The Doctor is In on when life begins

and makes a very interesting point (my bolds):

When does the fetus become human?

This question, on one hand, seems all-important, yet at another level seems absurd beyond belief. It is a question which would never be asked were it not for the idea of ending a pregnancy by abortion. What reason would there be for such a question? A woman becomes pregnant, and is expecting a baby: this is the expectation of motherhood since man and woman first began procreating. In its natural course, barring unforeseen problems, a child is born — a unique instance of humanity, a living being like none other before or after. It is only in the context of deliberately interrupting this process — ending the pregnancy deliberately — that the question of of the humanity of the unborn fetus has been raised.

That such a question is raised with any seriousness is evidence of a profound denial — the denial required to end an unborn child’s life in the womb. To raise the issue of the humanity of those not yet born, to imply that the fetus is anything other than a human being, is to salve the deep discomfort of the soul inherent in the termination of a life. For we know, innately, that the unborn is alive, and human, and to justify its extinction we must engage in extraordinary contortions of conscience. Thus we say the fetus is an extension of the mother’s body, which it clearly is not; we refer to it as a blob of tissue or protoplasm, dehumanizing its unique and extraordinary human potential; we call it a “potential human”, as if at some magic point a switch is thrown to turn on its humanity — while never stopping to define what that humanity is, or why there is no humanity in the split second before our chosen transition time. We draw false and foolish analogies: the fetus is no different than a skin cell, or a “sacred sperm”, or a tumor — thus denying the extraordinary creation which occurs when the genetic map of two parents fuses into a new life, with an infinite capacity for uniqueness, change, experience, and creativity of its own.

Excellent post on the difference between progressives and social conservatives

From R. R. Reno at First Things Magazine, h/t The Doctor is In

The progressive ideal of liberated desire—like all progressive ideals—requires us to fundamentally remake culture. This means aggressively intervening into education and the family in order to destroy the sources of traditional sentiments about sex, gender, and religion.

Social conservatism is different. It wishes to use the power of the state to prohibit certain forms of vice. Criminalizing abortion is an obvious example. I’d also like to see a reassessment of no-fault divorce. This political agenda is not surprising. It’s the nature of laws to embody moral principles (such as the protection of innocent life).

Yet, because conservatism is based in traditional realities rather than progressive ideals, it need not revolutionize culture and suppress dissent. Put concretely, nobody who wants to change our laws about abortion needs to censor the pro-choice idea. Nobody who wishes to prohibit gay marriage wants to prevent anyone from feeling offended or oppressed by the opinions of those who think otherwise.

Because conservative political goals are limited, they don’t require trying to take control of the San Francisco school system. A conservative would like for everyone to adopt his outlook. That follows from believing that something is true. But the conservative is not selfish in the sense Burke identifies. He does not love broad, abstract ideals at the expense of actual social realities. Instead, he draws his strength from real, living traditions, encouraging focused, lasting reforms that fulfill and purify rather than critique and erase. The conservative has no need to gain control of the state in order to remake culture—a shockingly arrogant, willful, and invariably tyrannical project. He already has one.

I’m not naive. There are obviously social conservatives who have a modern cast of mind—conservative revolutionaries with Stalinist tendencies. And there are certainly many American liberals with a deep commitment to our traditional constitutional constraints on the use of governmental power. People do not exist to represent “isms.”

Nonetheless, conservatism and progressivism have fundamentally different tendencies as ruling principles. Conservatism wants to protect, nurture, and perfect aspects of the social norms we already have. Drawing its strength from what exists, it has room for dissent. Progressivism pours Agent Orange on the cultural landscape to make space for something new, something it imagines to be better. Seeking what is ideal, it often excludes dissent as a matter of moral principle.

More on the strange story of Jadewarr and the CHRC

Interesting follow up story by Canadian Press on the strange story of Jadewarr and the IP address of a private citizen (h/t BCF):

On Thursday, the federal privacy commissioner dropped Hechme's complaint, saying it found no evidence her privacy rights were breached.

It found no evidence the agency hijacked her Internet connection and also suggested a simple "mismatch" could have been behind the naming of her secured wireless Internet account at the hearing.

Lemire was critical of the privacy commissioner's investigation and said he was dismayed by the result.

"There was absolutely no mismatch," Lemire said.

"I showed the evidence to the Human Rights Tribunal, and it was compelling enough to issue me a subpoena."

Lemire said the information provided by the Stormfront website about the origins of the "Jadewarr" hate posting turned out "to all be accurate."

He noted the privacy commissioner talked to human-rights officials but refused to accept almost 200 pages of documents he filed in support of the Internet hijacking allegations.

Investigators did not talk to him or any one else involved, he said.

"How can the privacy commissioner make any reasonable determination of the facts, when they only spoke to one side and refused documentation from the other?" Lemire said.

So sez David Frum . .

If David Frum is right, then Obama's invocation of Rush Limbaugh looks positively Machiavelian.

But then, I'm not sure David Frum is right. Someone needs to make the case for conservative principles. But this is interesting:

When Republicans line up behind Rush Limbaugh in this way, they are dividing the country 80-20 against themselves. Our supreme priority now has to be to reinvent ourselves as a pragmatic, inclusive, modern party of free enterprise and limited government. We have to relearn how to talk to moderates, independent, younger voters, educated voters, women – it’s a long list.

Instead, our congressmen talk to and about Rush Limbaugh like Old Bolsheviks praising Comrade Stalin at their show trials. Rush is right! We see eye to eye with Rush! There is no truth outside Rush!

Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and the others have their place and their role. They spoke for an important section of public opinion, and it is a section our party needs. But it is only a section, and not the whole. The more our party allows them to become our public face, the more embattled and endangered our party becomes.

The relationship between these radio talkers and the larger Republican and conservative world has become parasitic and antagonistic. They flourish and profit to the extent they can polarize and radicalize. The GOP will recover only to the extent that it moderates and reaches out. They benefit from controversies that position them as the leaders and designated speakers for conservative America. But the more visible they become, the more our party is shoved to the margins and rendered unelectable. What is good for Rush is bad for the GOP, and what is good for the GOP is bad for Rush.

Also, despite party identification, the Porkulus bill is losing support big time. Of course Rush knows Obama's using Alinsky tactics against him.

Something to add to evening prayers

The Binks has discovered a hitherto obscure passage that has prophetic overtones:

A reading from the Book Of Economic Lamentations, chapter 2, beginning to read at the 1st verse.

And the fashioning of the golden pig was in this wise.

And the people clamoured for a idol, like unto the one in the land of FDR, and New Deal, and cried unto the prophet Obamaniah, saying Make us a golden idol!

And Obamaniah the prophet did as the people commanded, and collected their gold and silver, and their children’s gold and silver, and even their children’s children’s gold and silver unto the fourth generation, and did fashion unto them an glistering idol in the form of a pig, and lo, it was very great. And the people fell down and worshipped it, and did rise up, to play, and spent all their divers treasures that the Lord had given unto them.

Then came unto them some people of a poor nation, beseeching them for help, for their need was very great. And Obamaniah saith unto them, Uh, sorry, but, uh, we spent it all on, uh, stuff. And the poor did depart, cast down in their hopes.

