|
|
Associates’
Day
29
September 2007
St Michael & All Angels
First
Lesson Genesis 28:10-17;
Gospel:
St John 1:47-51 |
 For those
of you whom I haven’t yet met, may I introduce myself
- Michael Duff, the new vicar of St Jude’s
church, just round the corner. So although it’s
not my place to welcome you to this Associates day, it’s
my delight to welcome you to the parish of St Jude’s!
How kind of the sisters to organise for me on my first visit
to this House that it should be St Michael and All Angels
- I feel most honoured! Naturally I have always had a warm
feeling towards my own patron saint. . . My son bought me
one of those mugs which has your name on and the meaning
underneath and it says: “Michael - One who is like
God: you’ve either got it or you haven’t . .
. “
Actually,
my connection with St Michael & All Angels goes further
back. It was the dedication of my school chapel which had
a series of splendid paintings down the walls of the nave
with Angels doing various things, but despite studying Latin
there for 5 years I still never managed to decipher the
squiggly gold script which would presumably have told me
who each angel was and what they were doing. There was an
angel, I remember, sitting amongst the lions with Daniel.
I think there might have been an angel accompanying Tobit.
I’m sure there was an angel with a flaming sword accompanying
Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. And there was definitely
Gabriel bringing his good news to the shepherds with his
heavenly backing band.
These
seem to have been the primary functions of angels in both
the Old and New Testament.
Protection
- Daniel, and Peter in Prison
Guidance
- Tobit on his journey and Paul on ship to Rome
Ministry
- Elijah and our Lord both in the Wilderness
Messages
from God
>
of Judgement - Adam & Eve, Sodom & Gomorrah, Balaam
etc
>
and Hope - Abraham + Sarah & Mary
And of
course worship - Isaiah, the glory of God & the Shepherds.
Of course
in these scientific days, it is much harder for us to take
seriously the idea that there are non-visible personalities
wandering round the world doing God’s jobs for Him.
I have to confess that I find it hard to take myself seriously
when I pray for God’s holy angels to stand guard around
the corners of my children’s beds each night. On the
other hand, if we still believe in the God, the creator
of the world who sent His Son, our Lord Jesus, and who raised
Him from the dead to be our Redeemer - how will he not,
as St Paul says, along with Him give us all things - including
physical protection, guidance, ministry and His word - when
we need them most.
This
has been an interesting, and perhaps not unexpected, aspect
of my work as a missionary out in Indonesia where I have
been for the last 5 years - where our personal network of
support of family and friends has been hugely reduced and
at times absent. We found ourselves as a family depending
very much more on God than we might have done in England.
More to the point, we found ourselves turning to God in
prayer very much more quickly when we were in trouble -
I suppose because the other places we might have turned
to were no longer there so the point of “last resort”
was with us much sooner.
Although
we can’t ourselves tell any stories of mysterious
strangers who suddenly appeared out of thin air, and then
mysteriously dis-appeared again - we can tell of stories
where exactly the right person or exactly the right document
turning up at exactly the right moment when we were at our
wits ends. And surrounded by other mission-aries who were
in greater danger than ourselves, stories of angelic assistance
were less extraordinary.
There
is a classic story, which you may already have heard, of
a missionary who was I think in Thailand, and she was travelling
down a particularly dangerous road through bandit country.
At the same time her prayer team had gathered back in the
UK and they suddenly felt a great urgency to pray desperately
for her safety; and they wrote to tell her of the fact she
had been in their prayers, but she knew of no particular
reason for it. Sometime later, she was visiting in a prison
and she met a brigand and he said to her: We’ve met
before”. She said, “No, I don’t think
so” He said, “Yes, we have. I know, a few months
ago you were travelling on such-and-such a road and I and
my band of brigands were hiding behind some rocks about
to leap out and mug you and take away your possessions and
then we saw the bodyguard of 12 huge guys that you had got
with you, so we let you go on your way and waited for the
next group of people”. She said, “I was travelling
along that route 2 or 3 months ago but I certainly didn’t
have a bodyguard, I was travelling alone.” “Don’t
be ridiculous - I saw them, they were huge”. Reflecting
on it later, the missionary realised that that incident
had happened at exactly the same time that her prayer team
had reported to her their urgent summons to prayer. God
had sent her protection at the critical moment.
These
things don’t just happen abroad. A friend of mine,
who is a doctor, tells of a time when he was a child at
Lee Abbey, that is the Community in Devon, he and his family
were on a Youth Camp which had tents spread out all around.
