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March 28, 2009
The Rt. Rev. Michael Wright RIP
Bishop Michael Wright of the Holy Catholic Church Western Right passed away into the eternal glory on Monday 23, 5:30pm in England. Funeral service at St.John's Curch, Peasedown St.John, Bath on Thursday April 2, at 12:30pm officiated by Bishop Samuel Banzana.The funeral directors:Clarkson's Independent, 7 Windsor Place, Lower Bristol Rd.,Bath BA13DF. 01225 426822.Donations in his memory will go towards building a church in Africa. Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to his bereaving family and diocese and pray for God's comfort and strength at this time of great loss.
This picture of Archbishop Kleppinger with Bp. Wright (on the occasion of the College of Bishops Meeting,October 2005) was taken the day when Bp. Michael Wright preached during the mass on the Prodigal Son and announcing he had returned. It was homecoming and the legacy of reconciliation he brought between HCCAR and HCCWR and restored communion. Bp. Wright affirmed this restoration in the following words: In 2005 however the trend was reversed when full communion was established once more between the HCC-WR and the HCC-AR.
The following year Bp.Wright attended the Ecumenical Congress together with Bp. Samuel Banzana of South Africa and confirmed the existing communion. Our deep sympathies go to Bp. Samuel Banzana, Bp.Cruz Blanco and all the clergy and the people of HCCWR.
In the words of Archbishop Kleppinger, "We have lost a great shepherd on earth and gained an intercessor in heaven in the company of the Angels and Saints". And may this our prayer be for the dear departed:In communion with the blessed saints and aided by cherubim and seraphim, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, virtues, archangels and angels - all the armies of the Heavenly Host: May his rest be this day in peace, and his dwelling place in the Paradise of God.
Posted by frleo at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2009
Hail Mary! - The Feast of the Annunciation
While pondering the Incarnation of Christ, we cannot ignore the human mediary, Blessed Virgin Mary of whom was born Christ the Lord. Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, when the church contemplates the role of the unassuming virgin of Nazareth in bringing the Son of God into the world. God could have ordained this in any other fashion of His choice. But we know through history and the Gospel, this is how the Savior of the world came into existence, of course through the Holy Ghost.
The Angelus, another devotional beautifully summarises this:
God's initiative: The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary
And she was conceived by the Holy Ghost
Human cooperation: Behold the handmaid of the Lord
Be it done unto me according to thy word
Supernatural event: And the word was made flesh
And it dwelt among us.
Intercession: Pray for us O holy mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Pour forth we beseech thee O Lord thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of thy son was made known by the message of an angel. May we through His passion and death brought to the glory of the resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Listen to Magnificat by John Michael Talbot.
Posted by frleo at 5:31 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2009
"KINGS" - Old Wine in 'New Skins'
It’s great when Bible stories are resurrected for our modern times to give us the due sense of Divine Presence in people or a nation’s life story. In a review of ‘Kings’ the new NBC show, there is a comment about David in this review. “With the biblical David — described in Scripture as “a man after God’s own heart,” even as he orders a man killed to cover up David’s affair with his wife — the show’s creators had to work hard to include his spirituality without letting the show lapse into another “sandals and sand” epic.”
No doubt, David was a man after God’s heart. And yet after his double sin of murder and adultery, and all the sins that one could possibly list, he was a repentant man, recognizing his folly as he pours forth his soul in Psalm 51, “Have mercy on me God in your kindness and in your compassion blot out my offense. Against Thee, Thee alone have I sinned: what is wrong in thy sight I have done…create in me a pure heart O Lord and put a steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, nor deprive me of thy Holy Spirit.” David offers a broken spirit and a contrite hears as a sacrifice that God will not spurn.
It’s more entertaining and dramatic to revel in the life of the sinner David than to focus on Penitent David—his future in terms of his seeking God’s mercy. Although I have not seen the show, if the glorification of sinful lifestyle of King David is alone the theme, they are mistaken, because David was a man of humble and contrite heart, who repented for his sins and reconciled himself with God. Divine forgiveness is total and even after his sins are revealed, God refers to David in the Old Testament as “My Servant David,” and not “the murderer and adulterer David.”
In this same review of “Kings,” there is also an implied reference about the sexuality of Jonathan and David. “The vivacious Jack is meant to represent David’s close friend, Jonathan, who the Bible says “loved (David) as his own soul.” In “Kings,” Jack is gay. Green said he doesn’t care whether David and Jonathan were secret gay lovers, as some believe; he just liked the added element of family tension over Jack’s sexuality. Certainly, poetic license cannot be unbridled to create confusion about characters in the Bible nor their interpretation to accommodate a popular opinion or to distort Biblical facts.
Sinfulness cannot be glorified and that is the reason for this season of Lent. Pondering on the one who atoned for our sins—the Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, through his passion, death and resurrection. It’s nice to think of “David the Sinner,” but how much more edifying to ponder on “David the Saint,” on the road to repentance and reconciliation with God.
Posted by frleo at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)