Holy Day Devotions

A thread for devotional use during the Major Feasts: Scripture, meditations, thoughts, and prayers. Any special practices that you use during these times are also welcome: food, decorations for home altar, family prayer, or anything else that you find beneficial.

 

Collect for Holy Cross Day
September 14 (BCP p. 192)

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

 

Collect for Holy Cross Day, Sept. 14, BCP 1962 page 321:

O Blessed Saviour, who by thy cross and passion hast given life unto the world: Grant that we thy servants may be given grace to take up the cross and follow thee through life and death; whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit we worship and glorify, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"With the Epistle and Gospel of Passion Sunday, pg. 148, if desired.

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel: Matthew 20:20-28

I recommend praying the ante-Communion service after evening prayer tonight, if the rubrics allow it in your local BCP.

These two lessons are very beautiful to think about on this amazing day celebrating the instrument of Christ's death. Just think that we are all called by the Saviour, in Matthew 20, to do exactly what He did: temporarily leaving the appearance of glory and becoming a nobody, in order to minister to the human race (so far beneath His dignity) as if we were His masters! None are great among us except they become dirty in helping one another with the most menial tasks, out of love. None are truly virtuous in Christ unless we take up our cross and are crucified for love, and for righteousness' sake.

 

We have a local custom here for Holy Cross Day. A priest takes hot cross buns to a local university and offers them to anyone who stops by. Several Anglicans here bake them for this Feast, actually.

 

Adam, that's exactly the sort of thing I was wondering about last night, on the Eve of the feast. We often hear of "devotions" on different feasts in Roman Catholic churches, but does popular Anglicanism ever do such things? It'd be a fascinating historical inquiry...

 

I owe my life to Him who decided to die on a cross in my place!
It is full of wonder the cross to us Christians!

When He had drunk the wine mingled with myrrh and vinegar, He said, “It is finished.” For the mystery has been fulfilled. The things that are written have been accomplished. Sins are forgiven. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem)

 

Great idea for a thread!

Almost all of my private devotions for Major Feasts and otherwise center around my home altar. I find that having my own "official" place to pray, offer devotions, and worship really helps to keep me focused and deepens my experience.

For Major Feast days in particular, I like to offer up my prayers with incense, usually during Evening Prayer. With the incense still burning, I then like to spend time meditating on the particular feast day or on the life of the particular Saint being honored. Sometimes this meditation involves praying the Anglican Rosary, as the Rosary in an excellent aid and tool for meditation. Other times I just meditate in silence. One of the new activities that i've started to incorporate is watching an applicable Christian movie. I love watching movies detailing Bible stories and movies depicting the life of the Saints and the family enjoys it as well. My collection is very very small, so if anybody knows of some movies, feel free to send me a list of what's in your collections!!

I'm curious as to what others do on these special days. I'm especially curious as to any special decorations for your home altars on particular Feast Days or any special food or activities for these days?

 

One thing that I like to do on the eves of Feasts of Our Lord and other Major Feasts (BCP pp. 16-17) is to use the Service of Light to begin Evening Prayer. It's on page 109 of the BCP. Lighting candles & focusing on the Light of Christ is a wonderful way to begin Evening Prayer on special occasions. The theme of Light can change the tone of the prayer time. For Holy Cross Day, one could picture the Cross, shining, bringing light to the whole world.

 

Adam,
Refreshing thread!

Usually, the Saints are honored during the Thursday Chapel Service. We do have special services for Major Feasts.

I think you and Sean are way ahead of me in this area ( and probably a few other areas too). I haven't been doing anything special at home for the Major Feasts. Maybe I should consider it.

I'd love to hear more.

 

Quick "thank you" to Admin for changing the title (at my request) from Major Feast to Holy Day. There are a few days like Ash Wednesday that are not Feasts, and I want them to be included here too.

That is very cool!

More is definitely on the way. I guess I just recently realized that Anglicans have at least one Holy Day each month. Often, more than one. I always observe the special readings and collects, but I rarely have a chance to go to the weekday services. But I do want to learn more about the Holy Days and the devotional practices that surround them. They're a part of our heritage that really excites me. I love special days and their customs. Also, I'm the only Anglican in my family. I'd like to incorporate some of our culture and practices into my daily life, but I really don't have a significant frame of reference for these things. Learning new ideas from people here will be great.

I like to break the mundane routines of life. The liturgical calendar gives many opportunities to do so. In observing the Feasts, we honor God and praise him for specific acts that he has done. We also have a chance to feel connected to one another in common interests & celebrations.

 

Every Sunday is a great and holy day, for it is mystically Easter, the dawn of the new eighth day; thus, I break my water-only drinking regimen from the week, and drink milk with meals. I should start adding some honey as well, since Christ has taken us by the hand and led us into the true land of milk & honey, which is His interior life in the Father, the Holy, Blessed Trinity.