Then the denizens of Turtle Bay, whose number is as the sand on the sea, did come also unto Obamaniah, and saith unto him There has been great trouble and affliction: give unto us liberally to render help them, as you did aforetime! And Obamaniah did say Uh, well, we have none to spare. And the denizens of Turtle Bay did weep, and gnash their teeth, and departed again unto their own place.

Then came unto Obamaniah a number of his own people, who had given of gold and silver unto the making of the great pig, asking for some of the gold and silver back, for oft did they come to feed upon their rulers, like as a calf doth suckle a cow.

But Obamaiah looked unto them with great smugness, and saith unto them: Uh, you made me build this, and said unto me, uh, Make us a golden idol! like unto the one in the land of FDR, and New Deal. Uh, behold, the giant pig has taken all you have, and that of your children, and our children’s children, even unto the fourth generation. We shall have to pay again to buy the gold and silver back from the pig, which once we did freely give, for the great price thereof is now owed unto foreign money-changers.

And lo, there was much sorrow in the land, and regret, and wailing, and the folly of the fathers and mothers was indeed visited upon their children, and children’s children, and the nation was laid waste, and the bear did slay the bull, and Obamaniah shrugged, and did shift blame unto the people.

Then said the people unto Obamaniah, Lo, now we seest thou art no prophet at all, and hath taken thine own people to profit thereby. Go forth from this land, and afflict us no more.

Here Endeth The Lesson.

Many, many more goodies if you follow the link.

Bookmark Free Canuckistan while you're over there.

Evensong, Jan. 29, 2009

Evening Prayer

Today we honor St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Spiritual Writer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall follow the Psalms.

PSALM 140. Eripe me, Domine.

DELIVER me, O LORD, from the evil man: / and preserve me from the wicked man;

2 Who imagine mischief in their hearts, / and stir up strife every day.

3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: / adder's poison is under their lips.

4 KEEP me, O LORD, from the hands of the ungodly: / preserve me from the wicked men, who are purposed to overthrow my goings.

5 The proud have laid a snare for me, and spread a net abroad with cords; / yea, and set traps in my way.

6 I SAID unto the LORD, 'Thou art my God'; / hear the voice of my prayers, O LORD.

7 O LORD God, thou strength of my health, / thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

8 Let not the ungodly have his desire, O LORD: / let not his mischievous imagination prosper.

9 A SLANDERER shall not prosper upon the earth: / evil shall hunt the wicked person to overthrow hhn.

10 Sure I am that the LORD will avenge the poor, / and maintain the cause of the helpless.

11 The righteous also shall give thanks unto thy Name: / and the just shall continue in thy sight.

First Reading:

Joel 2: 1-14

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; ²A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. ³A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. ⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. ⁵Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. ⁶Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. ⁷They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: ⁸Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. ⁹They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. ¹⁰The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: ¹¹And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? ¹²Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: ¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. ¹⁴Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

I Corinthians 14: 1-19

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. ²For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. ³But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. ⁴He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. ⁵I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. ⁶Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? ⁷And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? ⁸For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? ⁹So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. ¹⁰There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. ¹¹Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. ¹²Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. ¹³Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁵What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. ¹⁶Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? ¹⁷For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. ¹⁸I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: ¹⁹Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant St. Frances de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Spiritual Writer, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.


2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Privacy Commissioner clears CHRC

The Privacy Commissioner has cleared the Canadian Human Rights Commission of hacking into a private citizen's WiFi.

Here's the release:

The investigation found no evidence that the CHRC ever collected any personal information about the complainant or in fact that the CHRC had any knowledge about the complainant prior to the allegations made in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal public hearing.

There is no evidence that the CHRC ever collected or improperly used, disclosed or retained the complainant’s personal information.

Technological experts have indicated that, most likely, but without certainty, the association of the complainant’s IP address to the CHRC was simply a mismatch on the part of a third party, which could have occurred in a variety of ways not involving the CHRC.

What is certain is that there is no evidence of the CHRC having ever collected or improperly used, disclosed or retained any personal information about the complainant.

Accordingly, the Assistant Privacy Commissioner has concluded that there is no contravention of sections 4 to 8 of the Privacy Act and has determined that the complaint is not well-founded.

While there is no evidence to support the allegations made in this instance, this Office cautions individuals to take appropriate measures to properly secure their Internet connections to avoid any unauthorized uses of their personal information.

All I can say is this story is still stranger than strange.

Amir Taheri on Obama's "Pathetic message" on Arab TV

He writes in the New York Sun:

Obama should remember that he is the president of the United States - not an impartial broker. It was unfortunate that he described himself as a bridge. For a bridge has no personality of its own and cares little about who might cross it and in which direction.

IF this was meant as the first direct contact between Obama and the Mus lim world, the Al-Arabiya interview must be rated as a missed opportunity.

Obama's remarks about the Israel-Palestine issue were so trite as to merit no analysis. He said he was sending former Sen. George Mitchell to listen to all sides - as if the world has not been hearing their stories for more than six decades.

The president appeared apologetic, offering no hope for democratization and economic development. He made no mention of the economic meltdown that is creating unprecedented mass unemployment in many countries of the region.

Nor did he offer any support to democratic forces facing crucial elections in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Algeria this year.

He had nothing to say about the thousands of Iranian workers who have been thrown into prison solely because they created independent trade unions. Nor did he mention Iranian women's courageous "a million signatures campaign" or the series of student revolts that have been crushed by the mullahs with exceptional violence.

Nor was there any nod toward reformers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt or the heroic Lebanese democratic leaders who are fighting to preserve their nation's independence from Iran and Syria.

Obama didn't call for the release of the tens of thousands of political prisoners held in more than two dozen Muslim countries or a moratorium on executions that each year cost the lives of hundreds of dissidents.

CASTING himself in the role of a "bridge" and dreaming of a return to an illusionary past, Obama appeared unsure of his own identity and confused about the role that America should play in global politics.

TAC news exploding on the blogosphere

Ruth Gledhill is posting on it.

She writes:

As Per Christum says, 'They have sought some sort of greater communion with the Catholic Church, and the rumor-mill has been very active speculating what exactly the Vatican will do. If they are indeed offered the status of personal prelature, this will be a major, major, decision.

'Some are speculating that thousands of of alienated Anglo-Catholic Anglicans in England may become Catholic under such a system. I am reluctant to get too excited over this (and I am also excited about the liturgical possibilities of having an Anglican-like prelature in the Church!), because rumors are flying both directions about the future of the TAC in the Catholic Church, but this is rather interesting.'

So has Damian Thompson:

I just got a Google alert from Germany about this:

Vatikan (kathnews). Sollte es zwischen der „Traditional Anglican Communion“(TAC) und dem Heiligen Stuhl zu einer Einigung kommen, könnte die Gemeinschaft noch vor Jahresende in Form einer Personalprälatur in die römische Kirche eingegliedert werden. Dies berichtet die wöchentlich erscheinende australische Zeitung „The Record“ in ihrer Ausgabe vom heutigen Donnerstag. Eine entsprechende Empfehlung habe die römische Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre bereits ausgearbeitet. Die anglikanischen Konvertiten wären dann die zweite Gruppierung innerhalb der katholischen Kirche, die als Personalprälatur direkt dem Papst unterstellt wären. Bislang ist ausschließlich das „Opus Dei“ kirchenrechtlich als Personalprälatur verfasst.

