In simplicity of heart, I gladly offer everything, O Lord.

Above:  Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu

Fair Use

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BLESSED MARIA GABRIELLA SAGHEDDU (MARCH 17, 1914-APRIL 23, 1939)

Italian Roman Catholic Nun

Born Maria Sagheddu

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The Lord put me on this path; He will sustain me in battle.

To His mercy I entrust my frailty.

I saw in front of me a big cross…,

I thought that my sacrifice was nothing compared to His.

I offered myself entirely and I do not withdraw my given word.

God’s will, whatever it may be; this is my joy, my happiness, my peace.

I will never be able to thank enough.

I cannot say but these words:  “My God, your Glory.”

–Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu

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Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Maria Sagheddu came from a devout Roman Catholic family.  She, born in Dorgali, Sardinia, Italy, on March 17, 1914, was the fifth of eight children of shepherds Caterina Cucca and Marcantonio Sagheddu.  Marcantonio and one of Maria’s brothers died in 1919.  Two other brothers also died in their childhood.  A sister, Giovanna Antonio (1915-1932), died young, too.

The death of Giovanna Antonia prompted a spiritual change in Maria’s life.  Our saint had been simultaneously lazy and stubborn yet obedient; she eventually did what told to do.  She had also been overly critical–quick to offer harsh words.  After the death of Giovanna Antonia, our saint began to accept constructive criticism and to develop a contemplative spirituality.

Our saint entered the Trappist convent at Grottaferrata, near Rome, on September 30, 1935.  Her monastic name was Maria Gabriella.  She made her vows on October 31, 1937 (the Feast of Christ the King).  Blessed Maria Gabriella accepted Abbess Maria Pia Gullini’s enthusiasm for ecumenism.  In 1938, the young nun offered herself to pray for Christian unity.

Fifteen months later, Blessed Maria Gabriella died of tuberculosis on April 2, 1939.  She was twenty-five years old.

Pope John Paul II declared our saint a Venerable in 1981 then a beatus in 1983.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SARAH LOUISE “SADIE” DELANY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR; HER SISTER, ANNIE ELIZABETH “BESSIE” DELANY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN DENTIST; AND HER BROTHER, HUBERT THOMAS DELANY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN ATTORNEY, JUDGE, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF BERNHARD W. ANDERSON, U.S. UNITED METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT EUPHROSYNE AND HER FATHER, SAINT PAPHNUTIUS OF ALEXANDERIA, MONKS

THE FEEAST OF SAINT HERMAN OF REICHENAU, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, LITURGIST, POET, AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF JUDITH LOMAX, EPISCOPAL MYSTIC AND POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT SERGIUS OF RADONEZH, ABBOT OF THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY, SERGIYEV POSAD, RUSSIA

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O God, whose blessed Son became poor

that we through his poverty might be rich:

Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world,

that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant

Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu,

may serve you with singleness of heart,

and attain to the riches of the age to come;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Song of Songs 8:6-7

Psalm 34

Philippians 3:7-15

Luke 12:33-37 or Luke 9:57-62

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 722

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Above:  Blessed Teresa Maria of the Cross

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED TERESA MARIA OF THE CROSS (MARCH 2, 1846-APRIL 23, 1910)

Foundress of the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Florence

Born Teresa Adelaide Cesina Manetti

Teresa Adelaide Cesina Manetti, born in Florence on March 2, 1846, learned piety at a young age.  She was a daughter of Salvatore Manetti and Rosa Bigagli (Manetti).  Salvatore died when our saint was three years old.  Teresa’s piety led her, eighteen years old, to organize a group of young women to live in common and to teach poor children.  She derived much inspiration from the writings of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582).  Our saint became a Carmelite tertiary, as Teresa Maria of the Cross, on July 16, 1876.  She took her vows as a Discaled Carmelite on July 12, 1888.  She started Carnmelite-run schools in other Italian cities.  She did this work through spiritual doldrums and many slanders.  The work our saint began when she was eighteen years old culminated in 1904, when Pope Pius X approved the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Florence.  Blessed Teresa Maria of the Cross, aged 64 years, died in Florence, Kingdom of Italy, on April 23, 1910.