If you know the place, the House is built up on a rise,
and the road goes down through some grassy fields and then
it drops down over a cliff and below that there are some
houses. And a number of people who were on that camp remember
looking up and seeing a tractor driver driving to the gate,
opening the gate, and making to get back into the tractor
and then the tractor started to move, and the tractor started
to trundle down this path towards this camp of all these
tents and then the cliff below. And a number of people saw
the driver in the tractor struggling to keep the tractor
on the road as it wound its way through the tents and miraculously
no-one was hurt and then the tractor got to the lip of the
cliff at which point the driver leapt to safety and the
tractor went over the lip and a woman who had been in her
car had at that moment walked back into her chalet, as the
tractor landed on her car. Well, there was great praise
to God that no-one was hurt. The strange thing was, the
tractor driver himself, the real tractor driver, was still
standing up at the gate. Again, somehow God had brought
protection to a crowd of people in an extra-ordinary way.
Our readings today remind us however of several other important
aspects of his angelic ministry.
Firstly,
and most importantly, we shouldn’t get side-tracked
into unhealthy attention to angels and demons. The angels
that Jacob saw were ascending and descending the ladder
which was raised up to the throne of God, to heaven, where
the Lord Himself was standing; lifting the eye up to the
Lord. I’ve always liked the explanation of this strange
passage of Jesus’ meeting with Nathaniel, that Nathaniel
must have been reading this very passage when he had been
sitting under the fig tree, and so when Jesus calls him
a true Israelite in whom there is no guile, unlike Jacob
who was dreaming of the ladder, and whose name means guile,
Nathaniel made the connection with the fig tree where he
was reading this passage and was astonished at the knowledge
of this man. Hence also the reference of our Lord to the
ladder raised up to heaven. The interest is not in the angels
but in the fact that there is now a new ladder - that is
Jesus - a new way through to the Throne of Grace.
The
second thing to note is that in both passages, Jacob and
Nathaniel are immediately themselves drawn into a response.
They too, like the angels are drawn to worship - and they
will be commissioned to protect, minister, guide and to
bring God’s word to others.
The job of God’s angels is also the job of us, God’s
people. May we be ready to ascend to heaven in worship,
and to descend to earth with the messages we have received,
ready to protect, to minister and to guide where God gives
us opportunity.
So let’s
not get side-tracked with angels but rather let’s
be encouraged by their example and give ourselves to the
tasks which we share with them - grateful that when we need
it most, God will find ways (human and angelic) of supporting
us in our extremity’.
Lord Jesus
Heavenly
Father. You await us at the throne of Grace.
Thank
you for the new ladder which you have raised up from earth
to heaven.
By the
power of the Spirit, we enter your presence through the
life, death and resurrection of your Son our Lord.
We come
in humility to worship.
We come
in attentiveness to hear your word
We come
in readiness to be sent.
Send
us out in the power of your Spirit, to care for the bride
of your Son,
and to
live and work to your praise and glory. Amen
|
| |
Associates
Day - April 2007
Celebrant: Rev Dr John Preston
Easter 3: Reading 1: Acts 9:31-42;
Gospel: John 6:60-69 |
|
With
apologies for the delay in putting this Address on the
website:
In Jesus’ earthly life there were many times when
he faced hostility. Of course there were the other times
when the crowds clamoured around him and couldn’t
get enough of what he had to say. Jesus who was both wholly
human and wholly divine seems to have had a need for friendship
just as you and I have. And I suppose it is a part of
the charism of the Sisters of Bethany and of being an
Associate of that Community that we set before our eyes
the scene of the House of Bethany where, when he was in
Jerusalem, Jesus used to stay. A House where he found
friendship and hospitality. And where we set in our own
hearts the desire to make ourselves, our own lives, and
our hopes, places where that friendship and hospitality
exist. Friendship is something about which we don’t
talk very much. Jesus called together the 12, who were
the people whom he called ‘friends’ and who
shared in his ministry and among them he had a closer
group - St Peter, St James, and St John whom he invited
to be with him at times when he needed human support as
in the Garden of Gethsemane. We have, as it were, committed
ourselves to being friends of Jesus in our ordinary lives.
