Recently as I have been out and about, the people in stores and other such places say to me after I make my purchases “have a good one.” Now I consider myself and educated person but I cannot for the life of me figure out what that means. Have a good one what? What ever happened to have a nice day, or come back soon? No we have to be hip and trendy and say have a good one. Maybe during the final blessing after liturgy tomorrow I will just turn to the people and say “Hey, have a good one!”
St. Kentigern
(Or MUNGO)
Bishop, founder of the See of Glasgow, b. about 518; d. at Glasgow, 13 January, 603. His mother Thenaw was daughter of a British prince, Lothus (from whom the province of Lothian was called); his father’s name is unknown. According to Jocelyn’s life of Kentigern, the saint was born at Culross in Fife, and brought up until manhood by St. Serf (or Servanus) at his monastery there; but Skene shows that this connection between the two saints involves an anachronism, as St. Serf really belongs to the following century. At the age of twenty-five we find Kentigern (the name means “head chief”, but he was popularly known as Mungo — in Cymric, Mwyn-gu, or “dear one”), beginning his missionary labours at Cathures, on the Clyde, the site of modern Glasgow. The Christian King of Strathclyde, Roderick Hael, welcomed the saint, and procured his consecration as bishop, which took place about 540. For some thirteen years he laboured in the district, living a most austere life in a cell at the confluence of the Clyde and the Molendinar, and making many converts by his holy example and his preaching. A large community grew up around him, became known as “Clasgu” (meaning the “dear family”) and ultimately grew into the town and city of Glasgow.
Bishop, founder of the See of Glasgow, b. about 518; d. at Glasgow, 13 January, 603. His mother Thenaw was daughter of a British prince, Lothus (from whom the province of Lothian was called); his father’s name is unknown. According to Jocelyn’s life of Kentigern, the saint was born at Culross in Fife, and brought up until manhood by St. Serf (or Servanus) at his monastery there; but Skene shows that this connection between the two saints involves an anachronism, as St. Serf really belongs to the following century. At the age of twenty-five we find Kentigern (the name means “head chief”, but he was popularly known as Mungo — in Cymric, Mwyn-gu, or “dear one”), beginning his missionary labours at Cathures, on the Clyde, the site of modern Glasgow. The Christian King of Strathclyde, Roderick Hael, welcomed the saint, and procured his consecration as bishop, which took place about 540. For some thirteen years he laboured in the district, living a most austere life in a cell at the confluence of the Clyde and the Molendinar, and making many converts by his holy example and his preaching. A large community grew up around him, became known as “Clasgu” (meaning the “dear family”) and ultimately grew into the town and city of Glasgow.
About 553 a strong anti-Christian movement in Strathclyde compelled Kentigern to leave the district, and he retired to Wales, staying for a time with St. David at Menevia, and afterwards founding a large monastery at Llanelwy, now St. Asaph’s, of which he appointed the holy monk Asaph superior in succession to himself. In 573 the battle of Arthuret secured the triumph of the Christian cause in Cumbria, and Kentigern, at the earnest appeal of King Roderick, returned thither, accompanied by many of his Welsh disciples. For eight years he fixed his see at Hoddam in Dumfriesshire, evangelizing thence the districts of Galloway and Cumberland. About 581 he finally returned to Glasgow, and here, a year or two later, he was visited by St. Columba, who was at that time labouring in Strathtay. The two saints embraced, held long converse, and exchanged their pastoral staves.
Kentigern was buried on the spot where now stands the beautiful cathedral dedicated in his honour. His remains are said still to rest in the crypt. His festival is kept throughout Scotland on 13 January. The Bollandists have printed a special mass for this feast, dating from the thirteenth century.
Spring (?) Cleaning
Today I began the process of cleaning out the old stuff. It is amazing how much “stuff” one can accumulate in such a short period of time. I have been here for less than three years but I have amased a lifetimes worth of stuff.
So I started by going through the files. It’s funny that I saved the stuff that I did. When in seminary I had this view that the notes that I took in class would be nugetts of wisdom ala Thomas Merton. I saved all of my notes in order to refer back to them when theological questions came up in the parish. Today was the first day I looked at most of that “stuff” since I placed it in the file cabinet. It is kind of nice to look at the pile that will make its way to the recycle place and out of here.
