(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

It's term again, which is good on the whole, though there is a fair bit of busyness and distractions coming up as a result.

One of the good things is morning prayer in college; actually having a fixed time which is non-negotiable is good in itself from a discipline and structuring day point of view, but I like saying the Office with other people (even if this generally means a congregation of two or three), and I like the Oratory (in an oriel window tucked behind the organ loft) as a space, despite the disastrous stained glass. And I like it at this time of year, when we open by singing the Regina Caeli (second translation), rather than saying the Angelus.

Actually, if I am being cold-blooded, I think the Angelus is a better devotion, but the singing and the use of a cheerful tune ("Jesus Christ is Risen Today") is an agreeably festive start to the day.

Comments

[cheyinka]

The Regina Caeli is the first prayer I learned in Latin, so I'm partial to it. I've never heard it sung, though!

[tree_and_leaf]

Singing it - at least to that tune - is a very Anglo-Catholic thing. I like the 'Regina Caeli' itself, but I think the final collect is less good than the one that finishes off the Angelus (which is also the collect for Lady Day, of course)

[sashajwolf]

I agree with you about the collects. In our parish, we use the second translation as well, but I managed to get it tweaked so that we now say "through the prayers of his mother, the Virgin Mary" - a bit more comfortable for those in the parish who aren't nosebleed-high, and I think more theologically accurate than either the Latin or the untweaked translation.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, I'm dubious about the theology of the standard prayer too (and I am nose-bleedingly high). Good for you.

[sashajwolf]

I'm pretty high myself, especially when it comes to the Eucharist, but I'm conscious that our congregation includes refugees from Pentecostal and URC churches, amongst others. And bad theology is bad theology, whether it's low or high :-)