Lenten Meditations: Saturday 28 March
| Sat Mar 28 |
m: 102, 108 pm: 33 |
Exodus 2:23-3:15 | 1 Cor 13:1-13 | Mark 9:14-29 |
FOURTH SATURDAY OF LENT – John Keble, Priest, and Scholar 1866
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: John Keble, born 1792, ordained Priest in 1816, tutor at Oxford University from 1818 to 1823. He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1831 to 1841, and from 1836 until his death thirty years later he was priest of a small parish in the village of Hursley near Winchester. On 14 July 1833, he preached the Assize Sermon at Oxford for the opening of the civil and criminal courts. His sermon was called “National Apostasy,” and denounced the Nation for turning away from God, and for regarding the Church as a mere institution of society, rather than as the prophetic voice of God, commissioned by Him to warn and instruct the people. The sermon was a nationwide sensation and is considered to be the beginning of the religious revival known as the Tractarian Movement or as the Oxford Movement.
The Tractarians emphasized the importance of the ministry and of the sacraments as God-given ordinances. The movement profoundly influenced the religious thinking, practice, and worship of large portions of Christendom. Their insistence, for example, that it was the normal practice for all Christians to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion every Sunday has influenced many Christians who would never call themselves Anglicans, let alone Tractarians.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: “What are the symptoms, by which one may judge most fairly, whether or not a nation, as such, is becoming alienated from God and Christ?” This is the essential question from John Keble from John Keble’s famous Assize sermon. It is not just a question of the 19th Century church as it is our question in the 21st Century as well. We, too, must ask “what are the symptoms that demonstrate that we are becoming alienated from God”? What is preventing us from taking on those values of the beatitudes that we hear about in the Gospel lesson today and making those value sour own. The Beatitudes are meant to shape and form our attitudes as that of Christ. like “be attitudes,” the way that Jesus wants us to be. As Keble suggested in his brilliant sermon then and as is true of us today, we have a choice to be more” than minimalists about our faith. The catholic faith in its fullness dares us to believe in the necessity of standing for the Truth that is Jesus Christ. To take on the vocation as the ones that will give their lives to Him. What is preventing us from that, personally and corporately?
. This is a perfect Lenten discipline, and worthy of our reflection this day.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant John Keble, we may accomplish with integrity and courage what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: ““God hath sworn to lift on high Who sinks himself by true humility.”– John Keble
Lenten Discipline – John Keble was truly a light to the church in some dark days, Think of the various “lights” in your life. Who most inspires you, comforts you, and challenges you? Jesus is the deepest light of all. Light a candle today and give thanks for all of the “lights” in your life by lighting a candle for them and giving a donation to relief work for persecuted Christians who seek to be a light to their world amidst great darkness.
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