So that’s one room, only three more to go!
Blog nominations
Okay, not being one that’s wants to heap praise on oneself, if you might be of the mind to do something like this you could nominate this blog at the following site. It would seem that the best fit for this blog would be under the “topical” category. Thanks for reading.
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I guess this can go along with my new coat of arms!
Heat
In my last post there was frost on the ground now today, at not yet 9am, it is 60 degrees out and the temp will be going up. What do we call this Indian Winter? Very strange weather we have been having this year.
Frost
This morning as I was heading up to the church to retrieve my vestments I snapped a few photos of the frost around the church grounds. Now, I am not a great photographer and I am not sure I captured the essence of the frost but here you go.
Sunday After the Nativity
Galatians 1:11-19
Matthew 2:13-23
We deal with many things in the Gospel passage appointed for this Sunday after the Nativity. We first find the Holy Family still in Bethlehem. The Wise Men have come and gone, left their gifts and I am sure Joseph was trying to figure out what to do with his new family. The he has a dream to take the child and his mother and flee. He is to go to Egypt and remain there until the Lord sends for him to let him know it is safe to come back. You see Herod is out to get the child as he perceives that he is a threat to him and his kingdom. The Gospel says he arose and took the child and his mother and left.
What kind of faith must Joseph have had to be able to do this. Think about it. Your an old man (well old in those days) and you are engaged to this young beautiful girl from your village. You go away for a few days, and when you come back she has this fantastic story about how she got “in the family way”. You don’t believe her. Would you? This is an amazing tale and you are trying to deal with it all. So you are going to do the right thing and quietly send her away when in dream an angel comes to you and says not so fast this is all part of the plan. Mary is carrying a child of the Holy Spirit. Okay so that makes life better right. All cleared up we can get back to normal now. Now the Scriptures do not say what happened in the house of Joseph but I can only imagine. I mean God choose these two for a reason, but they still must have had a few good moments of discussion. To bad Dr. Phil was not around in those days!
Now you have to shlep your little family miles away to be counted and while there your wife goes into labor, or as much labor as Mary had anyway (read previous post on Mary’s labor pains) and you try and find her a place but the place is packed. So you find a cave and lay he down in the hay and she gives birth to a son. Okay pretty normal so far right? Then some strange guys show up and gives you gifts. Sorry to say at this moment I have the movie Life of Brian running in my head.
So they leave their gifts and you think this is pretty good after all it is Christmas! Then just when you think all is going to be okay, you have this dream and you have to move to a place you have never been and where you know no one. What does Joseph do? He takes his family and moves on. What faith this man must have had.
He had no reason to believe Mary. No one would have blamed him if he sent her away. Joseph gets short changed in the Scriptures but I think there is much we can learn from him. Joseph like any step parent, takes on a responsibility that is not his to begin with. He takes the child and makes him his own. Teaches him a trade, takes him to the temple, and teaches him how to be a man.
Tradition tells us that St. Joseph died when Jesus still young. Scripture does not mention this fact and after the finding of Jesus in the Temple we never hear of Joseph again. He fades into the background and does his job of raising Jesus to be the man he was. We owe a great debt of gratitude to St. Joseph, and for that matter all step parents, for doing the job that they do in some of the most difficult situations.
Faith is the moral of this story. The faith of St. Joseph. Let us pray that we have that kind of faith.
Happy New Year!
Saddam
All over the news today have been reports of the pending execution of Saddam. I have very mixed feels about his execution. What good will it serve to execute him? How will his execution make the life of Iraqi’s better? Will it make things worse for our troops there? Will it make things worse for us here at home? Is there a way that we could just keep him in prison for the rest of his life and not execute him? As Christians should we not look to forgive him and preserve his life. Do we not believe in the sanctity of life from conception to it’s natural end?
Many things to think and pray about.
Romanians Celebrate St. Stephen’s Day
From Nine O’clock thanks to Floyd Frantz for the link.
In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia there have been as many as 17 rulers with this name, the most famous of whom is Stephen the Great.