In the 12th century, St Aeldred, the Cistercian Abbot
of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, wrote at some length about Friendship
and he suggested at one point that it would be possible
to think of the Statement “God is Love” as
meaning, “God is Friendship”. And I think
there is a sense in which as Christians we are called
to offer Friendship. It is not something you can have
at a deep level with everybody. You have to decide who
it is that you can trust, who you can open your heart
to. You have to be sure that they will respect and honour
the confidences shared. Friendships will sometimes go
wrong. There will be hurts, and even betrayals. In our
reading of the Gospels over the last few weeks we have
been thinking of the way of Jesus’ friendship with
Peter involved his denial and the renewal of that friendship
with Jesus after the resurrection. So as we are called
to be Friends of Jesus, we are called to find friends
in others and to offer friendship too, as a way of showing
that respect that we have for the dignity of each other
as people who are infinitely precious in God’s eyes.
It seems that Jesus found Hospitality in that House at
Bethany, an openness that enabled Him to be at Home. Here
was a situation where, after his sometimes difficult times
in Jerusalem, he could come back, and as it were, “take
his shoes off” in the peace of that Home.
And simple hospitality is something that we can offer.
If we can aim to offer hospitality to Jesus in our hearts;
then hospitality to people who perhaps are lonely, perhaps
are in need of someone to give them that welcome, is something
which I think we really ought to keep in mind. It need
not be an elaborate dinner party, but the simple hospitality
which you can offer to anyone. Perhaps that’s what
Jesus is saying to Martha when He tells her that she is
concerned with so many things, perhaps she is cooking
too many dishes where one would have done. If we are open
with our homes, our hearts, then we can bring Jesus, to
other people. It is a very powerful image of the life
of the House of Bethany.
The Society of the Sisters of Bethany brings together
both the contemplative life, a life of prayer and gazing
upon God and the active life, a life of serving God’s
people. And we all know of course that those two, active
and contemplative, are really opposite sides of the same
coin. You can’t separate one from the other. Contemplation,
the simple sitting at the Lord’s feet in rapt attention,
the sitting at the foot of one of the least of His brethren,
brothers or sisters, who are welcomed in his name, the
caring for people.
I recently read a suggestion that we can think of work
as love ‘incarnate’. I rather like that description.
The work that we put into offering hospitality is a way
of making love a reality.
So to draw these thoughts together, I think we are reminded
as part of the whole charism of the Community, and being
an Associate, of those values of Friendship and Hospitality,
both given and received, of making ourselves and our homes
places where the Lord can be welcomed and entertained
as we welcome and entertain others. Friendship and Hospitality
towards Jesus Himself is first in our lives, listening
to him and serving him.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit.
|
Address
given by Dom Timothy Bavin OSB, Alton Abbey
on Associates’ Day - Saturday 30th September 2006
Readings:
For St Jerome
Epistle: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Gospel: Matthew 13:47-52
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
The
Parable of the Dragnet is the last in a Chapter of Parables
recorded by St Matthew; it begins with the parable of
the Sower, goes on to the Wheat and the Tares, then the
Mustard Seed, then the Leaven in the Dough, followed by
the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price.
Each of them is portraying some truth about the Kingdom
of Heaven.
This one of the Dragnet, together with the Parable of
the Wheat and the Tares, is concerned with Judgement.
Making it clear that in this world we cannot know who
does, and who does not, belong to the Kingdom of God and
that Judgement is alone the responsibility and right of
God and his Angels. Which is very tire-some for those
of us who like to be tidy-minded and organised. Who like
to label and categorise, and classify and describe and
know who is one of us and who is not; nice people - like
us, - and . . . them! And the Church is no less guilty
than the general society in wanting this kind of clarity,
of knowing who belongs and who does not belong; who is
saved and who is not. But even the Church has no right
to pre-empt the Judgement of God and just as the Wheat
has to battle against the weeds in its growth so do the
Fish in the Sea; the good fish have to share it with those
who are categorised later as ‘bad’. That would
have been a Parable easily understood and resonated with
Simon Peter and the other disciples who were called away
to be Fishers of Men and it can resonate with us too if
we exercise a little imagination.
