Author: Fr. Alban Waggener

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Reflections on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity

On the final Sundays of the Trinity Season, the Church has traditionally looked at the coming new liturgical year as an annual time of repentance; and hence the theme of our Collect:

O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences: that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ‘s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour: who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end.  Amen. Continue reading “Reflections on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity”

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Reflections on the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity

We have been focused on our walk during these weeks of Trinity season – on the believer’s pattern of life, how he conducts himself.  The pattern for our life is not contained in a written code of precepts & rules covering every possible contingency of life, but in a walk.  It is a walk patterned on the life of the Lord Jesus, and, as St. Paul states here, on the lives of His Saints: those who embody the sanctity of life which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “BRETHREN: Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.” Continue reading “Reflections on the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity”

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Reflections on All Saints

“Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Heb 12:1

The Saints are a living part of our life in the mystical Body of Christ.  They are integral members of the Church, some of whom, as I often put it, have merely changed their address in the Kingdom. Continue reading “Reflections on All Saints”

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Reflections on the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

“that we, being ready both in body and soul; may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done.”

The Church takes care to remind us that our eternal destiny is the matter of greatest importance; to hold before us the necessity of readiness to give our solemn account before the dread judgment seat of Christ; to impress us with the great value of being peacefully and penitently ready to make our last and most important journey. We are to take the business of dying seriously; to be “deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of human Iife”.  Continue reading “Reflections on the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity”

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Reflections On the Wrath of God

Now that Inquirers classes have begun again in earnest at my parish, one of the most frequent questions I am posed is “what is the wrath of God”?  As I consider Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon to be a modern-day Father of the Church, I will let him answer here with some quotes from his excellent book Christ in the Psalms.  (I am convinced that Fr. Patrick has a photographic memory, and that he never sleeps.) These are from his comments on Psalms 5 and 6.  I have included his concluding thoughts on Psalm 6, which deal with sin, death and Satan – all enemies of our souls and bodies. And ending on a note of faith and hope. Continue reading “Reflections On the Wrath of God”

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Reflections on Pilgrimage to Holy Britain (and Iceland) – Part 4

Having arrived late Friday afternoon, we were shuttled from the Keflavik airport (about 30 miles from Reykjavik) to the bus station and schlepped our luggage about a mile and a half to our hostel, looking forward to heading out Saturday morning on the “Classic Golden Circle Tour”, an 8-hour guided bus tour.  Even got to practice my Welsh with a Welsh woman at the bus stop! – she said my pronunciation was excellent- a elli di’i gredu?) First stop was at the largest lake in Iceland – Thingvallavatn. Continue reading “Reflections on Pilgrimage to Holy Britain (and Iceland) – Part 4”

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Reflections on Pilgrimage to Holy Britain (and Iceland) – Part 2

Rising above the river Wear is Durham Cathedral (a World Heritage site and according to Bill Bryson, “the best cathedral on planet earth”).  On our last trip to England in 2005, we trained up to Durham, but in order to make our other commitments and schedules, it left only an hour and a half to see the Cathedral.  We weren’t going to make the same miscalculation this time!  As soon as we plunked down our bags, we headed for the cathedral and venerated the relics of St. Bede in the Galilee Chapel (and were allowed to offer very quiet prayers) and then venerated the relics of St. Cuthbert (and likely the head of St. Oswald and possibly relics of St. Aidan) in the shrine behind the High Altar – silence paramount – no vocal prayers allowed. Continue reading “Reflections on Pilgrimage to Holy Britain (and Iceland) – Part 2”