‘Weekly Post. Anno Domini 2023 May 9

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Tuesday, 9 May, in the year of our Lord 2023. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Tuesday (today): 5:30 PM, Mass, S. Gregory Nazianzus, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor.
  6:30 PM, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Evensong.
• Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, Feria of Easter IV.
• Thursday: 8:00 AM, men's monthly Morning Prayer &breakfast.
  6:30 PM, Mass, Feria of Easter IV, followed by Soup & Study.
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, SS. Nereus, Achilles, Domitilla & Pancras, Martyrs, with the Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
• Saturday: 5:00 PM, Mass, The Martyrs of Uganda.

Note that this week, we've the monthly Men's Morning Prayer. Also, our Soup and Study will return after a week's hiatus. Please read from verse 24 to the end of Chapter 4 of the Gospel According to Luke.

At the recent OAC Spring Conference, there were several important events. For our purposes at S. Matthew's, chief among these was the Ordination to the Diaconate of Avery Collins. S. Matthew's, more than most parishes, has a long tradition of having Deacons on-staff, as 'twere. Once more, we deepen our position as a parish practicing the fullness of the faith Catholic.

Also at this 'Conference, I was promoted Canon by the Archbishop. Within the Parish, you may continue to call me 'Father. To use Canon is not improper, and you may, if you so wish. However, I've been Father here for nearly eleven years (this July) ~ and that has been, and will continue to be, my primary role at S. Matthew's.

The nature of what it means to be Ordained has largely been forgotten, in the modern world; even portions of His Church have blurred what have been, and should remain, clear distinctions. A man, once Ordained, no-longer exists as he has been known. When the Bishop laid his hands upon him, he died to this world, and rose first a Deacon. He has now become a new creation ~ a new creature ~ in God's Kingdom. He entered a new life, set-apart, called closer to the Christ. Obviously, the memories and associations of the man still remain, but the rest of his life will follow a path that will lead-away from the former nature, and towards the latter.

In the West (Romans and Anglicans), when you ask a man when he was Ordained, he will inevitably give the date of his Priestly Ordination. In the East, the response is the Diaconal date. This latter is the appropriate, and preferred, response, for it is in that instant (Ordination as a Deacon) when a man casts-off the old, and becomes the new. At that moment, he has entered Holy Orders, and become a Sacrament.

It can be especially difficult to make this transformation in the Parish within which one has been known as a parishioner. The notable exception to this was Bishop Mote, who served as layman, Deacon, Priest, and Bishop all in the same Parish! Just as it is the duty of the Ordained to set himself apart from what he was before, it is our duty as a parish to support him in this effort.

As Anglicans, we excel in matters of form. Thus, you may use Deacon, Deacon Collins, or Father Deacon as forms of address. The written form is The Reverend Deacon Avery Collins. These are patterned-after the Eastern forms, to better make-clear the distinction. Under no circumstances should The Reverend Mister... be used; this is an old, episcopalian practice, that at-best blurs the lines, and at-worst attempts to degrade Holy Orders. We will all slip in applying these titles, in the beginning, but it is intention, not result, that matters most.

Order ~ God's first gift to us, in His, and our, Creation. As all things tend ~ or should ~ towards God, the order shifts; or should we say returns to its original shape, as He intended it to be. At the very least, let us serve as His tools, in this greatest of struggles, the salvation of man, and the restoration of the Kingdom. I remain

in His praise,

The Rev'd Fr. T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish