.

A pianist and choir leader; one most memorable concert he conducted in Chepstow (Oct 1991) was the Mozart Requiem but being Jeremy he performed the Solemn Vespers and Exultate Jubilate all on the same night and all 24 parts! Handel’s Messiah always the three parts in full! Nothing was ever done by halves everything to fulfill the utmost potential and always to the greater glory of God, this having gathered a group of local musicians he called the St. Arvans Festival Orchestra and Chorus with the Kingsmark and Martin Singers. Some of you will have been performers and soloists. It was a most ambitious and wonderfully happy time, and a triumph; it worked, as did so many of his projects. And it brought people together didn’t it?

Do you remember the Passion Play that he promoted? Nothing done by halves again, leading Christians of all denominations within the town of Cheptow. Closing the whole place down; traffic diverted and the most magnificent procession of witness with Ralph and Jean Davies’ Donkey leading with men women and children fully costumed and made up in a cast of hundreds all singing and acting the passion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, ending with the most realistic and moving scene of Jesus being crucified on a huge high scaffold at the top of the Dell. This was a mega amount of coordinating, vision and hard work from Fr. Jeremy. His Missionary zeal to turn heads, to turn hearts and to turn lives to Christ being his driving purpose.

The Wider Church.

Fr. Jeremy was always much more than a Priest to the Church in Wales. He saw himself as priest of God in the wider Universal, Catholic world. He was in England a Theology Student; trained at St Stephen’s House Oxford, he had the future Archbishop of York, David Hope and the future Provincial Assistant Bishop David Thomas as his Principal and vice Principal respectively. He was Chairman of the Additional Curates Society, member of SSC, a Priest Associate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, a Chaplain to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and to countless High Sheriffs, Mayors and civil office holders. He surely ought to have been made a Diocesan Bishop in England or Wales years ago but was blocked most likely because of his position as a:-

Champion of Traditionalist Anglican Catholic beliefs. 

He was steeped in the Anglo-Catholic tradition that underpinned every single thing that he did in the priestly ministry. His devotion to Our Lady and all the Saints sustained him in his faith, as did his daily prayers from the Divine Office and the extracts for daily Mass from the Roman Missal. A fierce and loyal supporter of the Anglican tradition, he taught many of us that the Anglican Church was not something new in the way of a sect that had been created at the time of Henry VIII but a continuing if reformed church from within the Catholic Church from which it is hewn. He was always direct but scrupulously gracious and polite to those with whom he disagreed, which was mainly in his objection to the innovation of liberal changes and also to the Ordination of women as Bishops and Priests. Like many of us he would never go as far as to deny their supporters anything. He was, however, deeply shocked when the promises which were given that objectors who wished to continue the previously held beliefs of their church, would be catered for with their own Provincial Assistant Bishop was ditched and those promises broken. He made those views known to those in charge in no uncertain terms. Let’s face it Jeremy should and would have been made PAB when Bp. David Thomas retired (not that he sought it or wanted it), had the graciousness and tolerance which he always showed others been reciprocated. Christian graciousness, which is a word bandied about liberally, surely needs to be two sided if it is to be recognizable as a Grace at all.

This was memorably a sad lapse of judgment by the current Archbishop and whole bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales. He felt he should stay and support those who agreed with him; although the Ordinariate, which is in its infancy, was available to him the moment women would be made Bishops. That would have been another sad loss to Wales and Anglicans more generally. He was faithful and constant on matters of conscience, truth and principle to the end.

However, on a lighter note: -Sense of Humour.
This could be quite outrageous sometimes couldn’t it?!! How many times he used to say out loud from his great height how that bench of Welsh Bishops in the 80’s and 90’s resembled a committee of Pork butchers! Often so loud that their Lordships would definitely hear it!!!
Do you remember how he insisted that if you were a lady and came to Church you should always wear a hat and by that he meant something at least three feet wide and worn at the correct angle!
What about the Diocesan Mission festival that we had for the renewal of the Diocese of Monmouth here in our own Parish at Chepstow Racecourse? (“Which Way?” July1989). He shoved and placed and shepherded Archdeacons, Bishops and Archbishops all over the place, making sure they were dressed correctly and when they were emerging from the Members Dining Room to begin the procession quipped that he wasn’t going to humiliate them too much more by making them go twice round the parade ring, so that the open-air congregation could judge the best turned out and to study their conformation and place their bets on who would win the race to their next promotion! On the way back from the outdoor Mass attended by thousands (and beautifully MC’d by him), he showed them the sign to the weighing room and again quipped that there was a steward there awaiting their weighing-in before they could depart!!
All this and the other jokes that will have to wait for another day were never rude, only extremely funny; somehow he seemed to get away with murder! There was never any maliciousness or harm to them!

Ministry to the Young.
His greatest talent was his ministry to children and the young. He was always in the schools especially our village ones before they were closed; he promoted Sunday schools and youth groups, servers and young choirs and musicians. Young people were attracted to his charisma and many owe him much.

Charisma.
Fr.Jeremy was an impresario for God! He brought everything and everyone together for all sorts of events and projects secular and religious but if secular always with a mission plan in place to steer God onto the agenda, to make Christianity the most natural, the most singular reason behind everything and whether people realized it at first or not the most important part of the whole thing, whatever it was.

At a time when cassocked clergy were fast disappearing from the public streets and village pathways or in the pub Jeremy still got on with quietly continuing those traditions of the heroes of the Catholic part of the Anglican church, whose illustrious ranks he must surely be destined to join if history is to be brought up to date one day. Not in the urban slums of London or Portsmouth but in the valleys and suburbs and then the market towns and villages of his beloved rural Monmouthshire.

Sacrifice.
So how can we make sense of all this and the huge hole his death has made in our lives? Well I suggest if we really appreciate his influence, his love and his friendship, if we wanted to do something long lasting to continue what he has begun then we could do no better than follow his example and do a little bit more for our community, a little bit more for our neighbours, a little bit more for our friends and family, do a lot more for our tradition and parishes, do a lot more for Christ’s broken church and re-union however that may affect our earthly ambitions and do more to make the world a better place; to make the saving grace of our Lord made known more widely in a truthful and dynamic traditional way, free from trivial innovations and secular influence in an increasingly ignorant and unknowing world.

And so may Jesus Christ soon to be present here in the bread of heaven, the food of Angels keep us and Jeremy safe for eternal life and may the prayers of Blessed Mary the Mother of God and all the Saints pray for us as we too pray for the soul of Jeremy Hugh Winston our Priest and Priest of God and may he receive the reward “Well done good and faithful servant enter into your Master’s joy”.

“The one who eats this bread will live for ever”. Amen. +

Fr. Mark Zorab.

Holy Theophany.

Here is a welcome message from fellow Christians in the Holy Land and Armenia......

Message of His Holiness Karekin II on Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Jesus Christ

“Dear faithful sons and daughters....today before our souls and minds is that life-giving “great and wondrous” mystery which shone out over the heavens and the earth, when the bright star stood still over the cave in Bethlehem and the angels proclaimed the glad tidings of the Holy Birth of the Saviour Son of God, saying, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11. The gospels tell us how the wise Magi who had travelled from afar and shepherds nearby, hurried toward the manger and bowed down before the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and welcomed the arrival of the Saviour to the world.

