17th Sunday after Trininty

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

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Augustine on Psalm 80
Trinity 17 Home

LORD, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Bishop Gregory [595]. "Prevent" meaning to come before from the verb prevenient. This calls to my mind Patrick's Breastplate Christ behind me, Christ before me... and Psalm 139 Thou hast beset me before and behind...

Psalm 80, Ephesians iv. 1   &   St. Luke xiv. 1
Homily - Psalm lxxx by Augustin

Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

 

BULLETIN

 

"Prayer is a great weapon, a rich treasure, a wealth that is never

exhausted, an undisturbed refuge, a cause of tranquility, the root of a

 multitude of blessings, and their source."

 John Chrysostom [Thanks to Alan of the UK ]

 

calendar

 

  Peter Muhlenburg, Pastor, Soldier, Statesman - October 1st

Roman, Soldier, Othordox Monk - October 2nd

Francis, Knight, Religious - October 4th

 

 

commentary

 

As we begin a new year for the Order, we will move from homilies on the proper epistle and Gospel, to a study of the Psalms. We will focus mainly on the work of Augustine, and move through every psalm. These will be covered on the Sunday in which appointed according to our Psalms for Sundays schedule when possible and convenient; hence I'll be changing the appointed psalms on our Lectionary as we progress through the year, and posting Augustin's expositions from his book. This will likely take three years to complete with 150 psalms (and Psalm 119 being so long, but it will be well worth the time I believe for the Order to enter into a serious consideration of the Psalms and Augustine's perspective. We remember that the Psalms were the hymns of the Jewish church and the early Christian church, and were so for all Christians down through the ages until these latter days. A beloved centurion sometimes bemoaned the change we see in the modern church with what he termed 7-11 music... seven words sung eleven times to rock and roll. I am thankful that in our tradition psalms are a part, and an important part, of every service and office. This 1^st Sunday of our Oder's new year we will begin with Psalm lxxx

 

I call your attention to a new centurion on our calendar: General  Peter Muhlenburg  -- Muhlenburg fought for America in her Revolutionary War and was a German Dragoon while attending college and seminary in Germany in his younger days The link to the painting on this page is most rewarding!  

 

 Salve

msc

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

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

 The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Extract of a Book of Ambrose touching on the Gospel Story

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.

Source of Collect - Bishop Gelasius' Sacramentary [494AD].One is reminded of Psalm 51 purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean and Rev 7:14, washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb

Isaiah xii, Psalm 116, Ephesians iii. 13   &   St. Luke vii. 11

Homily

Young man, I say unto thee, Arise

BULLETIN

calendar

 

Maurice, Centurion, & Theban Legion - September 22nd

Callistratus - September 27th

Michael, Archangel Militant, and all angels - September 29th

and dedication anniversary of the Order and Chapel

 

 News

 

 

Robert of New York sends greetings and commends this book to the centurions: Blessings from the Battlefield,  By Thomas R. O'Brien,  The story of some Roman Catholic chaplians and their experiences on the battlefield. You may read some of the stories at the link.

 

commentary

 

This Sunday's gospel is the story of Jesus raising the son of the widow in the city of Nain. I've found a selection from Ambrose for the homily. Ambrose was bishop of Milan, and baptized Augustine. It is interesting to consider how Ambrose addresses the death of his brother, and I commend this short homily. The full book is available for reading on ccel.org. Speaking of Ambrose, below is a collection of his hymns which we keep in the Centurion Hymnal.

 

He had no need of being raised again for time, for whom the raising again for eternity is waiting.

 

Ambrose of Milan Hymns [390AD]

The Eternal Gifts of Christ the King
Eternal Glory of the Sky
The Dawn is Sprinkling in the East
The Day Draws on with Golden Light
O Christ Who art the Light of Day
Creator of Earth and Sky
Morning
Now that the Daylight Fills the Sky
Now the Sun in Gleaming Bright
Above the Starry Spheres
The Morning Kindles all the Sky
Come Holy Ghost Who Ever One
Jesu, the Virgin's Crown
Come Holy Ghost with God the Son
O Trinity of Blessed Light
O God of Truth, O Lord of Might
O God, Creations Secret Force
O God of All Strength and Power
O Strength and Stay
His Cheering Message from the Grave
O Jesus, Lord of Heavenly Grace
O Splendor of God's Glory Bright
Now that the Daylight Dies Away
Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth
Savior of the Heathen Known
Savior of the Nations Come

 

Salve

--
"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM
www.OrderofCenturions.org 

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

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

 

The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Homily of Chrysostom on Matthew vi. 24ff

KEEP, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Deuteronomy vii. 6-13, Psalm 103, Galatians vi. 11   &   St. Matthew vi. 24

Homilies

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these

 

 

BULLETIN

 

 

calendar

Great Martyr General Placidas Eustachius - September 20th

Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist -- September 21st

Maurice, Centurion, & Theban Legion - September 22nd

 

commentary

 

Recently I was told in a work situation, "No man can serve two masters ." We are often called to serve in situations where we must answer to two separate temporal authorities. Occasionally their goals and desires might conflict. Loyalty is always a key ingredient in this situation, a hierarchy of loyalty that begins from the greatest and highest and extends to the least. In our case it clearly begins with the Captain of the Host. We are to "Fear and God and do what is Right" first and foremost. Hence; we may say we actually serve but one Master.  Having satisfied that loyalty, and where ambiguity may still exist, we must look to such things as the law of the land, regulation, ethical standards of our profession, tradition of service, and last and least, the desires of those humans whom we serve. That is the high road, for if we were to have no standard except loyalty to another person, we should we be in the exact predicament that Christ taught in the lesson today, of serving manna rather than God. In working our way though these predicaments which we all may face, some on a regular basis, we ought do so in prayer, and endeavor to carry out our calling in such manner and with such wisdom and tact that all "good" men may be satisfied, and in all cases we may give the glory to God.