The Roman Catholic Church recognized our saint formally.  Pope Paul VI declared her a Venerable in 1975.  Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1986.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 9, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HARRIET TUBMAN, U.S. ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF EMANUEL CRONENWETT, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCES OF ROME, FOUNDRESS OF THE COLLATINES

THE FEAST OF JOHANN PACHELBEL, GERMAN LUTHERAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SOPHRONIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH

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O God, by whose grace your servant Blessed Teresa Maria of the Cross,

kindled with the flame of your love,

became a burning and a shining light in your Church:

Grant that we we also may be aflame with the spirit of live and discipline

and walk before you as children of light,

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Acts 2:42-47a

Psalm 133 or 34:1-8 or 119:161-168

2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Matthew 6:24-33

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 723

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Nun danket alle Gott, (Now thank we all our God,)

Above:  Martin Rinckart

Image in the Public Domain

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MARTIN RINCKART (APRIL 23, 1586-DECEMBER 8, 1649)

German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer

Also known as Martin Rinckart

Martin Rinckart comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via hymnody.

Rinckart became a Lutheran minister.  He, born in Eilenburg, Saxony, on April 23, 1586, was a son of Georg Rinckart, a cooper.  Our saint studied at the Latin school in Eilenburg.  Next, he studied (on scholarship) at St. Thomas’s School, Leipzig, and sang in the church choir, starting in November 1601.  Rinckart also became a theological student at the University of Leipzig in 1602.  He remained in that city until he completed this degree.  Our saint served as the schoolmaster in Eisleben and the cantor at St. Nicholas’s Church from June 1610 to May 1611.  Then he served as the deacon of St. Anne’s Church, Eisleben, from May 1611 to December 1613.  Next, Rinckart became the pastor at Erdeborn and Lyttichendorf, near Eisleben, in December 1613.  Finally, in November 1617, he became the Archdeacon of Eilenburg.

Rinckart also composed drams and hymn texts.  He wrote plays for the centennial of the Protestant Reformation in 1617.  Some of his hymns have, via translators, become part of English-language hymnody.  The most enduring of these texts has been Nun danket alle Gott (1636), which Catherine Winkworth (1829-1878) rendered as “Now Thank We All Our God” in 1858.  Some of the less popular English translations of hymn texts by Rinckart have included “Where Shall the Weary Find,” “Let All Men Praise the Lord,” and “Grant Majesty Above, of Prayer None Else.”

Mit Herzen, Mund und Händen, (With heart, and hands, and voices,)

Der grosse Dinge tut (Who wondrous things hath done,)

An uns und allen Enden; (In whom His world rejoices;)

Der uns von Mutterleib (Who from our mothers’ arms)

Und Kindesbeinen an (Hath blest us on our way)

Unzählig veil zu gut (With countless gifts of love,)

Bis hieher hat getan. (And still is ours today.)

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Der ewig reiche Gott (O may this bounteous God)

Woll’ uns bei unserm Leben (Through all our life be near us,)

Wein immer frölich Herz (With ever joyful hearts)

Und edlen Frieden geben, (And blessed peace to cheer us;)

Und uns in seiner Gnad’ (To keep us in His grace,)

Erhalten fort und fort (And guide us when perplexed,)

Und uns aus aller Not (And free us from all ills)

Erlösen hier und dort. (In this world and the next.)

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Lob, Ehr’ und Preis sei Gott, (All praise and thanks to God,)

Dem Vater und dem Sohne, (The Father, now be given,)

Und dem, der beiden gleich (The Son, and Him who reigns)

Im höchsten Himmelsthrone: (With them in highest heaven,)

Ihm, dem dreiein’ gen Gott, (The One Eternal God,)

Wie es im Anfang war, (Whom earth and heaven adore;)

Und ist und bleiben wird (For thus it was, is now,)

Jetzund und immerdar! (And shall be evermore.)

Eilenburg suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1848).  It was a walled city, so many wartime refugees sought shelter there.  Eilenburg became overcrowded.  Swedish forces captured the walled city and demanded a high ransom.  Rinckart negotiated with the Swedish commander.  After the first negotiation proved unsuccessful, our saint returned to his church and urged people to pray.  Then he negotiated again and saved the city.  The city’s leaders did not thank him.  The overcrowded walled city became the site of a pestilence in 1637.  About 8000 people, including our saint’s first wife, died.  Rinckart conducted 4,480 funerals.  The war broke our saint physically .