On the feast of the marvelous mystery of the Holy Nativity, we are all pilgrims to Bethlehem, either by visiting the Holy Land or by making our souls Bethlehem, to bow down before the infant Jesus with the wisdom and strength granted to us by faith, to recognize Him and accept Him as the Only Begotten Son of God and the way to eternal life. As the apostle writes, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Today in the “Bethlehem of the Armenians” – this holy sanctuary where the Only Begotten Son of God descended – and in all of our churches established through its light, we, dear ones, and all children of our nation, joyfully praise the birth of the Saviour who came to earth for us, and confess: You are our Lord. You are our Saviour. You are the source of life and the path to eternity. This confession has illuminated and continues to illuminate the path of humanity. Through Christ, God’s love was revealed to mankind; the Son of God came into the world to eliminate sin, dissipate the darkness of death, and to lead humanity to its Creator – to accept everlasting life. Through Christ, divine love is dispersed throughout the world entire – over man and nature – to always renew and fill it with life and joy. However a way of life opposed to the divine will turns life into a focus of problems and challenges. Let us look at the modern world. It is burdened with manifold difficulties, deprivations, contradictions and conflicts. The rejection of Christ and His commandments gives birth to wars and tragedies, harms our planet, becomes the cause of a weakening soul and spirituality, as well as the violent interruption of God-granted life – murder and suicide. The universal crisis of our day, which is explained through political, economic and material causes, is also fundamentally a result of the alienation and straying from the luminous path that leads toward God, the rejection of the gifts of heavenly love by sinful ways. Christ is life and in keeping his commandments, God’s love, truth, holiness, justice and mercy are implemented in this world, leading it towards the good and perfect, the full life that was our Lord’s earthly life, which was faith and love for the heavenly Father and blessing for mankind.

Dear and pious faithful, faith and love are those unshakeable foundations, through steadfast reliance upon which shall the life of our country and people become stronger and be filled with joy and delight. The fruits of faith and love are the good works of honesty, righteousness, sympathy, support and assistance to one another, which shall always accompany us so long as our path does not divert from Christ’s luminous path. In our days, as well as in our lives, alongside the works built by faith and many God-pleasing enterprises, unfortunately we see God-denying processes, behavior incompatible with the Christian character of our people, distortion of our cherished national values, as well as ignoring the spiritual in favor of overvaluing material possessions and money – such that they become the main objective rather than a means of organizing a good and fair life. Truly, manifestations such as these empty life of the life-sustaining presence of Christ, denying it of that spiritual joy, empathy, philanthropy, noble and lofty emotions, and God-granted salvation. Christ warns of that destructive path, saying, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36. Dear ones, we shall renew our lives today through the true example of love shown by our Lord; our lives that are not yet free from needs and difficulties, from major external and internal issues that impede the progress and prosperity of our country and people. The challenges and demands of our present lives cannot undermine our will to overcome the obstacles and barriers and, supporting one another, to serve the strengthening of our land, the progress of our nation and the building of a bright future. The advancement of our life will open bright new horizons before us, if we unite our national efforts and commit ourselves to work to bring goodness to society, with the aspirations of serving the nation and the Homeland, combining the abiding of the law with love, justice with clemency, wealth with mercy, power with assistance, and ability with service, because we accept and profess the life-granting Son. Today, with the example of the Magi and the shepherds, let us bow down before Christ, accept the Lord within the mangers of our hearts, be renewed by the grace of salvation granted to us, and always remember that the Lord’s “mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” Luke 1:50.

On the soul-renewing occasion of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of our Lord, we greet the incumbents of the hierarchal sees of our Apostolic Holy Church with Christ-bequeathed love... We convey our pontifical love and blessings to the oath-bound clergy of our Church and to all our people dispersed throughout the world. With the glad tiding of the Holy Nativity, we greet the spiritual heads of our Sister Churches and the representatives of diplomatic missions....

On this day full of grace that brings glad tidings, dear pious faithful, let us pray and appeal to our Saviour with these words, ‘Lord, may the graces of your Holy Birth illuminate the entire world, may the angelic tiding of peace resound in all corners of the earth, may goodwill and harmony accompany all nations and peoples, and may joy and happiness reign in all families. Let hatred, enmity, despair, indifference, bitterness and sadness retreat before the light of your Holy Nativity, and may the whole world be enveloped with the love and hope you have gifted. Keep our nation dispersed throughout the world united, Lord, in your loving care, and grant a prosperous and thriving life, welfare and strength.. and greater light and brilliance to our Holy Apostolic Church. And we, true to your words, shall bear witness to our faith through our works, and always feel within our hearts the joy of your life-giving presence, and exuberantly proclaim the good news of your Holy Birth.’ Amen.

Christ is Born and Revealed. Great tidings to us all.

