The Tenth Sunday after Trinity

 

News of the Order and commentary appear after the Proper Collect, Epistle and Gospel

 

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity

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.

Destruction of Jerusalem

They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.   Athanasius on the Destruction of Jerusalem from his Book, Incarnation of the Word

 BULLETIN

  calendar   Florence Nightingale, Nurse to Combatants - August 13 Ursakios, Tribune, Martyr -- August 14 [286-305] Andrew Stratilatus, Martyr -- August 19 [286-305]     news

 

A Tribune of the Order sent me a copy of a note to his comrade and the men in Afghanistan with the term Duty, Honor, Country. It made me mindful of the speech by General Douglas MacArthur when he received an award at West Point Military Academy in his twilight years. This speech is counted amongst the best 100 speeches of America, and is refreshing for any centurion who holds these virtues as important to read. One might wonder about the absences of "God" in the title. Although not there, MacArthur calls upon God to embolden the men to whom he spoke. Here are some quotations from the speech. We are reminded in these word of our centurions of yesteryear and today who stand in the breach.

The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training -- sacrifice.

In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain him...

You may hear the speech, which is regarded as one of the best 100 speeches in American history at the link above.. might do for a devotional this Sunday.

 

commentary  

This week on the calendar we see Florence Nightingale, not a soldier, but in every since served as do our modern female nurses in uniform, and brought to the suffering of innumerable men a measure of mercy and care through her personal service, and much more through her organization. I offer here a salute to the nurses and caretakers of our forces who champion Florence Nightingale. I was reminded of such recently in a trip to Washington, DC, where a memorial to service nurses stands.

 

 

I commend The Ode to Andrew and his Men at the link above. Andrew the Roman General, as a "Great Martyr", is highly esteemed along with the Apostles in the Eastern Church.

 

The scriptures featured this week, I have found, are not from the Traditional Western Liturgy, but were changed in the United States in 1928. Next year we will endeavor to return to the traditional lessons. Here is quotation from Athanasius from his book, Incarnation of the Word written in about 400AD. In Luke, our Lord foretold the fall of Jerusalem in military terms, and that it would be leveled. Then, 40 years later, Titus of Rome plowed the city level.

 

For it is a sign, and an important proof, of the coming of the Word of God, that Jerusalem no longer stands, nor is any prophet raised up nor vision revealed to them,—and that very naturally… For what more is there for him whom they expect to do, when he is come? To call the heathen? But they are called already. To make prophecy, and king, and vision to cease? This too has already come to pass. To expose the godlessness of idolatry? It is already exposed and condemned. Or to destroy death? He is already destroyed… What then has not come to pass, that the Christ must do? What is left unfulfilled…

 

Read the entire chapter at the link above.

 

IHSV

msc