Rinckart died in Eilenburg on December 8, 1649.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 8, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF EDWARD KING, BISHOP OF LINCOLN

THE FEAST OF FRED B. CRADDOCK, U.S. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND RENOWNED PREACHER

THE FEAST OF GEOFFREY STUDDERT KENNEDY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN HAMPDEN GURNEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS HOSPITALLERS OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD

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Heavenly Father, shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servant Martin Rinckart,

who was faithful in the care and nurture of your flock;

and we pray that, following his example and the teaching of his holy life,

we may by your grace grow into the full stature of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Ezekiel 34:11-16 or Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84

1 Peter 5:1-4 or Ephesians 3:14-21

John 21:15-17 or Matthew 24:42-47

–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 38

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Above:  The Bowies’ Gravestone

Image Source = Find a Grave

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WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE (OCTOBER 8, 1882-APRIL 23, 1969)

Episcopal Priest, Seminary Professor, and Hymn Writer

Walter Russell Bowie was a Virginian.  He, born in Richmond, Virginia, on October 8, 1882, studied at The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, before matriculating at Harvard University.  At Harvard he and Franklin Delano Roosevelt edited The Crimson.  Our saint graduated with his B.A. in 1904 and his M.A. the following year.   Next Bowie attended Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia (B.D., 1908).  He, ordained to the diaconate in 1908 and to the priesthood the following year, married Jean Laverack (1881-1963) in 1909.  The couple went on to raise four children.

Bowie, a proponent of the Social Gospel, served on the parish level and beyond.  He was Rector of Emmanuel Church, Greenwood, Connecticut (1908-1911); St. Paul’s Church, Richmond, Virginia (1911-1923); and Grace Church, New York, New York (1923-1939), doubling as a hospital chaplain in France during World War I.  His social conscience compelled him to join the anti-xenophobic American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born in the 1920s.  Bowie lectured at Yale Divinity School (1935) and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (1939).  In 1939 our saint became Professor of Practical Theology and Dean of Students at Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York.  Then, in 1950, he departed for Alexandria, Virginia, to become Professor of Homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary.  While at Alexandria, our saint edited The Southern Churchman.  He retired from the seminary in 1955.  During Bowie’s years as an academic he also served on the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches and helped to translate the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.  He was also the Associate Editor of Exposition for The Interpreter’s Bible (12 volumes, 1951-1957).

Bowie was a prolific author.  He published many sermons as well as books.  Audiences ranged from children to adults and genres included biographies, current events, church dramas, and the Bible.  (One can find many of these works at archive.org and Worldcat.)  Bowie also wrote hymn texts, which manifested his social conscience.  Those hymns included the following:

1. “Lord Christ, When First Thou Cam’st to Men;”
2. “Lord, Through Changing Days, Unchanging;”
3. “O Holy City Seen of John;”
4. “God of the Nations, Who, from Dawn of Days;” and
5. “Lovely to the Outward Eye.”

I also found the following text from 1914 and set to the tune ELLACOMBE (“The Day of Resurrection!  Earth Tell It Out Abroad”):

O ye who dare go forth with God,

Behold the flag unfurled

And hear His trumpet’s challenge ring

Across the answering world:

For His great war with sin and shame,

Though coward hearts refuse–

Go draw the sword that in His name

You shall find strength to use.

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The citadels He bids you storm

Are walled with ancient wrong;

The foes He bids you shock against

Are insolent and strong;

Where fleshly lusts and greed for gain

Make dens for souls to die–

For rescue from that poisoned pain

The bitter voices cry:

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The bitter voice goes up to God

From the dark house of shame;

‘Mid iron wheels of driving toil

And from the men they maim;

From ev’ry stricken child who lies

In some foul room and drear;

From those who walk with sodden eyes,

To whom no hopes walk with sodden eyes,

To whom no hopes come near.

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Where sordidness and pain and sin

Cry for th’avenging sword,

Where selfish ease and indolence

Call for the blazing sword,

There God’s clear trumpet summons those

Who dare to face the wrong

And launch against His Spirit’s foes

The strength which He makes strong.

Bowie died in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 23, 1969.  He was 86 years old.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 17, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF BENNETT J. SIMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF COMPEIGNE

THE FEAST OF SAINT NERSES LAMPRONATS, ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF TARSUS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WHITE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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Almighty God, we praise you for your servant Walter Russell Bowie,

through whom you have called the church to its tasks and renewed its life.

Raise up in our own day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit,

whose voices will give strength to your church and proclaim the reality of your reign,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 46

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 10:35-45

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Christ alone can make all things new. The spirit of Christ must be the soul of all social reconstruction.

