Rule of St Benedict Reading for June 18, 2009

February 17, June 18, October 18

Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

Please remember, on our website in the files section there is a file called Commentaries on the RB written by Sister Joan Chittister, Abbott Philip Lawrence and Brother Jerome Leo. URL is in my sig.

Some thoughts

I love observing saints' days and the various feasts of the church year. Doing so reminds me that I already live in the Kingdom of God. It has been at hand since Jesus rose from the dead. Which I believe He did bodily, historically and literally. I digress.

I love also to learn of the Great Saints of Yore, canonized or not. Of course we Episcopalians of the USA don't canonize anyone and as far as I know the Church of England only canonized one person: King Charles I. The Roman Catholics have of course since forever and the eastern Orthodox also have their ways of remembering. Sorry I can't speak more coherently on the last point.

In the Lectionary in the BCP of TEC, we have a Saints' Days Lectionary with special Psalms and Scriptures to commemorate many of those who have gone before us. We are in the world but not of it. What we are of is the Kingdom of God. It is all around us. One of the theological ideas for a church is that when we enter, we also enter Heaven. The Christian life is one of tension: we have one foot on this earth, another in Heaven the Kingdom of God.

The RB really helps me bridge the two. What works for you?