Here
I want to indulge in a little bit of folly in suggesting
that the creatures of the Sea are not altogether without
their types on land. There are those who look at you with
the baleful stare of a cod; people are gregarious like
sardines; wily like lobsters; grasping like octopi; they
may be obscure as a squid surrounded by its ink; precious
like oysters with pearl; or as silent as a clam; or crusty
as a barnacle; or slithery as an eel; perky like a sea-horse;
smiling like a dolphin; steadfast like limpets; smoking
like kippers; obese like a whale and so on. A lot of nonsense,
yes, but there is a serious point, that in the Sea of
this World there is an infinite variety and we often as
individuals find ourselves, forgive the pun, often at
sea not knowing quite who is who and whether we and they
are ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
We
live in a Society that is increasingly unsympathetic to
the Christian way; the influence of other Faiths, the
secularisation of the Western world; the loss of identity
and ideals of those organ-isations which were founded
as Christian - hospitals and schools and so on, by the
Church; the widespread disregard of the Church now and
the lack of recognition even of Clergy. I heard the other
day of a priest who was called to see a patient at a hospital
who was denied access to the ward and told to come back
at visiting hours. And so this kind of unsympathetic atmosphere
in which we live makes it really quite difficult to be
a disciple and to be steadfast in our faith. It can be
lonely, not only within the Community, Society, and the
Work-place, but even within our own family. Lonely there,
of course, if one lives alone. How does one witness to
Christ on one’s own?
At
least if one is in the Ministry, or a member of a Religious
Community, there is some safeguard against that kind of
isolation, the habit, and the Community living, clerical
dress, the title, all give us an identity and make it
in some ways easier for us to be wit-nesses to the Gospel,
but, it also limits us in our availability to places where
we can’t really reach. There are many places, schools,
work-places and so on, where Clergy are not welcome.
In the street they are often the object of derision if
not of avoidance; and you go into a crowded saloon bar
wearing a clerical collar and it will fall silent and
you’ll hear somebody muttering, “Watch your
language lads, it’s the vicar” as they try
to hide their cigarettes behind their backs - assuming
it’s a smoking pub! I did actually have some experience
of that when I was a fairly young Curate at Sussex, the
local publican’s wife used to worship at the Church
at which I was in charge and her daughter sang in the
choir and I occasionally used to go into her pub for a
beer and a sandwich, until one day after the Service she
sidled up to me and said, “I don’t quite know
how to say this to you but I wonder if you’d mind
not coming to the Pub at lunchtime because my regulars
don’t like it”. I think that probably says
more about me, it says more about me than about them,
but it made the point that there are places where we Clergy
are out of place and not acceptable - But, you who are
Lay have enormous opportunities and responsibilities because
you are and can be in those places which we with collars
and habits cannot reach. But I make the point again it
is difficult to be on your own and it can feel very isolated
to be a soul-bearer of the Gospel in any kind of context.
Which
is why together with membership of your own Parish and
Congregation, membership of this family is so important
to you. You belong to an extended Community and here you
derive some security, some stability, some continuity;
you know that here in this House the Sisters meet several
times a day in this Chapel and live their Life of Prayer.
They care for you as you care for them; they wear you
on their hearts before God and when you are in that wider
world, in that context away from religion you are not
alone because you are part of this family. So cherish
and thank God for your Associateship here; walk in integrity
holding on to the Grace of God, founding your life upon
that Scripture which we were reminded in the first reading
is fundamental to all believers, Christians, and remember
the promise of our Lord who says: “I am with
you always even till the end of time”. So you
are not alone, and my parting words are to you my piscine
friends “To go on, swimming in faith until such
time as you are drawn out of the Sea of this World and,
pray God, assigned to the Basket in the Heavens.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
|
Dr
Pusey letters to Mother Foundress
1 / 2 , a
Prayer + Life
|
Address
given by Rev Mark Steadman
on Associates’ Day - Saturday 17 September 2005
Memorial of E B Pusey, Priest
In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
I was
slightly alarmed when Sister told me that today we would commemorate
Dr Pusey, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. I was rather
fearful that I was asked to preach to you because my style of
preaching resembled Pusey’s about which a contemporary
wrote he had “none of what we may call the arts and accomplishments
of preaching”, “instead of facing an audience, he
kept his eyes fixed down and sustained an unvarying note throughout
a long period of delivery.”
So whilst
I cannot claim the scholarship that underpinned Pusey’s
preaching, I hope at least I shall be slightly easier to listen
to. I am, however, intrigued by what Pusey can teach us today.
We probably all have a view of the fathers of the Oxford Movement,
Keble, Newman, Pusey, Mason Neale, Bishop King and so on, as
these passionately austere men who inspired a return to the
historic roots of the Church of England - we might see them
as great champions of what we refer to as the high church tradition,
the securing of candles, vestments, incense, the commixing of
the chalice or indeed the restoration of the Eucharist as the
principle act of the worship of the church. And whilst undoubtedly
some of these points are terribly important - not least the
place of the Eucharist - the others are really somewhat superfluous
and are simply outward manifestations pointing towards something
more important.