I am cautiously optimistic. But until there is official news from the Holy See, I am not jumping to conclusions. But I did wonder, after the lifting of the excommunication on the SSPX bishops, whether the Pope was gearing up for an announcement about us.

We have married bishops but no Holocaust-deniers among our clergy (at least not that I know of, but I'm sure Archbishop Hepworth would not tolerate that kind of toxic garbage)

Not that I'm saying the Holy Father does either. Just as he did not anticipate the reaction to his Regensburg address, he may not have even known about the whacko's public utterances. It really, really annoys me that people are using this as an excuse to try to paint the Holy Father, or the Catholic Church for that matter, as anti-Semitic, just as I was annoyed with the attempt to paint him as anti-Muslim for the quote in the Regensburg address.

American Catholic reacts to possible TAC news

If this information is accurate, this is an incredible turn of events coming from the Vatican. First the motu proprio freeing the Tridentine Mass, the overtures to S.S.P.X., and now granting the Traditional Anglican Communion the status of a personal prelature, which only Opus Dei occupies thus far. With the Catholic Church change occurs over centuries, but with the Venerable Pope Benedict XVI he has dramatically altered the landscape of the Catholic Church within three short years.

What does this mean for traditionalists (High Anglicans) in the Canterbury based Anglican Communion? Possibly protection from heterodoxical bishops by entering the Catholic Church as a personal prelature or simply entering the Traditional Anglican Communion. This is going to create shockwaves all the way to Canterbury and the rest of the Anglican Communion throughout the world. It will definitely make the prelates of England and Wales cringe in fear to the thought of hundred’s of thousands of Anglicans entering their realm and bolstering the numbers of faithful and dedicated Catholics. It will also certainly create havoc for Katherine Jefferts Schori and her bishops in keeping The Episcopal Communion together here in the United States.

Right now this is joyous news that I am just beginning to digest, if this is correct news.

Could there be something soon for the Traditional Anglican Communion?

Several stories are popping up all over the 'net. Here's the original from The Record in Australia.

Healing the Reformation's fault lines

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

History may be in the making. It appears Rome is on the brink of welcoming close to half a million members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into membership of the Roman Catholic Church, writes Anthony Barich. Such a move would be the most historic development in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last 500 years. But it may also be a prelude to a much greater influx of Anglicans waiting on the sidelines, pushed too far by the controversy surrounding the consecration of practising homosexual bishops, women clergy and a host of other issues. Beacon of hope: South Australian Archbishop John Hepworth, the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, arrives to conform a group of 400 of the faithful in Kenya. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend the Traditional Anglican Communion be accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei, if talks between the TAC and the Vatican aimed at unity succeed, it is understood. The TAC is a growing global community of approximately 400,000 members that took the historic step in 2007 of seeking full corporate and sacramental communion with the Catholic Church – a move that, if fulfilled, will be the biggest development in Catholic-Anglican relations since the English Reformation under King Henry VIII. TAC members split from the Canterbury-based Anglican Communion headed by Archbishop Rowan Williams over issues such as its ordination of women priests and episcopal consecrations of women and practising homosexuals. The TAC’s case appeared to take a significant step forwards in October 2008 when it is understood that the CDF decided not to recommend the creation of a distinct Anglican rite within the Roman Catholic Church – as is the case with the Eastern Catholic Churches - but a personal prelature, a semi-autonomous group with its own clergy and laity. Opus Dei was the first organisation in the Catholic Church to be recognised as a personal prelature, a new juridical form in the life of the Church. A personal prelature is something like a global diocese without boundaries, headed by its own bishop and with its own membership and clergy. Because no such juridical form of life in the Church had existed before, the development and recognition of a personal prelature took Opus Dei and Church officials decades to achieve. An announcement could be made soon after Easter this year. It is understood that Pope Benedict XVI, who has taken a personal interest in the matter, has linked the issue to the year of St Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the Church.

This gentle, sanctimonious Bill Ayers is so annoying

Bill Ayers got treated to some of the Left's usual tactics when he spoke at a Catholic university and some hecklers tried to interrupt his speech. On one hand, I think Karma is at work and it serves him right. On the other, I regret the fact that people, especially a man waving a Bible, are resorting to such tactics, because it gives the revisionist terrorist the temporary moral high ground. He tries to sound so reasonable, so civil, so generous towards those with whom he disagrees. He used to advocate blowing them up. How far he has come.

Gateway Pundit reports:

Melanie Morgan and hundreds of protesters greeted domestic terrorist Bill Ayers at St. Mary's College in California last night:

Download video!

Shame on St. Mary's for having this warped terrorist speak on campus.

As for the demonstrators outside? Yes, that's fine. And people should be letting St. Mary's University know that someone who led an organization that bombed targets in the United States and killed people and planned to blow up a dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and who I'm sure supports abortion on demand, should not be given a platform at a Catholic University any more than a Holocaust denier should.

The Anchoress misses Bill Clinton

So do I.

She writes:

You know how bad this stimulus forever socialist bill and Obama/Pelosi’s overall grandiose-ness is? This bad:

It’s making me miss Bill.

I miss Bill, and I miss George W. Bush. I even miss George H.W. Bush, who I came to appreciate too late.

By that what I mean is, I miss old-fashioned American presidents; flawed men who had no allusions that they were perfect. Men who (in Clinton’s case) needed to be loved too much and (in Bush’s case) didn’t need it enough, but who still, for all the personal and political mistakes, were simply trying to lead America, not to rule it, or “remake” it or “save” it from its stiff-necked, fussy, independent, generous, vulgar, valiant, dreaming, energetic, creative, preening, heroic, world-leading, free and glorious self.

Bring back the flawed human president who we were free to love or hate without reserve, fear or condemnation, because the target was strong enough to take it. The president who could sometimes be petty but sometimes be pretty damned gracious, too. The president who could make a mistake at a doorway and laugh about it, and whom the press did not have to protect from the passing mockery such a mistake would bring.

I miss having an American President who could describe himself - as Clinton once did - as “a punching clown; you punch me and I’m bounce right back up and into your face;” or a president who could, with ironic self awareness describe himself as “misunderestimated.” America needs a guy who can laugh at himself and take the nation’s chaffing with a shrug, instead of a godling of the press’ needy creation, one “too perfect to be mocked”.

Big Hollywood: Obama as Don Quixote?

" . . .the more I look at Obama’s agenda the more I realize that wishing him well is like wishing luck to Don Quixote in wrecking the windmill that feeds me and my family.

Morning Prayer, Jan. 29, 2009

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord is glorious in his saints: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 139. Domine, probasti.

O LORD, thou hast searched me out and known me: / thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thoughts from afar.

2 Thou art about my path and about my bed, / and art acquainted with all my ways.

3 For lo, there is not a word in my tongue, / but thou, O LORD, knowest it altogether.

4 Thou hast beset me behind and before, / and laid thine hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me: / I cannot attain unto it.

6 WHITHER shall I go then from thy spirit? / or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

7 If I climb up into heaven, thou art there: / if I go down to hell, thou art there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning, / and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there also shall thy hand lead me, / and thy right hand shall hold me.