Above:  Toyohiko Kagawa

Image in the Public Domain

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TOYOHIKO KAGAWA (JULY 10, 1888-APRIL 23, 1960)

Renewer of Society and Prophetic Witness in Japan

The Episcopal Church celebrates the life of Toyohiko Kagawa on April 23 and describes him as a “Prophetic Witness in Japan.”  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada also observe this feast on the same day, but list him as a “Renewer of Society.”  Both labels are accurate.

–Toyohiko Kagawa

Toyohiko Kagawa–Christian minister, labor activist, political dissident and prisoner, civil servant, pacifist, advocate for slum dwellers and the working poor, and Christian Socialist–grew up a Buddhist.  He, born in Kobe, Japan, on July 10, 1888, was the second child of businessman-politician Denjiro Kagawa and concubine Kame.  They died two months apart, before our saint was five years old.  For six years young Toyohiko lived on the Kagawa family farm in Awa provivince.  There he studied the Confucian classics.  At the age of 11, after a false accusation of harming a girl, he went to the middle school at Tokushima, on the island of Shikiku.  This was an educational institution he wanted to attend.  Young Toyohiko was a serious student who desired to master the English language.  That interest, combined with his location, led to the next step in our saint’s spiritual journey.

Kagawa learned English and came to Christ under the tutelage of Drs. Harry Myers and Charles Logan, Presbyterian ministers.  In 1903, at the age of fifteen years, our saint converted to Christianity.  His first prayer was

Oh God, make me like Christ!

Young Toyohiko, baptized and determined to study for the ordained ministry, had found a new family.  He also lost his old one; the Kagawas disowned him.

Kagawa had two main social concerns–pacifism and poverty.  These existed in the context of his promise to God to dedicate his life to telling the story of the cross of Christ.  The church, our saint insisted, must identify with the poor and the downtrodden and serve God in them.  The church, he concluded, was not doing as well by this standard as it should.  Pacifism was a matter of following the Golden Rule, one of Christ’s commands.

Dr. Myers arranged for the 17-year-old Kagawa to study at Presbyterian College, Tokyo, starting in 1905.  There our saint remained until tuberculosis forced him to leave in 1908.  He had developed interests in and studied theology, philosophy, sociology, and economics.  His studies had not ended, however.

Katawa returned to Kobe, where he continued his theological studies.  Academics were important in preparation for ordained ministry, he affirmed, but he needed to serve the poor also.  Therefore our saint lived not in a residence hall but under a bridge then in a slum.  In 1909 he decided not to seek ordination but to serve the poor full-time.  From 1910 to 1924, with some gaps, Kagawa lived in a tiny hut in a slum in Kobe.  In May 1914, when he married Haru, a factory worker, he and his wife lived in a tiny hut.  She also cooked for sixteen people daily.  Husband and wife were a team.

In August 1914 Kagawa sailed for the United States, to study at Princeton University.  He cobbled together the fare with help from his in-laws, Drs. Myers and Logan, his church, and the seminary at Kobe.  For eighteen months our saint investigated urban poverty, social services, and living conditions.  He also began to formulate strategies that might prove effective in Japanese cities.  Kagawa decided to stop being a social worker and to be come a social reformer.  He thought about how to change institutions and society, to alter conditions that contribute to poverty.  How to create more jobs, increase wages, improve education, make health care more accessible, et cetera became concerns for him.  This had a theological grounding–the affirmation of inherent human dignity.

Kagawa, back in Japan, became a social reformer.  He also decided to seek ordination after all.  Our saint, ordained in 1917, worked in the slums.  Kagawa, the national secretary of the Japanese Federation of Labor, published The Adoration of the Laborer in 1919.  This prompted his arrest that year.  Two years alter he was back in prison for leading a strike and arguing for the right to workers to organize.  (Labor unions were illegal in Japan until 1925.)  Between arrests he wrote an influential novel, Across the Death-line, about conditions in slums.

Japanese officialdom, which kept Kagawa under surveillance much of the time, wavered between labeling him a criminal and questioning his patriotism on one hand and hiring him on the other hand.  In 1923 an earthquake devastated Tokyo and Yokohama, killing 100,000 people and rendering five million people homeless.  Kagawa organized the relief projects so ably that he went on to serve on the Imperial Economic Commission.  He used his influence to help pass laws to end slums in Asaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Yokohama.  On the other hand, Kagawa’s pacifism angered militarist elements of society and government .  In 1927 he was the only Japanese person to sign an international anti-military conscription manifesto presented to the League of Nations.  Other signers included Mohandas Gandhi and Albert Einstein.  Our saint was allegedly a

traitor in the pay of American imperialists

and a

tool of the Russian Communists.