 

This week for the first time we offer the homily of Chrysostom on this passage. As usual his work is most rewarding, and in it he addresses the situation of the soldiers to whom John Baptist addressed in the desert.

 

For the present therefore let us lay aside our excessive sumptuousness, and let us endure moderation, and learn to acquire by honest labor all that we are to have: since even the blessed John, when he was discoursing with those that were employed upon the tribute, and with the soldiery, enjoined them "to be content with their wages." Anxious though he were to lead them on to another, and a higher self-command, yet since they were still unfit for this, he speaks of the lesser things. Because, if he had mentioned what are higher than these, they would have failed to apply themselves to them, and would have fallen from the others.

 

Read it all at the link above.

 

Salve

msc

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

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

 

The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
Chrysostom on a healing  Gospel story of Matthew vii

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.

Source of Collect: Very earliest of the Sacramentaries [440]. 1 Corinthans 13:13 "now abideth faith, hope, and charity... There are two petitions, to give us increase, and secondly to make us to love reminds us of Romans 6:17... being "obdient from the heart" [Barbee and Zahl]

 

Micah vi. 1, Psalm 19, Galatians v. 16   &  St. Luke xvii. 11

Homilies

Master, have mercy on us

 

 

 

 

BULLETIN

 

membership

calendar

 

Captain Leroy Homer and the Martyrs of the Attack on America - September 11 (2001)

Sergeant John R. Cash, Evangelist, September 12 [2003]

Holy Cross Day -- September 14th

 

commentary

 

Featured Quotation

The God of the second Joshua (Jesus), is the God of the first Joshua also. Although now for a time he reaches out to the whole world with the gospel (and commissions his people urgently to carry his offer of peace to all nations), the sword of his judgment waits in the wings—and his second Joshua will wield it ( Rev 19:11-16) [NIV Study Bible, page 290]

 

The psalm selected to go with the readings today is Psalm xix. It has one of the more familiar verses of Scripture, which is one that is appointed in my tradition to be read before Morning and Evening prayer, and one that I often use publicly before an homily. The Authorized Version has it as:

 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be  acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

The verses just before read:

 

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

 

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not

have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be

innocent from the great transgression.

 

Who indeed?  This is a point that Augustine took up against the heresy of Pelagianism:

 

For how great soever ever a man's righteousness may be, he ought to reflect and think, lest there should be found something blameworthy, which has escaped indeed his own notice, when that righteous King shall sit upon His throne, whose cognizance no sins can possibly escape, not even those of which it is said, "Who understandeth his transgressions? (Ps xix. 12) [Philip Shaff: NPNF1-05. St. Augustin: Anti-Pelagian Writings]

 

This lesson is echoed in the words of Chrysostom, whose homily is featured for this 14^th Sunday after Trinity on the Order's site for the first time. It is similar to the passage appointed in Luke as it tells of the healing of a leper.

 

"… the more we advance in virtue, so much the more make ourselves contrite; for indeed this, more than anything else is virtue. Because, as the sharper our sight is, the more thoroughly do we learn how distant we are from the sky; so the more we advance in virtue, so much the more are we instructed in the difference between God and us. And this is no small part of true wisdom, to be able to perceive our own desert. For he best knows himself, who accounts himself to be nothing. Thus we see that both David and Abraham, when they were come up to the highest pitch of virtue, then best fulfilled this; and would call themselves, the one, "earth and ashes," the other, "a worm;" and all the saints too, like these, acknowledge their own wretchedness ." [Chrysostom on Matthew viii. 4ff]

 

Master, have mercy on us

How much are our souls, in their naked view to God, like the skin of the lepers? Who is it that needs not the hand of our Master to heal their spiritual disease? Read it all at the link above.

 

pax Christi

msc

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

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

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
Chrysostom on Matthew iixx - the Summary of the Law

ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so run to thy heavenly promises, that we fail not finally to attain the same; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source of Collect: Bishop Leo I [440-461] Sacramentary. Archbishop Cranmer changed it to read as shown here: 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.

Deuteronomy xxiv. 10 Galatians iii. 16   &  St. Luke x. 23

Homily of Chrysostom

Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself ...
this do, and thou shalt live

---

BULLETIN

calendar

 

Eudoxius, Comitus Hegemon (general), Zeno, Macarius, & Companions - Martyrs -- September 6th (285-305)

 

 

commentary

 

The summary of the Law is a key tenant of the Order of Centurions; it is a rule of the Order. This week's appointed Gospel addresses the encounter between Jesus and the lawyer, and the question, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" We know that Jesus did not invent the Summary; but rather confirmed what true Jews knew, and what was a part of the ancient code: to Love God and neighbor....   

 

The homily of Chrysostom that we've featured for the first time this year on the Order's site touches the Summary of the Law, and true love. He wrote,

 

"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light;" and again, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." And what in consequence of this? "They are corrupt, and become abominable in their ways." And again, "The love of money is the root of all evils; which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith;" and, "He that loveth me, will keep my commandment."

 

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM
www.OrderofCenturions.org