Today the church remembers Brigid (Bride), 523.
Born out of wedlock on a sunny morning, Brigid's life and work brought light out of the darkness of early medieval Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. She grew up a milkmaid and cowherd in bondage to the Druids. So many apocryphal fancies have been used to embellish her life story that it is impossible to reconstruct an accurate biography. She was converted to Christianity and she did found a religious order which was mixed, men and women, after the fashion of the Celtic Church. Like Hilda of Whitby she served as abbess of this order in Kildare. Tradition has it that she was consecrated bishop in order to serve in this capacity. Such consecrations of females were not unheard of among the Celtic Christians of the British Isles.
She was renowned for her virtue, piety, and charity and came to be so loved and honored among the Gaelic people that she was called "Mary of the Gael." Churches were named for her throughout the British Isles before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons and the Roman Catholic missionaries. A medieval hagiography of Lismore idealized her, saying, "She was abstinent, she was innocent, she was prayerful, she was patient, she was glad in God's commandments, she was firm, she was humble, she was forgiving"she was a Temple of God. Her heart and mind were a Throne of Rest for the Holy Ghost."
May we, like Brigid, build up our bodies and our minds as temples for the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and we give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Insipire us with life and light, and give us perserverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigit_of_Kildar
Monday, February 1, 2016
Daily Readings for February 1, 2016
Genesis 19:1-29
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the square." But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them." Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." But they replied, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city-- bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city." But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed." And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there-- is it not a little one?-- and my life will be saved!" He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Hebrews 11:1-12
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God." And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
John 6:27-40
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."
Morning Psalms
Psalm 56 Miserere mei, Deus
1 Have mercy on me, O God, for my enemies are hounding me; all day long they assault and oppress me.
2 They hound me all the day long; truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
3 Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they damage my cause; their only thought is to do me evil.
6 They band together; they lie in wait; they spy upon my footsteps; because they seek my life.
7 Shall they escape despite their wickedness? O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.
8 You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; are they not recorded in your book?
9 Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight; this I know, for God is on my side.
10 In God the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can mortals do to me?
11 I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
12 For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
Psalm 57 Miserere mei, Deus
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, for I have taken refuge in you; in the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.
2 I will call upon the Most High God, the God who maintains my cause.
3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will confound those who trample upon me; God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.
4 I lie in the midst of lions that devour the people; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.
5 They have laid a net for my feet, and I am bowed low; they have dug a pit before me, but have fallen into it themselves.
6 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
7 My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and make melody.
8 Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.
9 I will confess you among the peoples, O LORD; I will sing praise to you among the nations.
10 For your loving-kindness is greater than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
Psalm 58 Si vere utique
1 Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? do you judge the peoples with equity?
2 No; you devise evil in your hearts, and your hands deal out violence in the land.
3 The wicked are perverse from the womb; liars go astray from their birth.
4 They are as venomous as a serpent, they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,
5 Which does not heed the voice of the charmer, no matter how skillful his charming.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouths; pull the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them vanish like water that runs off; let them wither like trodden grass.
8 Let them be like the snail that melts away, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
9 Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.
10 The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And they will say, "Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; surely, there is a God who rules in the earth."
Evening Psalms
Psalm 64 Exaudi, Deus
1 Hear my voice, O God, when I complain; protect my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the mob of evildoers.
3 They sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their bitter words like arrows,
4 That they may shoot down the blameless from ambush; they shoot without warning and are not afraid.
5 They hold fast to their evil course; they plan how they may hide their snares.
6 They say, "Who will see us? who will find out our crimes? we have thought out a perfect plot."
7 The human mind and heart are a mystery; but God will loose an arrow at them, and suddenly they will be wounded.
8 He will make them trip over their tongues, and all who see them will shake their heads.
9 Everyone will stand in awe and declare God's deeds; they will recognize his works.
10 The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and put their trust in him, and all who are true of heart will glory.
Psalm 65 Te decet hymnus
1 You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.
2 To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come, because of their transgressions.
3 Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.
4 Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there! they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness of your temple.
5 Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
6 You make fast the mountains by your power; they are girded about with might.
7 You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
8 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; the river of God is full of water.
10 You prepare the grain, for so you provide for the earth.
11 You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.
12 You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.
13 May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, and the hills be clothed with joy.
14 May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; let them shout for joy and sing.
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the square." But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them." Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." But they replied, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city-- bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city." But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed." And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there-- is it not a little one?-- and my life will be saved!" He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Hebrews 11:1-12
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God." And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
John 6:27-40
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."