He certainly made no friends among militarists by organizing the National Anti-War League the following year.  In 1940 Kagawa’s public apology to the people of China for the Japanese invasion led to more time in prison.

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

–Voltaire

In August 1941 Kagawa and seven other Japanese men traveled to the United States.  There they engaged in dialogue in the vain search for ways to avoid war between the U.S.A. and the Japanese Empire.  Our saint, recalling hearing news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, wrote:

I felt that all the lights of the world had gone out.  My heart was broken.

During World War II the Imperial Japanese government continued to vacillate regarding how to treat Kagawa.  In 1943 they arrested him for being a pacifist then released him without filing charges.  Then, in March 1945, toward the end of the war, they appointed him the Chairman of the Wartime Relief Committee.

After World War II Kagawa became the civil servant in charge of social services programs.  Prime Minister Naruhiko Higaskikuni (in office August 16-October 8, 1945) told our saint:

Dr. Kagawa, Japan has been destroyed, not because we had not a sufficient, but because we had suffered the loss of a good standard of morality and engaged in war.  We need a new standard of ethics, like that of Jesus Christ.  Buddhism can never teach us to forgive our enemies; nor can Shintoism.  Only Jesus Christ was able to love his enemies.  Therefore, Dr. Kagawa, if Japan is to be revived, we need Jesus Christ as the basis of our national life.  I want you to help me put the love of Jesus Christ into the hearts of our people.

–Quoted in Orlo Strunk, Jr., In Faith and Love (Nashville, TN:  Graded Press, 1968), page 26

Kagawa eventually retired from that work.  His health failing, he spent his final year of life bedridden.  Our saint died in Tokyo on April 23, 1960.  He was 71 years old.

Kagawa was a patriot–one frequently at odds with his government, which kept him under surveillance, arrested him occasionally, and hired him from time to time.  He was a pacifist.  During much of his life the government was under the control of militarists who ordered atrocities–violations of human rights.  Kagawa was a labor activist.  During some of his years labor unions were illegal.  If he had never been at odds with his government, he would have been a hypocrite.

Kagawa was indeed a renewer of society and a prophetic witness.

I offer you, O reader, the germane propers from Episcopal and Lutheran sources.  All three collects apply well to Kagawa’s life and legacy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 16, 2017 COMMON ERA

PROPER 10:  THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALEN POSTEL, FOUNDER OF THE POOR DAUGHTERS OF MERCY

THE FEAST OF GEORGE ALFRED TAYLOR RYGH, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN MOORE WALKER, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA

THE FEAST OF THE RIGHTEOUS GENTILES

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We bless your Name, O God, for the witness of Toyohiko Kagawa, reformer and teacher,

who was persecuted for his pacifist principles and went on to lead a movement for democracy in Japan;

and we pray that you would strengthen and protect all who suffer for their fidelity to Jesus Christ;

who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Job 13:13-22

Psalm 140

Philippians 1:12-20

Luke 22:47-53

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 341

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O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served, and to give his life for the world.

Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

and rest to the weary,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

or 

Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.

Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression.

Help us, like your servant Toyohiko Kagawa, to work for justice among people and nations,

to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Daisies

Image Source = WiZZiK

1 (Frederick Denison Maurice, Anglican Priest and Theologian)

• Giuseppe Girotti, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1945
• John Gray, Scottish Presbyterian Minister, Mythologist, Biblical Scholar, and Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages
• Ludovico Pavoni, Roman Catholic Priest and Educator
• Syragius of Autun and Anarcharius of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; and Valery of Leucone and Eustace of Luxeuit, Roman Catholic Abbots

2 (James Lloyd Breck, “The Apostle of the Wilderness”)

• Carlo Carretto, Spiritual Writer
• John Payne and Cuthbert Mayne, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1582 and 1577
• Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
• Mykolai Charnetskyi, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Titular Bishop of Lebed, and Martyr, 1959
• Sidonius Apollinaris, Eustace of Lyon, and His Descendants, Roman Catholic Bishops

3 (Luther D. Reed, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Liturgist)

