St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, Regina, Saskatchewan
A weekly posting of our Sunday order of service
O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Matthew 14:13-21
LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8
This week’s sermon
A WORD FROM THE FATHERS
A hermit has persevered for thirty years. One day he said to himself, ‘I have now spent so many years here and I have had not vision and performed no miracle as did the Fathers who were monks before me’. And he was tempted to go back into the world. Then he was told, ‘What miracle do you want to perform that would be more extraordinary than the patience and courage God has given you and which allowed you to persevere for so long?’
From “The sayings of the Desert Fathers‘
O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving- kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Deuteronomy 8:7-18; Psalm 65; 2Corinthians 9:6-15; Luke 17:11-19
A WORD FROM THE FATHERS
“WE ought all of us always to give thanks to God for both the universal and the particular gifts of souls and body that He bestows upon us. The universal gift consists of the four elements and all that comes into being though them, as well as all marvelous works of God in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God has given to each individual. These include wealth, so that one can perform acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in need and undertake work worthy of God, sickness; so that one may earn the crown of patience; spiritual knowledge and strength, so that one may acquire virtue; weakness and ignorance, so that, turning one’s back on worldly things, one may be under obedience in stillness and humility; unsought loss of goods and possessions, so that one may deliberately seek to be saved and may be helped when incapable of shedding all one’s possessions or even of giving alms; ease and prosperity, so that one may voluntarily struggle and suffer to attain the virtues and thus become dispassionate and fit to save other souls, trials and hardship, so that those who cannot eradicate their own will may be saved in spite of themselves, and those capable of joyful endurance may attain perfection.”
(St. Peter of Damascus, 12th century spiritual writer)
O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-9; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10
A WORD FROM THE FATHERS
“To have faith is to die for Christ and for His commandments; to believe that His death brings life; to regard poverty as wealth, and lowliness and humiliation as true glory; to believe that by not possessing anything, one possesses everything.”
St. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022 A.D.)
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13
“All of this means that if we are seeking the truth of the world, the reason, logic, and integrity that underlie the world, we are in fact seeking the one in whom all things hold together, the one in whom we live and move and have our existence, the one by whom the universe came to be – Jesus Christ.”
Peter Bouteneff.
Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10
Faith originates in love; love in contemplation. It is impossible not to love Christ. If we saw Him now, we should not be able to take our eyes off Him, we should ‘listen to Him in rapture’: we should flock round Him as did the multitudes in the Gospels. All that is required of us is not to resist. We have only to yield to Him, to the contemplation of His image – in the Gospels, in the Saints, in the Church – and He will take possession of our hearts.
Alexander Elchaninov.
O GOD Most High, who didst endue with wonderful virtue and grace the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we, who now call her blessed, may be made very members of the heavenly family of him who was pleased to be called the first-born among many brethren; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
LET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Hebrews 12:8-29; Luke 13:10-17
O GOD, whose never-failing providence orders all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah 1:1,10-20; Psalm 50:1-8,23-24; Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16; Luke 12:32-40
LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9,43; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21