Music is the greatest celebration, to me, so on Holy-days & Sundays I listen to the Bach cantata(s) for the day. The great master wrote at least one that fits practically every Anglican holy-day. It's a treat because 90% of the Epistles and Gospels throughout the year are the same in the Lutheran Divine Service and the 1662 BCP. This means the "theme" of that day in the BCP is echoed in the Bach! All I have to do is find the cantata here in English, and follow along each movement. For example:

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity: Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz?, 1723. English words are under BWV 138.

Trinity XV: Was Gott tut, das ist wohl getan, c. 1727-1730. English words under BWV 99.

Trinity XV: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, 1730. English words under BWV 51.

You don't really need to follow the exact text of the German, just read the words in English to get the sense and mood. It really sets a special atmosphere on Holy-days.

 

Today is the Feast Day for Hildegard of Bingen, 1179, she was a visionary, mystic, composer, doctor, scientist, theologian, and much much more. A very fascinating life, for more info, visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

http://www.hildegard.org/

The lessons and readings:

http://www.lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Sep/Hildegard.html

For those who have and can stream Netflix, there is a movie based on Hildegard's life called "Vision." I highly recommend it!.

 

I wasn't aware that Anglican churches revered a papist saint. Probably just a TEC thing.

Naturally my only posts here will be for those holy-days which actually mean something to the full Christian church, like Sundays, the great days of the Liturgical Era, etc. Carry on with obscure Roman mystics, if you want...

 

It seems like we take two steps forward and then three steps backward Consular.

What you call an "obscure Roman mystic" is actually recognized by many religious and secular historians as being one of the most important female figures during that time period of the Medieval era.

I feel really sad that all you can see is an obscure mystic, when she was an excellent composer, poet, doctor, scientist, and much more. She is also honored in Lutheranism (gasp!!). If the "full Christian church" can't learn something from somebody like Hildegard, then I feel sorry for them.

I think Adam's purpose of this thread was to be ecumenical and non-controversial in nature. If you don't like some of the people recognized here, you don't always have to make a post announcing it.

 

The Lutheran Calendar didn't commemorate von Bingen before the last two hundred years, I can guarantee that. Addition upon addition will make a new religion, over time, if we're not careful. Just because it says "Anglican Holy-day" doesn't mean it actually is.

We will never walk hand-in-hand in the same direction at the same time; that's for sure, Sean! I believe Tractarianism is not of the true religion, and won't let some feminist icon (that's the only reason she's popular these days) overtake Christmas, Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost.

I will acquiesce in this subject and not argue further, anyway. For every commemoration of an imagined saint, there is a true holy-day for Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection!

Sorry for over-reacting a little, but honestly! A saint from the lowest papal tyranny of the high middle ages! Give us an Apostle! Thank goodness it's Matthew's day in a little while.

 

That's right. I asked that we change it from "Major Feasts" to "Holy Days," so that days like Ash Wednesday could be accommodated. There are also optional observations or "Lesser Feasts" that will vary by calendar and church province. Hildegard is one of those. Her day is authorized for observance in TEC, for those who choose to do so. I'm not knowledgable about the calendars of other Anglicans, so learning about similarities and differences will hopefully be a part of this thread! No one's calendar is superior or inferior.

Sundays are considered Feast Days, and there are obviously some days that we'll all share in common (like Christmas). Days like St. Matthew might be observed less commonly, someone like Hildegard perhaps less than that, and then the really obscure ones that I enjoy (like Ember Days ) even less frequently. But maybe here we can at least learn more about them. Perhaps we'll find something of spiritual benefit! In this thread, I'd really like to focus on prayer, devotion, customs, and learning. It can be spiritual, or informative, or fun - hopefully all three! If a certain day or observance isn't right for someone, there's no implication in this thread that they should change. We're just here to share our common spiritual culture and heritage. Some of us live in places where there aren't huge numbers of Anglicans, so this is a chance to exchange ideas & devotions for our Holy Days. This should be a thread where prayers and celebrations can be shared in peace.

 

I apologise, Adam.

 

Oh I'm not trying to lecture anybody, just wanted to clarify what was in my mind when I thought about the thread. I actually don't know much about Hildegard. But since the day is meaningful to some Anglicans, I now have a chance to learn about it. I have an entire year to decide if that day will be added to my own observation or not, but at least I'll be informed! And hopefully I'll be blessed by the links that were shared.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled Calendars...

 

I find this post to be hateful and a complete misrepresentation of the life of Hildegard, i'm not even going to try to argue it. Not only that, I think that this post goes against the entire intention of this thread. There are many many examples of living a good and Godly life that go beyond just the examples of the Apostles.

I must say i'm shocked that this thread is already turning into a RCC-papal bashing thread. I had no idea posting somebody like Hildebrand would get this type of reaction....sheesh! If you have a vendetta against an "oscure Roman mystic" is it worth derailing a good thread over?