Unthinkable Wings

Well. Tonight I sent off the corrected version of my thesis to the examiners. I feel - sort of numb, actually.

On another note, I have just come back from the Lent devotions at church; silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, compline and a very attenuated Benediction. Intense (and my knees are still stiff), but very good.

I find praying in front of the Sacrament powerful and helpful, but the bit of Benediction that always moves me most is right at the start, when the priest carries the Sacrament from the tabernacle to the monstrance on the altar, wrapped in the humeral veil and held close against his chest. It almost looks like the way you would carry a very small child, wrapped up against the cold, and somehow it speaks to me very powerfully of the way in which God, for our sake, empties himself of his power, becoming human, becoming even more vulnerable in the bread and wine of the sacrament, which he makes his flesh. And how that insignificant fragment of what seems to be bread is more powerful and worthy of reverence than - pretty much any thing, really.

On a happier note, today the Church of England commemorates John Keble (1792-1866), priest, fellow of Oriel College (where he and Newman more or less invented the Oxford tutorial system, revolutionising university teaching), Professor of Poetry of the University of Oxford, and one of the initiators of the Oxford Movement. Even outside Anglo-Catholic circles, though, the Anglican Communion would be very different without Keble, Newman, Pusey et al, both in essentials - it's largely down to the Tractarians that weekly communion has become normal - and in the externals (vestments and candles). The catholic revival gave new energy to the Church of England and beyond, particularly in its involvement in mission, outreach, and general social justice issues in deprived urban areas.* In later life he was friends with CM Yonge, and his influence is tangible in her novels.

I've always liked Keble - quite apart from his loyalty to the C of E, he seems to have been an attractive character. My icon shows him in age, but there's a nice pencil drawing of him as a younger man:

( which is below the cut, to spare your flist )

I know, I know, I have just been moaning about how much I have to do and should not be faffing about on LJ, but I have to share my delight in the fact that today George Herbert (Priest, poet, 1633, lesser festival) is commemorated in the Anglican calendar, with a particularly fine collect. So have it, and also one of my favourite Herbert poems:


PRAYER. (I)

PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner's towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood.


King of glory, king of peace,
who called your servant George Herbert
from the pursuit of worldly honours
to be a priest in the temple of his God and king:
grant us also the grace to offer ourselves
with singleness of heart in humble obedience to your service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

I rather like the collect of the day today:

O God, the judge of all,
who gave your servant John of the Cross
a warmth of nature, a strength of purpose
and a mystical faith
that sustained him even in the darkness:
shed your light on all who love you
and grant them union of body and soul
in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen

I can't resist pointing out that today is the festival of Julian of Norwich, mystic and writer of genius (and one of the earliest named English women authors to boot)

ETA: And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Hm: if only I knew how to do animated icons; that would make a good one.

As we all know, today is a lesser but nevertheless interesting festival of the Christian year.

So: Happy Feast of S.S. Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs, champions of Slavonic as a suitable language for divine worship, and devisors of Cyrillic.

A very Catholic perspective: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04592a.htm

An Orthodox account: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Cyril_and_Methodius

Today is the feast (well, actually it's a Lesser Festival, but let's not be pedantic) of S. Margaret of Scotland; and also the commemoration of Edmund Rich , in whose name was founded Teddy Hall, otherwise St Edmund Hall in Oxford.