Interestingly,
what lies at the heart of Pusey’s passion is not ritual
or high church flim flam, but is rather about catholicity about
an attentiveness to the divine and to learning that helps to
inspire a
profound spirituality. This deep rooted spirituality founded
on the Eucharist and supported through the pattern of regular
prayer and study - particularly of the Fathers, is what is important
for Pusey, for it is this that points towards the catholic goal
- holiness.
“Holiness is made for all” he wrote in one of his
sermons. “It is the end for which we were made, for which
we were redeemed”.
This is what truly lies at the heart of the Oxford Movement
and particularly in the work and witness of Pusey, a call through
the outward ministry of the Church to come and recover personal
and corporate holiness. For after all God “made us to
be like him and what is this but to be holy?”
And
this calling to holiness is the dangerous road each of us needs
to tread, to relish and to try to embrace. We might try to dismiss
holiness as being the province of the religious professional,
the priest, the nun, the monk. Yet holiness of life is part
of our baptismal vocation, it is about sharing in the life of
God. “It is certainly a mistake to think that holiness
consists in great or extraordinary things beyond the reach of
ordinary people.”“Holiness does not consist in doing
uncommon things, but in doing common things uncommonly well”
The
discovery and development of holiness can be about following
one’s rule of life more closely, devoting proper time
each day in prayer, about preparing for and going regularly
to the Mass, about being more diligent in seeking out our neighbour
and serving them. This call to follow Christ, seeking to do
his will and being his holy people is God’s desire for
us. It is one of the ways his presence is known in the world
and his love revealed. Yes God makes himself known through weak
vessels like me and like you. For ‘He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
before him in love.’
In the
sacraments of the Church, particularly when we are fed and sustained
with the gift of Christ himself at his table, we are reminded
and recalled to this vocation of holiness. The church should
not be a battle ground of politicking, it is not a place for
triumphal proclamation of my definition of the truth to the
detriment of everyone else - rather it is a place where through
prayer, devotion and the sacraments we can come together to
hear scripture read and expounded, to understand the tradition
that we inherit, attend on the presence of Christ in our midst
and to be open to the promptings of the Spirit as we receive
and proclaim the truth of God’s love.
Each
of us is called in our own way to be recipients of the command
of Jesus to Peter to “feed my sheep”, we need to
be aware that Baptism confers on us that common ministry to
labour in the vineyard. And yet, unless we too are those who
are fed and sustained by the Eternal Shepherd, who receive the
ministry of others and whose lives are built on holiness we
will not have anything with which to feed our brothers and sisters
in the Lord.
This
call to holiness and to share that holiness with others is about
being rooted and grounded in Christ, about our human nature
participating in the dance of the divine nature. And yet our
being in Christ our sharing in holiness this is more than the
kind of relationship of a rich uncle taking an interest in the
fortunes of a poor nephew. At the centre of being in Christ,
of being holy is Gods gracious activity, the movement of incarnation
and love
He
deigns in flesh to appear, (wrote Charles Wesley)
Widest extremes to join;
To bring our baseness near,
And make us all divine:
And we the life of God shall know
For God is manifest below.
At
the heart of being ‘in Christ’ of being holy is
transformation. We are, as it were, taken from the environment
of failure and sin, into a new state of being where Christ is
victor and the energy of forgiveness replaces endless cycles
of recrimination and guilt.
This
is the catholic vision of the church, the vision glorious that
Pusey and his fellow tractarians offer to us today, a proclamation
of holiness that is dangerous and life giving, which calls us
to come and be transformed by the self giving love of God, to
come and be fed and nourished at his table, to come and share
his life with the world.
Through
the life we share in this foretaste of the banquet of heaven,
through the common rule of this community with which we are
associated, by the grace of God which has been poured into our
hearts let us pray for the boldness and courage to he God’s
holy people and let us continue to be transformed into his likeness.
Amen.
Top of Page
|
Letter from Dr. Pusey
to Mother Foundress concerning Recollection
My dear Daughter in
Christ,
On inward matters I
should think the great remedy would be to aim to do all, even
little things, writing a letter, conversing, in God.
There is nothing which
may not be done in God.
Hurry tends to cause
things to be done out of Him, and to imply that they cannot be
done in Him. I mean to hurry over things as if they were a hindrance
to what is right.