Rejoice in the Lord Alway

St. Arvans Crib 2011

Homily for Christmas Day family service with Holy Communion.

These words from St Paul bring to us the essence of this feast second only in the Christian calendar to Easter and the Resurrection of the Lord. For this holy birth is to culminate for God made man not in the earthly life which comes to an end but through the mystery of Easter is transformed into the eternal life through an earth shattering reality that death will not or need not be the end for us. Born today, sent to live among and as one of us, then to die for us and to rise for us that all death be overcome. This death is foreshadowed in the offering of the burial spice myrrh, which the wise men,  will bring at Epiphany. But for today all is joy all is calm, all is peace brought to us by the Prince of Peace.

Although life can be hard, can be challenging can be imperfect, today there is one before us who shows us that he is here above all to comfort us in all our troubles. Yes, we know that we fail, that we sin that we don’t worship him as well or as often as we should, but he knows all that; he is not here today to scold, to force, to impose guilt, he is here to bring us joy; to show us what peace really is, to comfort us and to guide us through life. Just as we naturally extend our hands to a new child in welcome, so too we do so this morning to the infant King here in the crib before us, and as He grasps our fingers with his little hand may we today know that comfort, be blessed by the touch to our hearts and be sanctified in the words of the liturgy and in the sacrament of his body that we honour in the Holy Communion and that we shall either receive or be blessed by today and which was consecrated at the Midnight Mass earlier this morning. This comfort food that is better than all the Christmas Day dinners that have ever or will ever be made, important as though these celebrations be. As you open a present today why not open your hearts to Him too? He is waiting for you, he is loving as a child is loving to his family and he considers us all to be his family. Can we let go and immerse ourselves in the joy of this encounter? Not just with an innocent loving child but with this special, loving, welcoming and comforting God made in human form? There was no room at the Inn but may we never say there is no room in our hearts for Him or this Holy family, which we see before us. Today may Jesus, Mary and Joseph pray for you and bless you with great comfort and great joy. Amen.+

Comfort ye My people

In my Advent reading I have been much moved by these words from Ronald Rolheiser and would share them with you in this final time when we shall begin to turn from silent waiting for our Saviour to be born to expectant joy at his coming to live with, and as one of us!

"We will comfort the world, and it will be comforted, when we show it that God sees its heart with the eyes of the heart, that God feels for it more than it feels for itself, that God never feels frightened or wronged by the assertions of its freedom, that God is not put off by all the times we turn our back on what we know is best, that God emphathises with our lusts, our greed, our anger, our jealousies and our failures, that God never stops loving us for a moment even when we put ourselves in hell.
And that God stands in the middle of our huddled, shivering, timid, wounded, and guilty hearts and breathes out peace.
We will comfort the world when we tell it that, in spite of everything, its life is good. The world will be finally helped by us when we trust God enough to have the courage to tell it to live, even to risk mistakes, because, in the end, all will be well, and all will be well, and every manner of being will be well."

Meditation final days of Advent

The carol services are in full swing but hopefully the cribs can wait to be erected after a few more days. I can recommend the CD "Bethlehem Down" with the Finchley Music Group if you want the quieter and more meditative side of music for this holy time. There is much English church tradition and Anglican patrimony in it. One of my favourites is this by the Anglican composer and friend of Vaughan-Williams Gustav Holst who died at the tragically early age of 59 partly from injury sustained by falling backwards off the conductor's podium.

Persecuted Christians of Iran

All I can ask you is to share in the prayer request I was sent earlier today......

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani never practiced the Muslim faith and converted to Christianity at age 19, becoming a pastor later. But the courts say that since his mother and father were practicing Muslims, he must recant his Christian faith or die. So far, in three court appearances, he has refused to do so - RISKING EXECUTION AT ANY MOMENT.   The Iranian Supreme Court often acts quickly in administering the death penalty.

According to a report, when asked by judges to "repent," Yousef replied: "Repent,  What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"

The judges replied: "To the religion of your ancestors - Islam." To which Yousef replied: "I cannot."

It's time for the body of Christ to act, to pray, to plead for the life of our Brother before Christ so that His servant may be spared.