10 If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, / and the light about me become night',

11 Yet even the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day: / the darkness and light to thee are both alike.

12 FOR thou didst form my inward parts: / thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.

13 I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: / marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.

14 My frame was not hid from thee, / when I was made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth.

15 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; / and in thy book were all of them written,

16 Even the days that were planned for me, / when as yet there was none of them.

17 How dear are thy counsels unto me, O God! / O how great is the sum of them!

18 If I count them, they are more in number than the sand: / when I wake up, I am present with thee.

19 WILT thou not slay the wicked, O God? / depart from me, ye bloodthirsty men.

20 For they speak unrighteously against thee; / and thine enemies take thy Name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? / and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 Yea, I hate them right sore; / even as though they were mine enemies.

23 Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart: / prove me and examine my thoughts.

24 Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me; / and lead me in the way everlasting.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Joel 1

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. ²Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? ³Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. ⁴That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. ⁵Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. ⁶For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. ⁷He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

⁸Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’S ministers, mourn. ¹⁰The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. ¹¹Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. ¹²The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. ¹³Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

¹⁴Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, ¹⁵Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. ¹⁶Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? ¹⁷The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. ¹⁸How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. ¹⁹O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. ²⁰The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therin.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

I Corinthians 12:28-13:-end

²⁸And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? ³⁰Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? ³¹But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

Chapter Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. ²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. ³And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. ⁴Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, ⁵Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; ⁷Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ¹³And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Benedictus. St Luke 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us

That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;

Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant St. Frances de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Spiritual Writer, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Evensong, Jan. 28, 2009

Evening Prayer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall follow the Psalms.

PSALM 134. Ecce nunc.

BEHOLD now, praise the LORD, / all ye servants of the LORD;

2 Ye that by night stand in the house of the LORD, / even in the courts of the house of our God.

3 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, / and praise the LORD.

4 The LORD that made heaven and earth / give thee blessing out of Sion.

PSALM 135. Laudate Nomen.

O PRAISE the LORD, laud ye the Name of the LORD; / praise it, O ye servants of the LORD,

2 Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, / in the courts of the house of our God.

3 O praise the LORD, for the LORD is gracious: / O sing praises unto his Name, for it is lovely.

4 For why? the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, / and Israel for his own possession.

5 FOR I know that the LORD is great, / and that our Lord is above all gods.

6 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, / and in the sea, and in all deep places.

7 He bringeth forth the clouds from the ends of the world, / and sendeth forth lightnings for the rain, bringing the winds out of his treasuries.

8 HE smote the first-bom of Egypt, / both of man and beast.

9 He sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O thou land of Egypt, / upon Pharaoh and all his servants.

10 He smote many nations, / and slew mighty kings;

11 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan, / and all the kingdoms of Canaan;

12 And gave their land to be an heritage, / even an heritage unto Israel his people.

13 THY Name, O LORD, endureth for ever: / so doth thy memorial, O LORD, from one generation to another.

14 For the LORD will avenge his people, / and be gracious unto his servants.

15 As for the idols of the heathen, they are but silver and gold, / the work of men's hands.

16 They have mouths, and speak not: / eyes have they, but they see not.

17 They have ears, and yet they hear not: / neither is there any breath in their mouths.

18 They that make them are like unto them, / and so are all they that put their trust in them.

19 PRAISE the LORD, ye house of Israel: / praise the LORD, ye house of Aaron.

20 Praise the LORD, ye house of Levi: / ye that fear the LORD, praise the LORD.

21 Praised be the LORD out of Sion, / who dwelleth at Jerusalem.

First Reading:

Obadiah

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. ²Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

³The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? ⁴Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. ⁵If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? ⁶How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! ⁷All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. ⁸Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? ⁹And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

¹⁰For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. ¹¹In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. ¹²But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. ¹³Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; ¹⁴Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. ¹⁵For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. ¹⁶For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

¹⁷But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. ¹⁸And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹⁹And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. ²⁰And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. ²¹And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’S.

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

I Corinthians 12

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. ²Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. ³Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. ⁴Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. ⁶And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. ⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. ⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; ⁹To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; ¹⁰To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: ¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. ¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. ¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? ¹⁸But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. ¹⁹And if they were all one member, where were the body? ²⁰But now are they many members, yet but one body. ²¹And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. ²²Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: ²³And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. ²⁴For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: ²⁵That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. ²⁶And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. ²⁷Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.


2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

The Anchoress rounds up reaction to Obama's first interview

Alas, the sense of reassurance that I had that maybe, maybe I was wrong about Obama and that he really was a unifier and a centrist is disappearing fast.

The Anchoress has a round up of links on his first television interview as president.

She writes:

So, the American President went on Arab television and told the Arab world and the rest of the world that, “right,” it was the Iraq war that started all the problems.

Yes, it’s disorienting. Also patently untrue.

Ultimately the whole interview is troubling. Obama seems to assert that “as recently as 20 or 30 years ago” relations between the US and the Arab world were good, and to conveniently forget the hostage-taking of 1975 or the bombings of the ’80’s - including the killing of US Marines.

And, yes, the attacks that averaged one every 18 months or so from 1992 through 2000, and focused on American interests and embassies and ummm…US Naval Vessels…they don’t seem to have happened in President Obama’s world. In his world, things were just fine until his predecessor invaded Iraq for no good reason, but because he just happened to be in the mood to invade Iraq after the Clinton Administration and every credible intelligence agency in the world, members of our own Senate Intelligence Committee and our own former Secretary of State and Former First Lady all agreed that Iraq was holding WMD, and 3,000 Americans had just died in a multi-targeted attack carried out on her soil.

And now, during this be-sotted global honeymoon, Obama is the insecure bridegroom all-too-willing to agree, in this interview, that he’s making love to a virgin.

Victor Davis Hanson nails it:

But then Obama was elected and as President promised, as most Presidents do, to bring us together. He met with conservative pundits, reappointed Bush’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and brought in scores of Clinton centrists to manage his administration. Bravo to all that.

Yet the old Obama is starting to appear as most of you astute readers knew he would. Not a word from him about what can, without hyperbole, be called a dishonest Charlie Rangel, a reprehensible Chris Dodd, and the inexplicable Barney Frank who goes barking from one mortgage/banking ethical lapse to another, confident that no Democrat will dare take him on (he enjoys the exemption accorded to the proverbial raving but glib street-corner prophet who accosts you, flips you off on the street, and shouts in your ear and in public all the way to the car before trying to mount the hood and grab the windshield wipers).

Obama loftily talked about a new ethics law outlawing lobbyists, even as he tried to get an exemption for Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn. The problems that surrounded Treasury-Secretary designate Timothy Geithner, or the “troubles” with Attorney General Eric Holder, and Gov. Bill Richardson border on old-style greed, careerism and conflict of interest—in other words, the normal sort of controversies that a politician routinely overcomes if he’s not a saint.

For all the talk of bipartisanship, Obama like Lord Xerxes on his throne nevertheless has got down and dirty and trashed Rush Limbaugh (and by extension his 20 million listeners) and boasted to the Republican opposition. “I won. I am the President”—in braggadocio that exceeded the “decider” George Bush’s. I suspect if the Blago tapes are ever released in their entirety Rahm Emanuel will sound more like Nixon to Halderman than earnestly discussing the rising oceans with St. Obama.