BUCHAREST – The first major celebration dedicated to a religious personality after the Nativity is, in Christian Orthodox calendars, Saint Stephen’s Day. The information we have on him originates in the New Testament, the book titled the Acts of the Apostles. St. Stephen is known as one of the first seven deacons, probably a Hellenistic Jew. The mission he had received from the Twelve Apostles consisted in social activities, such as taking care of the old, the poor, or widows, and preaching the acts and teachings of Jesus. He was seen as more educated than most fellow citizens and with very strong faith, which triggered the envy of Jewish religious leaders.Because of a famous sermon in which he defended Christianity and accused the Jews of having murdered Jesus, Saint Stephen is seized by Jewish authorities and stoned to death, to thus become the first Christian Martyr. One of the most important witnesses of this murder was none other than Saint Apostle Paul, who was one of St. Stephen’s accusers, as the event took place before Paul’s conversion to Christianity.The cult of Saint Stephen developed spectacularly only in the 5th Century, when his grave was found by priest Lucian in Caphar Gamala, in 415. His remains were taken to Constantinople and then to Rome, along with the stones by which he had reportedly been killed. In UK alone, 46 very old churches are dedicated to St. Stephen, and are seen as historic monuments of inestimable value. In art, Saint Stephen has been a favourite subject, with perhaps the most important representation by Jean Fouquet, dating since the early Renaissance, currently kept in Berlin. The Vatican can also boast an extraordinary collection of religious paintings by Fra Angelico.In the West, Saint Stephen is celebrated one day earlier, on December 26, while in UK the feast of Stephen is held on August 3, when the holy remains were found.Over the centuries, numerous sovereigns and personalities were given this name. The Serbs have had as many as four kings named Stephen, the first of them, Stefan Dusan, seen as the founder of the Serbian feudal state. The most important historic personality of Hungary is King Stephen (975-1038), celebrated as a national hero. He is one of the series of five Hungarian kings with this name. In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia there have been as many as 17 rulers with this name, the most famous of whom is Stephen the Great, venerated and acknowledged as a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church.
BUCHAREST – The first major celebration dedicated to a religious personality after the Nativity is, in Christian Orthodox calendars, Saint Stephen’s Day. The information we have on him originates in the New Testament, the book titled the Acts of the Apostles. St. Stephen is known as one of the first seven deacons, probably a Hellenistic Jew. The mission he had received from the Twelve Apostles consisted in social activities, such as taking care of the old, the poor, or widows, and preaching the acts and teachings of Jesus. He was seen as more educated than most fellow citizens and with very strong faith, which triggered the envy of Jewish religious leaders.Because of a famous sermon in which he defended Christianity and accused the Jews of having murdered Jesus, Saint Stephen is seized by Jewish authorities and stoned to death, to thus become the first Christian Martyr. One of the most important witnesses of this murder was none other than Saint Apostle Paul, who was one of St. Stephen’s accusers, as the event took place before Paul’s conversion to Christianity.The cult of Saint Stephen developed spectacularly only in the 5th Century, when his grave was found by priest Lucian in Caphar Gamala, in 415. His remains were taken to Constantinople and then to Rome, along with the stones by which he had reportedly been killed. In UK alone, 46 very old churches are dedicated to St. Stephen, and are seen as historic monuments of inestimable value. In art, Saint Stephen has been a favourite subject, with perhaps the most important representation by Jean Fouquet, dating since the early Renaissance, currently kept in Berlin. The Vatican can also boast an extraordinary collection of religious paintings by Fra Angelico.In the West, Saint Stephen is celebrated one day earlier, on December 26, while in UK the feast of Stephen is held on August 3, when the holy remains were found.Over the centuries, numerous sovereigns and personalities were given this name. The Serbs have had as many as four kings named Stephen, the first of them, Stefan Dusan, seen as the founder of the Serbian feudal state. The most important historic personality of Hungary is King Stephen (975-1038), celebrated as a national hero. He is one of the series of five Hungarian kings with this name. In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia there have been as many as 17 rulers with this name, the most famous of whom is Stephen the Great, venerated and acknowledged as a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church.