A Time for Waiting

As we approach the final days of Advent we wait and pray and watch and hope that when the Saviour comes he will bless us, change us and sanctify us with His presence and fill us with love, peace and grace. Still time for amendment of life, for new beginnings and unknown possibilities to be realised. I haven't noticed so much blatant commercialism this year and a little less materialism is a benefit of the current financial uncertainty. Am I alone in sinking at the thought of all those Christmas cards to be done? A Victorian invention which drains resources better used in another more charitable direction perhaps? For a few years now we have tried to cut out the cards to people we see quite regularly reserving them for distant friends and relations and then give the money saved via our Church to charity. Of course this tends to upset some former recipients but then you can't keep everyone happy. This photo is a diversion and of some wild boar (French- 'Sanglier') like those I saw today in woods on a Monmouthshire farm near here. They looked quite happy with their piglets in the driving sleet which poured all day. Wild Boar instead of turkey may make a nice change when the festivities do begin! Hark a herald voice is beginning to sound!

St Arvans Requiem Mass for the late Fr Jeremy Winston SSC

The Sacrament House St Arvans Church. Installed by the late Fr. Winston.


Just a note to update you that there will be a Requiem Mass for Fr. Jeremy our much loved former Parish Priest (1983-1993) of the five churches in the St. Arvans group of parishes, which includes Penterry, Itton, Devauden and Kilgwrrwg. This will be held NEXT SATURDAY 10th December 2011 at 12 NOON at St Arvans Church near Chepstow. All are welcome. The celebrant is the current incumbent my colleague Fr Michael Gollop SSC, I will give the homily. Former parishioners will lead prayers and readings. As he was such a fine musician the Mass setting will be from Fauré's Requiem with Organists Charles Matthews and Richard Farrington. There will be high class refreshments afterwards remembering Jeremy's love of good cuisine!! A warm welcome awaits those able to attend. Please continue to pray + for his soul and all who mourn him.

Requiescat in Pace, Jeremy Winston, Priest

The Blorrenge from the River Usk.

So to the final resting place earlier today for the burial of Fr. Jeremy Winston, my friend and mentor of nearly thirty years. A day of mourning, of loss, of wonder, praise and thanksgiving, of peace and rest, a day of hope and light. Firstly arriving at St. Mary's Abergavenny for the private last hours and family burial.  His coffin on high tressels draped in the white and purple Pall of the Society of the Holy Cross his spiritual brotherhood and home of so many years. In that unofficial Cathedral of orthodoxy that was the spiritual and incarnational embodiment of a vision of Christ's kingdom here on earth which Jeremy made manifest by his diligence, his strong faith and through his love of the Lord Jesus Christ present in the never questioned truths of that branch of the Catholic faith expressed in traditional Anglicanism, for which he fought and never wavered even to the last. Far away from the establishment funeral of yesterday, so strange and empty as it seemed of the essence of Jeremy there in the actual Cathedral in Newport, which was denied his dynamism so badly needed, but for a small number of weeks, and of his ministry as Dean only since September 10th. Today in St. Mary's, much silent prayer and then prayers read from the Office of the Dead from the Divine Office, the Pall was now replaced with pure white roses and carried out shoulder high to the waiting herse for the short drive to the cemetery  So with a handful of his family and close friends together with his colleagues, Fr Bernard Sixtus, Fr Malcolm Lane and Dom Thomas Regan OSB from Belmont Abbey we walked to the hilltop cemetery, benevolently watched over by God and the twin heights of Monmouthshire's Blorrenge Mountain in the dry bright December sky. Full of hope and comfort, the words of the burial service and two readings from Holy Scripture we four of God's Ministers doing our best to give our dear friend and brother Priest the best farewell we could, knowing that the smile of knowing peace would not be far from Jeremy's essential spirit which was committed unto God's eternal care. There will be thousands of people who have been brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ through Jeremy, a holy Priest of God. It will be up to us all who remain to continue that dynamic, joyful and truthful ministry that Jeremy began and who gives us to share in both here and now and in the years ahead. May we not fail, but stand together strengthened by the love which the Lord Jesus has for us and to Whom many have been led by His good and faithful servant Jeremy.
Support us, O Lord, all the day long of this troublous life,until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then, Lord, in your mercy grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Christ our Lord. Amen.   (Blessed John Henry Newman)

Study Day

Some personal impressions of a day of prayer and study held with the Benedictine hospitality of Belmont Abbey into the subject of an Ordinariate for Wales. 