The frame of mind to
be cherished is to be either Martha or Mary, as it may be, doing
things to Christ or listening to Him. And so there would be no
barrier from one to the other, whereas if there is hurry you are
doing things out of Him.
Then there is that
difficulty you speak of, of returning to Him. The history you
have sketched of yourself suggests its own remedy.
1. Be convinced, or
believe on authority, that no outward thing need separate between
you and God.
2. Aim to do every,
the least, thing as well as you can, not giving longer time to
it than it’s worth, or than is necessary, yet still in whatever
time you give to it, aiming to do it as God’s will, and
to God.
3. Hurry over nothing,
if you can help it, so as to be yourself hurried. If you have
to do a thing quickly or to run, yet aim to do it calmly, collect
yourself before, or in, doing. Bustle is not speed but hinders
it. Abraham made haste to prepare food for the Angel, yet you
will not doubt, calmly!
4. Aim in the spare
minutes or intervals of occupation to collect yourself in God.
5. If you find you
have been out of God, return quickly and
6. Let nothing distract
inward peace, but go quickly and as a child to your Father.
7. If tempted not to return to prayer from an interruption pray
God for help, and pray some brief prayer instantly.
8. If you cannot pray
as you feel you ought, pray to God to enable you to pray, and
pray as you can. (Prayers amid distraction are as you know, often
the most acceptable.)
9. Whatever you fear,
pray against it and for perseverance. Every fear is a call of
God to cleave closer to Him.
10. If you fear slipping back pray God to draw you on.
Try the rules you have
made, only recollect that they imply, if perfect, a life beyond
your present attainments, what you are aiming at, not what you
are; and so, be not cast down at failure. Take it for granted
you will fail, and whereinsoever you succeed, it is God’s
mercy and grace. With this caution they may be safe; only let
nothing make you lose courage,
“Be careful for
nothing.”
God bless you ever,
In Him your very affectionate friend,
EBP
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Top of Page
Extract from a letter from Dr. Pusey to
Mother Foundress
concerning our motto.
In Quietness and Confidence
shall be your strength.
I see now why Mr. Vaux
(Chaplain SS.B.) put your motto Silentium et Spes: for the Vulgate
has for In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. In
Silentio et in Spe erit fortitude vestra.
I think the idea is
of a hushed silence as waiting for God to speak for us: as in
the psalms – I became as a man that heareth not; in whose
mouth are no reproofs. For in Thee is my trust: Thou shalt hear,
Oh Lord my God.
Still I don’t
think that the meaning would strike anyone who did not know whence
the motto arose. And you see, physical silence being one of the
practices of a religious house, it appears to me to lay too much
stress on that.
I should like, if Mr.
Vaux did not mind, if you would put the motto in full,
In Silentio et in Spe erit fortitude vestra
in one of the rooms:
perhaps in the Community Room: and then it would help perhaps
to give the meaning in the other cases; or better still, if you
explain the sense in which Silentium is used, for I do not think
it would be obvious.
I do not
think it exists in the word, any more than it does in the English
word silence; while I do think that it does exist in the mind
of the sentence, from the thought of being silent that God in
our behalf may, as our Advocate and Pleader, stop our foes.
Top of Page
A Prayer of Dr. Pusey
Good
Jesu, fountain of love:
fill me with thy love,
absorb me into thy love,
compass me with thy love,
that I may see all things in the light of thy love,
receive all things as tokens of thy love,
speak of all things in words breathing of thy love,
win through thy love others to thy love,
be kindled, day by day, with a new glow of thy love,
until I be fitted to enter into thine everlasting love,
to adore thy love and love to adore thee,
my God and my all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesu!
Top of Page
EDWARD
BOUVERIE PUSEY 1800 –
1882
1800, September 14th He was baptized in the parish church All
Saints’, Pusey.
1812 – 1817 He went to Eton.
1819 entered Christ Church Oxford.
1822 graduated with first class degree
1823 elected Fellow of Oriel College,
Oxford where John Henry Newman was already a Fellow and John Keble
a Tutor.
1825-7 travels in Germany made him a competent
Semitic scholar and an authority on German Protestant theology.
1827 returned to Oriel College.
1828 June 1st – ordained deacon at Christ Church, Oxford.
June 12th married Maria Catherine Barker. At St. Mary’s,
Bryanstone Square, London.
Nov. 13th - appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew
Nov 23rd ordained priest in Cuddesdon Parish Church.
Dec. 9th installed as Canon of Christ Church.