Morning Psalms
Psalm 56 Miserere mei, Deus
1 Have mercy on me, O God, for my enemies are hounding me; all day long they assault and oppress me.
2 They hound me all the day long; truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
3 Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they damage my cause; their only thought is to do me evil.
6 They band together; they lie in wait; they spy upon my footsteps; because they seek my life.
7 Shall they escape despite their wickedness? O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.
8 You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; are they not recorded in your book?
9 Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight; this I know, for God is on my side.
10 In God the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can mortals do to me?
11 I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
12 For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
Psalm 57 Miserere mei, Deus
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, for I have taken refuge in you; in the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.
2 I will call upon the Most High God, the God who maintains my cause.
3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will confound those who trample upon me; God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.
4 I lie in the midst of lions that devour the people; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.
5 They have laid a net for my feet, and I am bowed low; they have dug a pit before me, but have fallen into it themselves.
6 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
7 My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and make melody.
8 Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.
9 I will confess you among the peoples, O LORD; I will sing praise to you among the nations.
10 For your loving-kindness is greater than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
Psalm 58 Si vere utique
1 Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? do you judge the peoples with equity?
2 No; you devise evil in your hearts, and your hands deal out violence in the land.
3 The wicked are perverse from the womb; liars go astray from their birth.
4 They are as venomous as a serpent, they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,
5 Which does not heed the voice of the charmer, no matter how skillful his charming.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouths; pull the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them vanish like water that runs off; let them wither like trodden grass.
8 Let them be like the snail that melts away, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
9 Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.
10 The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And they will say, "Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; surely, there is a God who rules in the earth."
Evening Psalms
Psalm 64 Exaudi, Deus
1 Hear my voice, O God, when I complain; protect my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the mob of evildoers.
3 They sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their bitter words like arrows,
4 That they may shoot down the blameless from ambush; they shoot without warning and are not afraid.
5 They hold fast to their evil course; they plan how they may hide their snares.
6 They say, "Who will see us? who will find out our crimes? we have thought out a perfect plot."
7 The human mind and heart are a mystery; but God will loose an arrow at them, and suddenly they will be wounded.
8 He will make them trip over their tongues, and all who see them will shake their heads.
9 Everyone will stand in awe and declare God's deeds; they will recognize his works.
10 The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and put their trust in him, and all who are true of heart will glory.
Psalm 65 Te decet hymnus
1 You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.
2 To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come, because of their transgressions.
3 Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.
4 Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there! they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness of your temple.
5 Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
6 You make fast the mountains by your power; they are girded about with might.
7 You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
8 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; the river of God is full of water.
10 You prepare the grain, for so you provide for the earth.
11 You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.
12 You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.
13 May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, and the hills be clothed with joy.
14 May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; let them shout for joy and sing.
Meditation for February 1, 2016
John 6:34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, the devil Screwtape tries to encourage his nephew Wormwood to capture a human soul for Satan. When the demons in hell threaten to tear Wormwood apart and devour him, Wormwood appeals to Screwtape’s affection for him. Screwtape replies, “I think they will give you to me now, or a bit of you. Love you? Why yes. As dainty a morsel as ever I grew fat on.”
The idea that sin perverts all good things into evil, including love, pervades Christian writing and gives me the willies. It is creepy, the ease with which love for a child could become something grasping and demanding, how quickly spouses can come to use each other instead of loving each other, how we can easily, even unconsciously, exploit the poverty of people whom Christ enjoins us to love and serve. It can feel like every human action has the potential to devour someone.
I take comfort in the power of grace to clean up the mess. Through compassion and prayer, Christ infuses himself into the system that sin conspires to corrupt.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, the devil Screwtape tries to encourage his nephew Wormwood to capture a human soul for Satan. When the demons in hell threaten to tear Wormwood apart and devour him, Wormwood appeals to Screwtape’s affection for him. Screwtape replies, “I think they will give you to me now, or a bit of you. Love you? Why yes. As dainty a morsel as ever I grew fat on.”
The idea that sin perverts all good things into evil, including love, pervades Christian writing and gives me the willies. It is creepy, the ease with which love for a child could become something grasping and demanding, how quickly spouses can come to use each other instead of loving each other, how we can easily, even unconsciously, exploit the poverty of people whom Christ enjoins us to love and serve. It can feel like every human action has the potential to devour someone.
I take comfort in the power of grace to clean up the mess. Through compassion and prayer, Christ infuses himself into the system that sin conspires to corrupt.
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