At this time it should be stressed that this is only a discernment process and a study into an ecumenical possibility as a route for greater unity here for the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church to fulfil the wish of Christ to the Father "that they may be one". 

About an hundred people lay and ordained attended this first meeting. On arrival after coffee and introduction, a talk by Mgr. Keith Newton the former Anglican Bishop of Richborough and now the personally appointed Ordinary of Pope Benedict to Anglicans wishing for reception into full communion with the church in Rome. A practical and direct talk with encouraging but also very honest resume of where we have come from and where we are and what may or may not be in the future for some. Then a sharing in the Conventual Midday office in the Abbey Church of St. Michael and all Angels. Afterwards a buffet lunch and on to a talk from a former Anglican priest and now priest of the Ordinariate, Fr. Jonathan Redvers Harris and question times before Evensong in the Abbey according to the 1984 Church in Wales rite. Then home to the parish and preparations for Sunday. The reflection will no doubt be different for everyone, some will definitely want to stay where they are, some will keep their options open if they can in conscience continue with no orthodox Bishop to pastor them in Wales any longer, some will just test their move to possible re-union with Rome and stay, others will do so and move. It was greatly heartening to here from Fr. Redvers Harris that it was often the truly liberal and often female Anglican priests and colleagues who are amongst the most supportive and encouraging to traditional Anglicans when moving, where they feel they are truly being called and where they feel they should answer that call.

For many, the new Church in Wales and its Governing Body insisting on a new creed for the faithful and ordinands, that they are obliged to consent to their new found self appointed authority to change matters of doctrine and order within the church, will be a decisive factor. One thing is evident that no one from the traditional ranks talks about being bitter or let down or anti anyone or anything, the focus is on what in conscience one can and should do here and now in the matter of all these things, knowing that there is only one true friend judge and Redeemer whose opinion really matters and He is the One to whom all of us will answer.

Bon Anniversaire !

Very warm congratulations to my friend and colleague Fr. Michael Gollop on the occasion of his 25th. Anniversary of Ordination as Priest in the Church of God this Michaelmas. I have much to be grateful for;  that Michael was sent to our rural group of four Parishes and five Churches some seventeen years ago. Unswerving support and kindness has always been given me as his assistant Curate, sometimes in the face of hostile and difficult circumstances. It is often and increasingly challenging to stay faithful to the traditions and ecumenical vision we have inherited as Anglo-Catholics but the clarity of thought and intelligent mind behind the man have on many occasions not only saved the day but saved the soul as well. This ministry can only become more pressing during these exceptional times. May God continue to bless all his holy Priests! For those who haven't yet benefitted from his wisdom on the blogosphere (and there can't be many reading this!) it is called Let Nothing You Dismay! The link is HERE

Wales - New Dean

The Very Rev'd Jeremy Winston

Congratulations to Fr. Jeremy Winston on his installation at St. Woolos, Newport Cathedral, South Wales yesterday. I was invited to attend with my wife and therefore we sat together with many friends in the nave in a row near the front with a good view of everything despite the scaffolding currently erected to restore the roof. The Bishop's sermon even referred to the BBC TV series All Gas and Gaiters the very same name as this blog! It included much good about the mission of the church and the Cathedral to the modern world, referred to the Chartist martyrs and to Benedictine hospitality; so it was good to see the Abbot of Belmont among the honoured guests and also Bishop David Thomas our greatly missed and alas last Provincial Assistant Bishop mitred and seated in the sanctuary. The service was relayed live big screen to Fr. Jeremy's former parishioners at St. Mary's Abergavenny, as the Cathedral Church is so small. If the archaic oaths and legal formalities currently still required under the constitution of the anglican Church in Wales (in Wales it is not required by the State) could be done before the service or updated perhaps that would be good. My camera wasn't able to get much internally but here are a few souvenirs. It was lovely to hear some music and words from the hymns written by the new Dean Winston himself.