1829 January 12th moved with his wife, into Christ Church which
was was to be his home for the next 50 years.
Spent 8 years completing a catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts
in the Bodleian library.
1829 July 17th, Pusey’s first child Lucy Maria Bouverie
was born at Christ Church.
1832 The first Reform Act was passed by Parliament. Pamphlets
were published attacking the Book of Common Prayer,
recommending the abolition of the Creeds in public worship, denying
the doctrines of the Trinity and Baptismal rebirth.
1833 The Irish Church Temporalities Bill was introduced
to Parliament aiming to suppress one half of the Church of Ireland
Bishops since the greater part of the population was Roman Catholic.
Newman and Keble considered this to be gross interference by the
State with the affairs of the Church.
1833 July 14th John Keble preached his Assize Sermon on
National Apostasy before the University of Oxford in S.Mary’s,
Church which marked the beginning of the Oxford Movement.
1833 September 9th The first Tracts for the Times, written by
Newman and published anonymously, appeared - “Tracts intended
to bring to the notice of the clergy and educated laity the real
nature of the Church, and to maintain pure and inviolate the doctrines,
services and discipline of the Church”.
The first Tract Pusey wrote was Number 18 “Thoughts on the
benefits of Fasting enjoined in our Church”, published on
December 21st, 1833.
1835 Pusey published Tracts 67, 68, 69 concerning Baptism –
“Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism”
Pusey set out to persuade the chapter of Christ Church to make
some improvements for the incumbents in poor benefices, and for
the spiritual provision for the masses in the great cities. He
himself made an anonymous donation of £5,000 necessitating
drastic cuts in his domestic economy.
1835 November 12th. He formed a Theological Society for the study
of the Scriptures and Christian Antiquity –
Newman and Keble being committee members with him. For the rest
of his life he promoted sound theological education.
1836 The newly appointed Regius Professor of Divinity Dr.
Hampden and Dr. Arnold (Headmaster of Rugby) launched a
bitter attack on the Tractarians asserting they
were “idolaters, conspirators, obscure fanatics and worse
than Roman Catholics”.
1836 Pusey initiated the Library of the Fathers in
which various scholars were to provide translations into English
of the writings of the early Church Fathers. Pusey’s
first contribution was the Confessions of S. Augustine.
48 volumes of The Library of the Fathers were published during
a period of over 47 years and it had nearly 1800 subscribers.
The project was a strong influence on the Oxford Movement.
1837 saw increasing attacks and accusations of
the Tractarians of leading the Church of England back to Popery
1839 May 26th his wife, Maria died after years of ill-health
1841 June 4th Pusey’s eldest daughter Lucy was confirmed
St. Mary’s Oxford and identified herself with her father’s
desire to restore the Religious Life in the Church of England..
The family made a visit to Ireland, partly for Pusey to get some
ideas about the Religious Life by seeing some Roman Catholic Sisterhoods
at work. The pain of disunity afflicted him all his life.
1843 May 14th Pusey preached before the University at Christ Church
“The Holy Eucharist, a Comfort to the Penitent”, in
which he argued that neglect of the Sacrament had led to corruption
and worldliness. The sermon caused hostility, which was surprising
in that he did not go against Anglican doctrine. The outcome of
the enquiry called for by the Vice-chancellor of the university
was that Pusey was suspended from preaching within the University
for 2 years.
1843 September 18th Newman resigned from the Anglican Church.
Keble was sad, but Pusey who had never entertained
any doubts about the position of the Church of England as an authentic
branch of the Catholic Church was devastated.
1844 April 22nd Lucy, whose health had always been delicate, and
whom Pusey had hoped would take and active part in the revival
of the Religious Life within the Church of England, died.
Etheldreda (future Mother Foundress SS.B.) had become very friendly
with Lucy – the two families were well know to each other.
Etheldreda received a small black notebook which belonged to Lucy.
It is inscribed on the fly-leaf: Etheldreda A. Benett, Feast of
S. Gregory the Great 1844 – it was a farewell gift from
Lucy herself and contains the inscription Lucy Maria B. Pusey
With the tender love and blessing of her affectionate father,
Feast of the Ever Blessed Trinity 1841. Etheldreda also possessed
other books and pamphlets being gifts from Dr. Pusey.
Following Lucy’s death Etheldreda appears as a well-beloved
“God-daughter” under Pusey’s close spiritual
direction and strong influence. He wrote many letters to her dealing
with spiritual matters and questions.