The problem with all this is not that Obama’s trying to wheel and deal and talk out of both sides of his mouth like Bill Clinton and others, but, far worse, is staring to appear ridiculous like Jimmy Carter, divinely talking down to us as mere mortals as he acts like a mere mortal.

It's like we're watching Benjamin Button, except it's Jimmy Carter who's become younger, and taller and slimmer and darker.

Morning Prayer, Jan. 28, 2009

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord hath manifested forth His glory: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 132. Memento, Domine.

LORD, remember David, / and all his trouble;

2 How he sware unto the LORD, / and vowed a vow unto the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 '1 will not come within the tabernacle of mine house, / nor climb up into my bed;

4 I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, / nor mine eyelids to slumber;

5 Until I find out a place for the LORD, / an habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.'

6 LO, we heard of the same at Ephrathah, / and found it in the fields of the Wood.

7 We will go into his dwelling-place, / and fall low on our knees before his footstool.

8 Arise, O LORD, into thy resting-place, / thou, and the ark of thy strength.

9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; / and let thy saints sing with joyfulness.

10 For thy servant David's sake, / turn not away the face of thine anointed.

11 THE LORD hath made a faithful oath unto David, / and he shall not shrink from it:

12 'Of the fruit of thy body / shall I set upon thy throne.

13 If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimonies that I shall teach them, / their children shall sit upon thy throne for evermore.'

14 For the LORD hath chosen Sion; / he hath longed for her to be an habitation for himself:

15 'This shall be my rest for ever: / here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein.

16 I will bless her victuals with increase, / and will satisfy her poor with bread.

17 I will clothe her priests with salvation, / and her saints shall rejoice and sing.

18 There shall I make the horn of David to flourish: / I have ordained a lantern for mine anointed.

19 As for his enemies, I shall clothe them with shame; / but upon himself shall his crown flourish.'

PSALM 133. Ecce, quam bonum!

BEHOLD, how good and joyful a thing it is / for brethren to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, that ran down unto the beard, / even unto Aaron's beard, and went down to the collar of his clothing;

3 Like as the dew of Hermon, / which falleth upon the hills of Sion.

4 For there the LORD promised his blessing, / even life for evermore.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

<sup>Malachi 3: 13- 4-end

13</sup>Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? ¹⁴Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

¹⁶Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. ¹⁷And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. ¹⁸Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Malachi 4

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

²But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. ³And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁴Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

BENEDICITE, OMNIA OPERA.

The Song of the Three Children.

O ALL ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O YE Heavens, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O LET the Earth bless the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Green Things upon the Earth, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O LET Israel bless the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Note that the words praise him, and magnify him for ever may be sung at the end of each verse, or any group of verses, as desired.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

I Corinthians 11: 2-end

²Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. ³But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. ⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. ⁵But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. ⁶For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. ⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. ⁸For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. ⁹Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. ¹¹Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. ¹²For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of god. ¹³Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? ¹⁴Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? ¹⁵But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. ¹⁶But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. ¹⁸For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. ¹⁹For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. ²⁰When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. ²¹For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. ²²What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. ²³For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: ²⁴And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁵After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. ²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. ²⁷Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ²⁹For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. ³⁰For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. ³¹For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. ³²But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. ³³Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. ³⁴And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

Benedictus. St Luke 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us

That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;

Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Morning Prayer Jan. 27, 2008

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord is glorious in his saints: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 120. Ad Dominum.

WHEN I was in trouble I called upon the LORD, / and he hearkened unto me.

2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, / and from a deceitful tongue.

3 What reward shall be given or done unto thee, thou false tongue? / even sharp arrows of the mighty, with hot burning coals.

4 WOE is me that I am constrained to dwell with Meshech, / and to have my habitation among the tents of Kedar!

5 My soul hath long dwelt among them / that are enemies unto peace.

6 I labour for peace, but when I speak unto them thereof, / they make them ready to battle.

PSALM 121. Levavi oculos.

I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills: / O whence cometh my help?

2 My help cometh even from the LORD, / who hath made heaven and earth.

3 HE will not suffer thy foot to be moved: / and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel / shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 THE LORD himself is thy keeper: / the LORD is thy defence upon thy right hand;

6 So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, / neither the moon by night.

7 THE LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: / yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, / from this time forth for evermore.

PSALM 122. Laetatus sum.

I WAS glad when they said unto me, / 'We will go unto the house of the LORD.'

2 Behold, our feet now stand / within thy gates, O Jerusalem.

3 JERUSALEM is built as a city / that is at unity in itself;

4 Whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD, / as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the LORD.

5 For there were set the thrones for judgement, / even the thrones of the house of David.

6 O PRAY for the peace of Jerusalem: / may they prosper that love thee.

7 Peace be within thy walls, / and plenteousness within thy palaces.

8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, / will wish thee prosperity.

9 Yea, because of the house of the LORD our God, / I will seek to do thee good.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Malachi 2: 1-16

And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. ²If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. ³Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. ⁴And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁵My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. ⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. ⁷For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. ⁸But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. ¹⁰Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

¹¹Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. ¹²The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. ¹³And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

¹⁴Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. ¹⁵And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. ¹⁶For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therin.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

I Corinthians 9

Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? ²If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. ³Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, ⁴Have we not power to eat and to drink? ⁵Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? ⁶Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? ⁷Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? ⁸Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? ⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? ¹⁰Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. ¹¹If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? ¹²If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. ¹³Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? ¹⁴Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. ¹⁵But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. ¹⁶For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. ¹⁸What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. ¹⁹For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; ²¹To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. ²²To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. ²⁴Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ²⁵And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ²⁶I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: ²⁷But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Benedictus. St Luke 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us

That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;

Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant St. John Chrysostom, Doctor, Bishop of Constantinople (407), and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


O LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Evensong, Jan. 26, 2009

Evening Prayer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall follow the Psalms.

Psalm 119

PART 17. Mirabilia.

THY testimonies are wonderful; / therefore doth my soul keep them.

130 When thy word goeth forth, / it giveth light and understanding unto the simple.

131 I opened my mouth and drew in my breath; / for my delight was in thy commandments.

132 O look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, / as thou art wont to do unto those that love thy Name.

133 Order my steps in thy word; / and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me.

134 O deliver me from the wrongful dealings of men; / and so shall I keep thy precepts.

135 Show the light of thy countenance upon thy servant, / and teach me thy statutes.

136 Mine eyes gush out with water, / because men keep not thy law.

PART 18. Justus es, Domine.

RIGHTEOUS art thou, O LORD, / and true are thy judgements.

138 The testimonies that thou hast commanded / are exceeding righteous and true.

139 My zeal hath even consumed me; / because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

140 Thy word is tried to the uttermost, / and thy servant loveth it.

141 I am small and of no reputation; / yet do I not forget thy precepts.

142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, / and thy law is the truth.

143 Trouble and heaviness have taken hold upon me; / yet is my delight in thy commandments.

144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: / O grant me understanding, and I shall live.

First Reading:

Malachi 1

The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. ²I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, ³And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. ⁴Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever. ⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.