• Burgendofara and Sadalberga, Roman Catholic Abbesses, and Their Relatives
• Marc Sangnier, Founder of the Sillon Movement
• Mary of Egypt, Hermit and Penitent
• Reginald Heber, Anglican Bishop of Calcutta, and Hymn Writer
• Sidney Lovett, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Chaplain of Yale University

4 (Benedict the African, Franciscan Friar and Hermit)

• Alfred C. Marble, Jr., Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi then Assisting Bishop of North Carolina
• Ernest W. Shurtleff, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Gaetano Catanoso, Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (Missionaries of the Holy Face)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Civil Rights Leader, and Martyr, 1968 (also January 15)
• Ndue Serreqi, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954

5 (Emily Ayckbowm, Founder of the Community of the Sisters of the Church)

• Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, Roman Catholic Missionary and Educator in Brazil
• Pauline Sperry, Mathematician, Philanthropist, and Activist; and her brother, Willard Learoyd Sperry, Congregationalist Minister, Ethicist, Theologian, and Dean of Harvard Law School
• Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, U.S. Lutheran Renewer of Society
• William Derham, Anglican Priest and Scientist

6 (Marcellinus of Carthage, Roman Catholic Martyr, 413)

• Benjamin Hall Kennedy, Greek and Latin Scholar, Bible Translator, and Anglican Priest
• Daniel G. C. Wu, Chinese-American Episcopal Priest and Missionary
• Emil Brunner, Swiss Reformed Theologian
• Milner Ball, Presbyterian Minister, Law Professor, Witness for Civil Rights, Humanitarian
• Nokter Balbulus, Roman Catholic Monk

7 (Tikhon of Moscow, Russian Orthodox Patriach)

• André Trocmé, Magda Trocmé, and Daniel Trocmé, Righteous Gentiles
• George the Younger, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Mitylene
• Jay Thomas Stocking, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Montford Scott, Edmund Gennings, Henry Walpole, and Their Fellow Martyrs, 1591 and 1595
• Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury

8 (Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Patriarch of American Lutheranism; his great-grandson, William Augustus Muhlenberg, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, and Liturgical Pioneer; and his colleague, Anne Ayres, Founder of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion)

• Dionysius of Corinth, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Godfrey Diekmann, U.S. Roman Catholic Monk, Priest, Ecumenist, Theologian, and Liturgical Scholar
• Hugh of Rouen, Roman Catholic Bishop, Abbot, and Monk
• Julie Billiart, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame
• Timothy Lull, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Scholar, Theologian, and Ecumenist

9 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran Martyr, 1945

• Johann Cruger, German Lutheran Organist, Composer, and Hymnal Editor
• John Samuel Bewley Monsell, Anglican Priest and Poet; and Richard Mant, Anglican Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore
• Lydia Emilie Gruchy, First Female Minister in the United Church of Canada
• Mikael Agricola, Finnish Lutheran Liturgist, Bishop of Turku, and “Father of Finnish Literary Language”
• William Law, Anglican Priest, Mystic, and Spiritual Writer

10 (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Roman Catholic Priest, Scientist, and Theologian)

• Bademus, Persian Martyr, 376
• Bonifacy Zukowski, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942
• Fulbert of Chartres, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Henry Van Dyke, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Liturgist
• Howard Thurman, Protestant Theologian

11 (Heinrich Theobald Schenck, German Lutheran Pastor and Hymn Writer)

• Charles Stedman Newhall, U.S. Naturalist, Hymn Writer, and Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister
• George Augustus Selwyn, Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, Primate of New Zealand, and Bishop of Lichfield; Missionary
• George Zabelka, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Military Chaplain, and Advocate for Christian Nonviolence
• Henry Hallam Tweedy, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Symforian Ducki, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942

12 (Henry Sloane Coffin, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Translator; and his nephew, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Social Activist)

• Carl F. Price, U.S. Methodist Hymnologist and Composer
• David Uribe-Velasco, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927
• Julius I, Bishop of Rome
• Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Chilean Roman Catholic Nun
• Zeno of Verona, Bishop

13 (Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham)

• Henri Perrin, French Roman Catholic Worker Priest
• John Gloucester, First African-American Presbyterian Minister
• Lucy Craft Laney, African-American Presbyterian Educator and Civil Rights Activist
• Martin I, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 655; and Maximus the Confessor, Eastern Orthodox Monk, Abbot, and Martyr, 662
• Rolando Rivi, Roman Catholic Seminarian and Martyr, 1945