Newport Cathedral

St David Lewis- Priest and Martyr

At my daily place of work in Usk, Monmouthshire I try to get out of the office to walk during lunchtime to refresh and clear the head. My walk often takes me by the river path to see if there are kingfisher, dipper, trout or salmon to be seen and raise the spirits. A good place for the late recitation of the Angelus and to pray "on the hoof". But at this time of year it is a melancholy walk indeed as my thoughts turn inevitably to dear Fr. David Lewis SJ born at nearby Abergavenny and who ministered to those "of the old religion" in Monmouthshire so bravely. His cruel death and martyrdom took place at this very spot on 27 August 1679 during the reign of Charles II (who was against the persecution), a shockingly late date for a brutal execution only for being a Catholic priest. Orchestrated by the diabolic Titus Oates who perjured himself presenting trumped up charges of sedition and treason against Lewis and other Catholics. Have the years changed the anti-catholic feelings of yesteryear? One hopes and prays so but many in Wales when they talk about supporting ecumenical advances don't seem to think that re-union with Rome from which the Anglican church is hewn is something they want or is needed. To the contrary, there will never be re-union of the Christian churches without a return to Rome. May the prayers of St David Lewis be for all of us Christians in Wales and beyond and may his death be not in vain but support the gospel message "that they may be one". The souls of the martyrs can never be extinguished by man in his ruined state. From his last words at the gallows after he was dragged down the river path to this place;

“Please now to observe; I was condemned for reading Mass, hearing confessions, administering the sacraments, anointing the sick, christening, marrying, preaching. As for reading the Mass, it was the old, and still is the accustomed and laudable liturgy of the Holy Church, and all the other acts, which are acts of religion, tending to the worship of God, and for this dying, I die for religion. Moreover, know that last May I was in London under examination concerning the Plot, a prime examinant told me that to save my life and increase my fortunes, I must make some discovery of the Plot or conform; discover Plot I could not, for I knew of none, conform I would not, because it was against my conscience. Then by consequence I must die, and so now dying, I die for conscience and religion, and dying upon such good scores, as far as human frailty permits, I die with alacrity, interior and exterior from the abundance of the heart, let not only mouths, but faces also speak. Here; methinks, I feel flesh and blood ready to burst into loud cries. ‘Tooth for tooth, eye for eye, blood for blood, life for life.’ ‘No.’ crieth Holy Gospel, ‘Forgive and you shall be forgiven, pray for those that persecute you, love your enemies.’ “And I profess myself a child of the Gospel, and the Gospel I obey.”

 See the life of St David Lewis in more detail HERE

Bishops arrested in China

OUR LADY OF CHINA

The shocking behaviour of China in sending police to forcibly make four orthodox Catholic Bishops attend a quasi "Consecration" of the state sponsored alternative catholic church against their will, surely needs far greater exposure and condemnation than it is getting. The ten million Catholics loyal to the Pope are forced underground while the state sponsored and "authorised" catholic church of 6 million is subject to state manipulation and interference; a sort of fascist establishment of the church. The freedom to proclaim allegiance to their true spiritual leader (in Rome) and to practice the faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church needs to be championed by the West, in actively supporting the Vatican against this persecution. Our prayers are asked for the resolution of this injustice and for the well being of fellow Christians living in fear and persecution.

Massacre of the Innocents

4th cent Geghard Monastery Armenia. Entrance to the rock Church

There was no armed conflict as the Turks continue to claim of the Armenian Genocide they perpetrated in 1915 when over a million were murdered in the most barbaric ways imaginable. The Vatican papers will witness the truth that some Western countries, including to its shame the UK, prefer to forget in the interest of commerce and business and the proposed political integration of Turkey into the European Economic Community. See the breaking story HERE and previous post.