⁶A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? ⁷Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. ⁸And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁰Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. ¹¹For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹²But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. ¹³Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. ¹⁴But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

I Corinthians 8

Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. ²And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. ³But if any man love God, the same is known of him. ⁴As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. ⁵For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) ⁶But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. ⁷Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. ⁸But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. ⁹But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. ¹⁰For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; ¹¹And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? ¹²But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. ¹³Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

ALMIGHTY God, by whose grace and power thy Martyr St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Apostolic Man, Martyr (155 or 156) was enabled to witness to the truth and to be faithful unto death: Grant that we, who now remember him before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

People are worthy of respect . . .

Great article in the Weekly Standard (my bolds):

It now looks as though a significant number of European and other Western governments are weakening in their resolve to defend the bedrock doctrines of liberal democracy, namely, freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.

In a nod to their Muslim populations, countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Italy are considering legislation to ban "hate speech" against religious groups. (Earlier this week a Dutch court ordered the prosecution of lawmaker Geert Wilders, a fierce critic of Islam, for statements that "can amount to inciting hatred" of Muslims.) Meanwhile, Islamic states with blasphemy laws that criminalize religious dissent -- such as Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan -- are essentially being invited to impose their culture of repression on the rest of the international community.

This is what happens when an airy notion of "multiculturalism" replaces weightier concepts of national identity, rooted in the moral norms and religious truths that uphold human freedom. European "tolerance," al la the enlightenment, is degenerating into a tacit endorsement of religious repression. Voltaire must be spinning in his grave.

The irony of the situation has not escaped the notice of some of Islam's most outspoken critics. Maryam Namazie, founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims in Britain, warns that "tolerance and respect for so-called minority opinions and beliefs, rather than respect for human beings" is becoming the pattern in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe. "Human beings are worthy of the highest respect," she writes, "but not all opinions and beliefs are worthy of respect and tolerance."

An earlier generation of European thinkers, still attached to Christian ideas about civil society, endorsed the wisdom of that view. John Locke, who did as much as any early enlightenment figure to defend freedom of conscience, nevertheless understood that some would seek to destroy freedom under the cloak of perverted religion. In his Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), Locke boldly demanded that the secular state keep its nose out of the affairs of the church. That didn't stop him, though, from insisting that government work vigilantly to curb the influence of religious doctrines that threatened the natural rights of its citizens. "No opinion contrary to human society, or to those moral rules which are necessary to the preservation of civil society," he wrote, "are to be tolerated by the magistrate."

This is why religious freedom cannot descend into sheer moral relativism. There needs to be a basic, natural law, Jude0-Christian foundation for all our rights and freedoms.

Or we can kiss them goodbye.

We don't need more hate laws, just enforcement of existing laws

That's the message I read between the lines in Ezra Levant's post today.

He writes that a Calgary mall has obtained a court order to stop pro-Hamas demonstrators from repeatedly trespassing, and flying Hezbollah flags and anti-Semitic posters:

But the question is: why did it take a court to have to make that order?

Why were local politicians silent about this display of bigotry, week after week?

Why did the Calgary Police Service permit this unruly mob onto private property in the first place? Why were trespass charges not laid against them weeks ago? Why did the police do nothing when a pro-Israel counter-protester had a shoe thrown at him, and when a rabbi was spat at? Why were assault charges not laid against them?

The answer is obvious: local politicians have done their math. There are only 8,000 Jews in Calgary, and more than 75,000 Muslims. Denouncing anti-Semitic bigotry is fine for politicians when the bigots are politically powerless neo-Nazi skinheads. When they're radical Muslims, funded by Saudi Arabia, the politicians fall silent.

Same for Canada's Orwellian human rights commissions. They claim to be against "hate". They're awfully brave at taking on Christian clergy who preach the Bible's "hateful" Book of Leviticus. But notice their cowardly silence in the face of mass hate marches in the streets. Jennifer Lynch is probably off on some other five-star junket to study how Cameroon keeps their people so free.

The police aren't much better: it's easier to tell a handful of pro-Israel supporters to leave than to tangle with 200 angry Muslim radicals. It's not only the politically correct thing to do, it's just plain easier.

Mark Steyn plays "demographic bore" in response to Ezra's post.

As Ezra says, you do the math. This is the demographic reality, not just in Canada but in the Netherlands, France, Britain and many other places. When your demographic energy is predominantly Muslim, so is your future. It might be relatively benignly Muslim, like Malaysia. Or it might be toxically so, like Waziristan. But more Muslim is what it will be, one way or another. If you're confident that Muslims will be assimilated by exposure to the west and that (as the Dutch gay humanist author Oscar van den Boogaard hopes) Islam will "learn to laugh at itself", then there's nothing to worry about. But, if you're less sure about that, there's a mighty big question mark over the future.

Interestingly, one "moderate" Muslim in the British House of Lords is enough to stop debate in that venerable institution.

A member of the Lords intended to invite her colleagues to a private meeting in a conference room in the House of Lords to meet the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an elected member of the Dutch parliament, to watch his controversial movie Fitna and discuss the movie and Mr. Wilders’ opinions with him.

Barely had the invitation been sent to all the members of the House when Lord Ahmed raised hell. He threatened to mobilize 10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr. Wilders from entering the House and threatened to take the colleague who was organizing the event to court. The result is that the event, which should have taken place next Thursday was cancelled.

Here's Pat Condell's take on what's happening to Geert Wilders:

"What kind of justice system is it where the truth is inadmissible as evidence?"

"You're being chewed up and spat out, is what's happening to you people. Look at what you're doing: you're prosecuting a man who is under twenty-four hour protection from attack by violent Muslim, yet he's the criminal for expressing an opinion. Lewis Carroll couldn't have written this one any better."

Morning Prayer, Jan. 26, 2009

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord is glorious in his saints: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PART 15. Iniquos odio habui.

I HATE double-minded men; / but thy law do I love.

114 Thou art my defence and shield: / and my trust is in thy word.

115 Away from me, ye wicked, / that I may keep the commandments of my God.

116 O stablish me according to thy word, that I may live; / and let me not be disappointed of my hope.

117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe; / yea, my delight shall be ever in thy statutes.

118 Thou hast trodden down all them that depart from thy statutes; / for they imagine but deceit.

119 Thou puttest away all the ungodly of the earth like dross; / therefore I love thy testimonies.

120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; / and I am afraid of thy judgements.

PART 16. Feci judicium.

I HAVE done the thing that is lawful and right: / O give me not over unto mine oppressors.