Pusey began translating French spiritual classics which he hoped
might help towards deepening the spiritual life of the church.
A Guide for passing Lent holily : J.B.E.Avrillon (1652-1729)
The Foundation of the Spiritual life : Jean Joseph Surin S.J.
(1600-1665)
1845 October 31st Newman was Confirmed into the Roman Catholic
Church. Pusey sees Newman’s departure as the means of bringing
Rome and Canterbury closer together.
“As each, by God’s grace, grows in holiness, each
Church will recognise, more and more, the presence of
God’s Holy Spirit in the other; and what now hinders the
union of the Western Church will fall off”.
Pusey had to face the storm caused by Newman’s secession,
and justify the position of the Tractarians in the face of Newman’s
desertion of them.
Anglican Sisterhoods
Pusey felt it was his
daughter Lucy’s special vocation beyond the grave to pray
for the revival of the Religious Life within the Church of England
1841 June 5th Miss
Marion Hughes took a vow of celibacy under the direction of Pusey
and she later became a Superior of the Convent of the Holy Trinity,
Oxford. Etheldreda is also thought to have taken a vow of celibacy
under Dr.
Pusey. Pusey began drawing up a rule for an Anglican Sisterhood.
1845 March 26th. A convent was started near Regent’s Park
with Pusey as spiritual director of the Sisterhood. The stated
object was “to afford opportunities for persons apart from
the world and its distractions to perfect holiness in the fear
of God, and to grow in the love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, especially by cherishing and showing forth love to Him
in His poor and afflicted brethren”.
It was not long before other Sisterhoods were to follow in other
parts of the country. Pusey was also instrumental in the revival
of the first men’s community in the Church of England since
the Reformation. Richard Meux Benson who founded the Society of
S. John the Evangelist at Cowley, Oxford, in 1865, had attended
Pusey’s lectures in Oxford and was much influenced by him.
1851 The Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor was
started in Margaret Street, London, under Etheldreda’s friend
Harriet Brownlow Byron. Etheldreda became an “out-Sister”
until her family circumstances permitted her entry.
1864 January 8th Etheldreda entered the Society of All Saints
to begin her training as a Novice.
1866 October 4th Etheldreda was Professed as Sister of the All
Saints’ Community and on the very next day left, with the
blessing of the All Saints’ Sisters, to found her own Society
of Bethany in Clerkenwell
1865 It was Pusey’s great hope that Newman would be a means
of working from the other side for reconciliation between Rome
and Canterbury – but Newman never saw it that way.
Pusey wrote a volume – The Church of England, a Portion
of Christ’s One Holy Catholic Church, and a Means of restoring
Visible Unity - An Eirenicon. Later called the First Eirenicon.
He travelled in France meeting with various Bishops who received
him favourably including the Archbishop of Paris.
1866 March - Keble died of a stroke at the age of 74 – Pusey’s
grief was “past words”.
1869 Lent Pusey published his second Eirenicon – an explanation
and analysis of The Doctrine of the ImmaculateConception of the
Ever Blessed Theotokos.
1870 The third Eirenicon concerned Is Heathful Reunion possible?
This co-incided with the first Vatican Council in which the decree
concerning papal infallibility was promulgated.
1870-3 Pusey was involved in a controversy concerning the Athanasian
Creed and making its use in public worship optional. He wrote
to the Archbishop of Canterbury his thought of “abandoning
the fight for the Church of England if it were to drop the Athanasian
Creed”. “It would not be the same Church for which
I have fought hitherto.” – “I have fought the
battle for the Faith for more than half my life. I have tried
to rally people to the Church when other hearts failed”.
1873 The controversy was finally settled to retain the use of
the Creed unmutilated.
1874 The Archbishop of Canterbury introduced a Bill in Parliament
to “put down Ritualism”. Needless to say Pusey stood
behind the persecuted clergy and did all he could to help. Similarly
when the question of sacramental confession received publicity
and hysterical criticism. He published a work of Advice for those
who exercise the Ministry of Reconciliation through Confession
and Absolution.
1880 By his eightieth year Pusey was no longer so active in public
events, but took great notice of matters affecting the Church
and gave advice and encouragement to all who came to him.
1882
September 16th Pusey died, his last words being those of St Thomas,
“My Lord and my God”.
September 18th Mother Foundress attended Dr Pusey’s funeral
held on September 21st at Christ Church, Oxford.
Top
of Page
|
|