14 (Edward Thomas Demby and Henry Beard Delany, Episcopal Suffragan Bishops for Colored Work)

• Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilnius, Martyrs in Lithuania, 1347
• George Frederick Handel, Composer
• Lucien Botovasoa, Malagasy Roman Catholic Martyr, 1947
• Wandregisilus of Normandy, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Lambert of Lyons, Roman Catholic Abbot and Bishop
• Zenaida of Tarsus and her sister, Philonella of Tarsus; and Hermione of Ephesus; Unmercenary Physicians

15 (Olga of Kiev, Regent of Kievan Russia; Adalbert of Magdeburg, Roman Catholic Bishop; Adalbert of Prague, Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 997; and Benedict and Gaudentius of Pomerania, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 997)

• Damien and Marianne of Molokai, Workers Among Lepers
• Flavia Domitilla, Roman Christian Noblewoman; and Maro, Eutyches, and Victorinus of Rome, Priests and Martyrs, Circa 99
• Hunna of Alsace, the “Holy Washerwoman”

16 (Bernadette of Lourdes, Roman Catholic Visionary)

• Calvin Weiss Laufer, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymnodist
• Isabella Gilmore, Anglican Deaconess
• Mikel Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest, Friar, and Martyr, 1950
• Peter Williams Cassey, African-American Episcopal Deacon; and his wife, Annie Besant Cassey, African-American Episcopal Educator

17 (Daniel Sylvester Tuttle, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)

• Emily Cooper, Episcopal Deaconess
• Lucy Larcom, U.S. Academic, Journalist, Poet, Editor, and Hymn Writer
• Max Josef Metzger, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944
• Wilbur Kenneth Howard, Moderator of The United Church of Canada

18 (Roger Williams, Founder of Rhode Island; and Anne Hutchinson, Rebellious Puritan)

• Cornelia Connelly, Founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus
• Maria Anna Blondin, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne
• Mary C. Collins, U.S. Congregationalist Missionary and Minister
• Murin of Fahan, Laserian of Leighlin, Goban of Picardie, Foillan of Fosses, and Ultan of Peronne, Abbots; Fursey of Peronne and Blitharius of Seganne, Monks
• Roman Archutowski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1943

19 (Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1012)

• Emma of Lesum, Benefactor
• Olavus Petri, Swedish Lutheran Theologian, Historian, Liturgist, Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and “Father of Swedish Literature;” and his brother, Laurentius Petri, Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Bible Translator, and “Father of Swedish Hymnody”
• Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Anglican Organist and Composer

20 (Johannes Bugenhagen, German Lutheran Theologian, Minister, Liturgist, and “Pastor of the Reformation”)

• Amator of Auxerre and Germanus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; Mamertinus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Marcian of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Monk
• Chiara Bosatta, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence
• Christian X, King of Denmark and Iceland; and his brother, Haakon VII, King of Norway
• Marion MacDonald Kelleran, Episcopal Seminary Professor and Lay Leader
• Robert Seymour Bridges, Anglican Hymn Writer and Hymn Translator

21 (Roman Adame Rosales, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927)

• Conrad of Parzham, Capuchin Friar
• David Brainerd, American Congregationalist then Presbyterian Missionary and Minister
• George B. Caird, English Congregationalist then United Reformed Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Hymn Writer and Translator
• Georgia Harkness, U.S. Methodist Minister, Theologian, Ethicist, and Hymn Writer
• Simeon Barsabae, Bishop; and His Companions, Martyrs, 341

22 (Gene Britton, Episcopal Priest)

• Donald S. Armentrout, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Scholar
• Hadewijch of Brabert, Roman Catholic Mystic
• Kathe Kollwitz, German Lutheran Artist and Pacifist
• Ndoc Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1958
• Vitalis of Gaza, Monk, Hermit, and Martyr, Circa 625

23 (Toyohiko Kagawa, Renewer of Society and Prophetic Witness in Japan)

• Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, Italian Roman Catholic Nun
• Martin Rinckart, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
• Teresa Maria of the Cross, Founder of the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Florence
• Walter Russell Bowie, Episcopal Priest, Seminary Professor, and Hymn Writer

24 (Genocide Remembrance)

• Egbert of Lindisfarne, Roman Catholic Monk; and Adalbert of Egmont, Roman Catholic Missionary
• Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Capuchin Friar and Martyr, 1622
• Frank von Christierson, Finnish-American Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• Jakob Böhme, German Lutheran Mystic
• Johann Walter, “First Cantor of the Lutheran Church”
• Mellitus, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury

25 (MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68)

26 (William Cowper, Anglican Hymn Writer)

• Adelard of Corbie, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk and Abbot; and his protégé, Paschasius Radbertus, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Theologian
• Robert Hunt, First Anglican Chaplain at Jamestown, Virginia
• Ruth Byllesby, Episcopal Deaconess in Georgia
• Stanislaw Kubista, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940; and Wladyslaw Goral, Polish Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1945
• William Stringfellow, Episcopal Attorney, Theologian, and Social Activist

27 (George Washington Doane, Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey; and his son, William Croswell Doane, Episcopal Bishop of Albany; Hymn Writers)

• Antony and Theodosius of Kiev, Founders of Russian Orthodox Monasticism; Barlaam of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot; and Stephen of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot and Bishop
• Christina Rossetti, Poet and Religious Writer
• Remaclus of Maastricht, Theodore of Maastricht, Lambert of Maastricht, Hubert of Maastricht and Liege, and Floribert of Liege, Roman Catholic Bishops; Landrada of Munsterbilsen, Roman Catholic Abbess; and Otger of Utrecht, Plechelm of Guelderland, and Wiro, Roman Catholic Missionaries
• Zita of Tuscany, Worker of Charity

28 (Jaroslav Vajda, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer)

• Jozef Cebula, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941
• Louis de Montfort, Founder of the Company of Mary (the Montfort Missionaries) and Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom; and Marie-Louise Trichet, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom
• Pamphilius of Sulmona, Roman Catholic Bishop and Almsgiver
• Peter Chanel, Protomartyr of Oceania, 1841

29 (Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic Mystic and Religious)

• Bosa of York, John of Beverley, Wilfrid the Younger, and Acca of Hexham, Roman Catholic Bishops
• Hanna Helena Chrzanowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nurse
• James Edward Walsh, Roman Catholic Missionary Bishop and Political Prisoner in China
• Simon B. Parker, United Methodist Biblical Scholar
• Timothy Rees, Welsh Anglican Hymn Writer and Bishop of Llandaff

30 (James Montgomery, Anglican and Moravian Hymn Writer)

• Diet Eman; her fiancé, Hein Sietsma, Martyr, 1945; and his brother, Hendrik “Henk” Sietsma; Righteous Among the Nations
• Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, Founder of the Little House of Divine Providence
• James Russell Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer
• John Ross MacDuff and George Matheson, Scottish Presbyterian Ministers and Authors
• Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Poet, Author, Editor, and Prophetic Witness

 

Floating

• The Confession of Saint Martha of Bethany (the Sunday immediately prior to Palm Sunday; March 8-April 11)

 

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.

Above: Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio, 1601

Jesus = The Bread of Heaven and The Cup of Salvation

APRIL 23, 2023

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Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (New Revised Standard Version):

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the multitude, “Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 (New Revised Standard Version):

I love the LORD, because he has heard

my voice and my supplications.

Because he has inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me;

the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

I suffered distress and anguish.

Then I called on the name of the LORD;

“O LORD, I pray, save my life!”

What shall I return to the LORD

for all his bounty to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD,

I will pay my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his faithful ones.

O LORD, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

You have loosed my bonds.

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

and call on the name of the LORD.

I will pay my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people,

in the courts of the house of the LORD,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD!

1 Peter 1:17-23 (New Revised Standard Version):

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

Luke 24:13-35 (New Revised Standard Version):

That very day, the first day of the week, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Collect:

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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I grew up in a series of rural United Methodist congregations my father pastored in the South Georgia Annual Conference.  The celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion was usually quarterly, every three months, per the traditions of the congregations.  This did not sit well with me after a while, for my spirituality included a need for more frequent Communion.

Now I am an Episcopalian, and I take the Holy Eucharist once a week at least.  And for years I have helped administer this sacrament (one of seven), holding a chalice containing wine, offering it to someone who either sips from it or dips a wafer or peace of bread into it, and saying, “The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.”  I mean it; that is, in some way I cannot explain, the blood of Jesus in the chalice.  And the bread I just finished eating was his flesh, mysteriously.  If we are what we eat, the Holy Eucharist is a proper meal.  Why not partake of it frequently?

Each week I meet Jesus many times and in numerous ways.  One of them is through the breaking of bread and the drinking of a little wine.

KRT