122 Be thou surety for thy servant to do him good, / that the proud do me no wrong.

123 Mine eyes are wasted away with looking for thy salvation, / and for the word of thy righteousness.

124 O deal with thy servant according unto thy loving mercy, / and teach me thy statutes.

125 I am thy servant; O grant me understanding, / that I may know thy testimonies.

126 It is time for thee, LORD, to lay to thine hand; / for they have destroyed thy law.

127 For I love thy commandments / above gold, yea above fine gold.

128 Therefore I hold all thy precepts to be right; / and all false ways I utterly abhor.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Habakkuk 3: 2-end

²O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. ³God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. ⁴And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. ⁵Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. ⁶He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. ⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. ⁸Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? ⁹Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. ¹⁰The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. ¹¹The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. ¹²Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. ¹³Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. ¹⁴Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. ¹⁵Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. ¹⁶When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

¹⁷Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: ¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. ¹⁹The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therin.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

I Corinthians 7

Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. ³Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. ⁴The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. ⁵Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. ⁶But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. ⁷For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

⁸I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. ⁹But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. ¹⁰And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: ¹¹But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. ¹²But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. ¹³And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. ¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. ¹⁵But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. ¹⁶For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? ¹⁷But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. ¹⁸Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. ¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. ²⁰Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. ²¹Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. ²²For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. ²³Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. ²⁴Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

²⁵Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. ²⁶I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. ²⁷Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. ²⁸But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. ²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; ³⁰And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; ³¹And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. ³²But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: ³³But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. ³⁴There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. ³⁵And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. ³⁶But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. ³⁷Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. ³⁸So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. ³⁹The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. ⁴⁰But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

Benedictus. St Luke 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us

That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;

Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

ALMIGHTY God, by whose grace and power thy Martyr St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Apostolic Man, Martyr (155 or 156) was enabled to witness to the truth and to be faithful unto death: Grant that we, who now remember him before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Ace fisks an AP story about Obama's first 3 daze

His conclusion?

I eagerly await more hard hitting coverage of the Obama administration. Up next..Obama's favorite color! What kind of tree he we would be if he were a tree and of course, Obama: Does America really deserve him?

You keep it professional AP.

More reasons why stimulus package must be opposed

Dick Morris writes (my bolds):

We will enter his Administration as the United States, buoyed by an aggressive free market economy. We will exit his first year - and even the first hundred days - as France, burdened with massive government regulation, a vast public sector, and permanent middle class entitlements. And Obama will take care to arrange things so that massive and permanent political change accompanies his and protects his legislative achievements in the future.

He will call this radical change a stimulus package. He will dress up a generation of liberal priorities as necessary steps to fight the economic crisis. His programs and policies won't do much to end the depression. It will end only after the massive burden of debt is lifted from the shoulders of American and foreign households and companies, a process which will take years. At most, his stimulus will act as methadone while we withdraw from our debt addiction, mitigating the pain, smoothing over the trauma, and soothing our system. But Obama's strategy is to hide inside the Trojan Horse of stimulus an army of radical measures to change America permanently.

The most pernicious of his proposals will be the massive Make Work Pay refundable tax credit. Dressed up as a tax cut, it will be a national welfare program, guaranteeing a majority of American households an annual check to "refund" taxes they never paid. And it will eliminate the need for about 20% of American households to pay income taxes, lifting the proportion that need not do so to a majority of the voting population. Unlike the Bush stimulus checks, this new program will be a permanent entitlement, a part of our budget that can only go up and never down. Politically, it will transform a majority of Americans from taxpayers, anxious to hold down government spending, into tax eaters, eager to reap new benefits.

I'm all for reform and improvements, but the kind of change Obama stands for is dangerous.

What Kathy made 4 new Prez ....heh heh heh heh

(Goze wit dis)

I just stole the above LOLRush from Kathy Shaidle, because it is sooooooo perfect for the battle that President(he sure ain't acting presidential) Obama has picked with Rush Limbaugh. Kathy's headline is:

LOLRush what I made 4 new Prez. Heh heh heh.

There are new developments. The Telegraph has an article on the stupidity of the Prez's remarks here:

Mr Obama has told Republicans in Washington to stop listening to the right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh, risking a new culture war with conservative voters.

His exhortation came as he enraged other Republicans by reversing George W Bush's ban on funding international aid to charities that perform or provide information about abortions.

After less than a week in office, Mr Obama's presidency is already encountering the very partisan bickering he had pledged to stamp out during his first 100 days.

He faces mounting criticism over his $825 billion economic stimulus plan, from Republican leaders who say the legislation has been drawn up without the input which Mr Obama had promised to allow them.

The president responded with a clear signal that he is prepared to ram the bill through without the bipartisan consensus he promised to construct, telling Republican leaders from the House of Representatives: "I won. I'm the president."

He then told them to break free of the confrontational mindset epitomised by Mr Limbaugh, the highest paid talk show host in America. "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," Mr Obama said.

His comments followed a blunt attack on him by Mr Limbaugh, who declared on air that he hoped Mr Obama would fail as president because otherwise it will usher in socialism.

Melanie Philips comments:

Oh dear. The idea that Obama is a centrist who wishes to end the culture wars is laughable. (Indeed, in such a war there is no centre ground: you are either on one side or the other). The White House website sets out his agenda on ‘civil rights’, which includes expanding federal ‘hate crime’ legislation, ending racial profiling, repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples, giving adoption rights to gay couples, and lifting the federal ban on needle exchange – a policy promoted by drug legalisers on the disingenuous grounds that this will reduce infection among drug users but which actually helps normalise drug abuse. Then there’s the launch of Organising for America, an extension of the community activism Obama encouraged, after he was elected, through a network of informal ’house parties’ to discuss pressing issues. Now it’s to be a formal infrastructure of activism.

She goes on:

Alinsky’s thinking permeates ACORN and other community groups that in the past were associated with or funded by Obama, and which push an agenda that is as coercive and corrupt as it is seditious. America's First Community Organiser promised ACORN during his campaign that within his first 100 days in office he would invite them in to discuss how they could help him change America.

It has started already.

Rush is onto them. Thanks to National Review and the blogosphere, most conservatives are on to them also.

Evensong, Jan. 24, 2009, Eve of the Conversion of Saint Paul

Pray for Christian unity!

Evening Prayer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.
Then shall follow the Psalms.

PSALM 96. Cantate Domino.

O SING unto the LORD a new song; / sing unto the LORD, all the whole earth.

2 Sing unto the LORD, and praise his Name; / be telling of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his honour among the nations, / and his wonders among all peoples.

4 FOR the LORD is great, and cannot worthily be praised; / he is more to be feared than all gods.

5 As for all the gods of the peoples, they are but idols; / but it is the LORD that made the heavens.

6 Honour and majesty are before him: / strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 ASCRIBE unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the peoples, / ascribe unto the LORD glory and power.

8 Give unto the LORD the honour due unto his Name; / bring presents and come into his courts.

9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; / let the whole earth stand in awe of him.

10 TELL it out among the nations that the LORD is King;. / he hath made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved; he shall judge the peoples righteously.

11 Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad; / let the sea make a noise, and all that is therein.

12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it; / then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD;

13 For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, / and with righteousness to judge the world, and the peoples with his truth.

PSALM 98. Cantate Domino.

O SING unto the LORD a new song; / for he hath done marvellous things.

2 With his own right hand, and with his holy arm, / hath he gotten himself the victory.

3 The LORD hath declared his salvation: / his righteousness hath he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He hath remembered his mercy and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel; / and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God.

5 SHOW yourselves joyful unto the LORD, all ye lands: / sing, rejoice, and give thanks.

6 Praise the LORD upon the harp: / sing to the harp with a psalm of thanksgiving.

7 With trumpets also and the sound of the horn, / O show yourselves joyful before the LORD, the King.

8 LET the sea make a noise, and all that is therein; / the round world, and they that dwell therein.

9 Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; / for he is come to judge the earth.

10 With righteousness shall he judge the world, / and the peoples with equity.

First Reading:

Isaiah 56: 1-8

Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. ²Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

³Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. ⁴For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; ⁵Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. ⁶Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; ⁷Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. ⁸The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

Acts 26: 1-23

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: ²I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews: ³Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. ⁴My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; ⁵Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: ⁷Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. ⁸Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? ⁹I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. ¹¹And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. ¹²Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, ¹³At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. ¹⁵And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. ¹⁶But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; ¹⁷Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, ¹⁸To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ¹⁹Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. ²¹For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. ²²Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: ²³That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

O GOD, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Rush Limbaugh responds

I just got off the phone with a friend who, like me, is appalled by President Obama's singling out Rush Limbaugh and in effect telling legislators they should not be listening to him. Say what?

The American head of state is telling people whom they can and cannot listen to? Will he be telling them next what they should or should not read or watch next? This is making a mockery of his "oaf of office" to uphold the American Constitution and the First Amendment. Who does this man think he is?

Could you imagine what would have happened if George W. Bush told people to stop listening to Bill Maher?

Well, Rush Limbaugh has responded. Here's what he told The Corner's Bryon York.


The comments section below the original article are most interesting.

Example:

libertybelle writes:

Dear Blaze 1-
I see the Dems have decided they can lecture on efite social gestures and class... Let's look at the new ruling class as they shepherd they way into "power" this past week..
1) Booing the past president
2) An inaugural speech that also lacked decorum by insulting a former president.
3) Making sure my tax dollars could fund abortion all over the world.
4) A stimulus package with 300M for condoms
5) Rahmbo giving a 5 finger salute during a solemn occassion
6) 130 tons of trash left behind from the "green" crowd
7) A stimulus package that legislates 200M for the National Mall and grass? Are we replacing the grass from the throng of people who were definately not missing work on Tuesday?
8) A Commander in Chief who says, "I won..."
9) A treausury secretary who is also a Messiah (according to BO/Nancy and Harry) who can't balance his own checkbook to pay that extra money the IMF gave him to the government as the rest of the proletariat must.
10) The Carters snubbing the Clintons...

Yes- the children are back... I see the games have begun. Can't wait 'til they take their toys and go home in 3 years and 51 weeks.

Blaze, we will stay as classy as your crowd did over the past 8 years. We took our best lessons from Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman, BO and Michelle, ACORN, Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, the late Franklin Marshall Davis, Saul Aulinsky, the Clintons, Rahm Emmanuel, Gov Blago, Planned Parenthood, the railings of Nancy, "my face is too tight" Pelosis and that little little man from Nevada, Harry (yes, I have a Napolean complex) Reid.

Please- don't lecture on class. You don't have a leg to stand on!

Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing "eternal" power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.

And Rush adds:

If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less
time debating the merits of the trillion dollar debacle.

One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama's ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy's Rules for Radicals:

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

Mark this story, my dear readers . . .

Detect any megalomaniacal notes in this story? Perhaps a whiff of totalitarianism? Or at the very least the so-called (and utterly misnamed Fairness Doctrine) could be coming out way with the explicit aim of wiping Rush Limbaugh and other right-leaning talk show hosts off the radio airwaves?

Here it is from the New York Post's Washington bureau chief Charles Hurt. (my bolds in the body of the story)

Last updated: 10:37 pm
January 23, 2009
Posted: 8:13 pm
January 23, 2009

WASHINGTON -- President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.

"There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."

That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.

In an exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) about the proposal, the president shot back: "I won," according to aides briefed on the meeting.

"I will trump you on that."

Not that Obama was gloating. He was just explaining that he aims to get his way on stimulus package and all other legislation, sources said, noting his unrivaled one-party control of both congressional chambers.

"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama said during the meeting.

Republicans say the $825 billion price tag is too big a burden for a nation crippled by debt and that it doesn't do enough to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes.

"You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there, [about] ... how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives," House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said.

"How does that stimulate the economy?"

Lord, have mercy.

Must read Binky post

Among other things, he writes of the Big O:

It’s like he’s watching himself on TV, but then switches off, because he’s just a fan visiting the set. Listen up, O– it’s real deal, and you’re it. You’re not a VIP guest any more, and can’t do that clumsy duck-n-dodge of reporters, or botched oath in public (remember: the second oath had no Lincoln Bible). No more post-modern watching yourself watching other people watching you.

He also makes this point:

WORD TO THE CHRC, KINSELLA & CO.– “Joint hatred of everything Jewish is unifying neo-Nazis and Islamists.” Yeah, it doesn’t fit the old model, but you guys are back in the 90’s anyway, so wake up. The radical Muslims are the new haters, along with the basement Nazis and Doc Marten demographic.

Get it? Steyn is in trouble because he’s belling the cat, not because he’s a paragon of hate-speech. Like Geert Wilders, it’s easier to attack the messenger when you don’t want to hear the message. You’re complaining about the fire alarm and smoke, but ignoring the fire. You are supposed to be public servants, not servants of a blinkered ideology into which you squeeze reality ad people who fit the categories.

The Freespeechers are mostly just people, trying to point out a serious contradiction in our puzzled land, that a Steyn or Boissoin or Levant are under the Human Rights gun, but hate-spewing Imams and radical Muslims in Canada get a free pass. Death to Jews? Exterminate gays? Sharia uber alles? Saith Steyn:

“The PC nellies of the Canadian “Human Rights” Commission, happy to hound the last neo-Nazi in Saskatchewan posting to the Internet from his mum’s basement, won’t go anywhere near Abou Hammaad Sulaiman Dameus al-Hayitia, the big-time Montreal imam whose book says infidels are “evil people”, Jews “spread corruption and chaos”, and homosexuals should be “exterminated”

Morning Prayer, Jan. 24, 2009

Pray for Holy Spirit-inspired Christian unity.

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord is glorious in his saints: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 118. Confitemini Domino.

O GIVE thanks unto the LORD, for he is gracious: / because his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let Israel now confess that he is gracious, / and that his mercy endureth for ever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now confess / that his mercy endureth for ever.

4 Yea, let them now that fear the LORD confess / that his mercy endureth for ever.

5 I CALLED upon the LORD in trouble; / and the LORD heard me and set me free.

6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: / what can man do unto me?

7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: / therefore shall I see my desire upon mine enemies.

8 It is better to trust in the LORD / than to put any confidence in man.

9 It is better to trust in the LORD / than to put any confidence in princes.

10 ALL nations compassed me round about; / but in the Name of the LORD did I destroy them.

11 They kept me in on every side, they kept me in, I say, on every side,' / but in the Name of the LORD did I destroy them.

12 They came about me like bees, and blazed up even as the fire among the thorns; / but in the Name of the LORD did I destroy them.

13 Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall; / but the LORD was my help.

14 The LORD is my strength and my song, / and is become my salvation.

15 THE voice of joy and health is in the dwellings of the righteous: / the right hand of the LORD bringeth mighty things to pass.

16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: / the right hand of the LORD bringeth mighty things to pass.

17 I shall not die, but live, / and declare the works of the LORD.

18 The LORD hath chastened and corrected me; / but he hath not given me over unto death.

19 OPEN to me the gates of righteousness, / that I may go into them and give thanks unto the LORD.

20 This is the gate of the LORD: / the righteous shall enter into it.

21 I will thank thee, for thou hast heard me, / and art become my salvation.

22 THE same stone which the builders refused / is become the head-stone in the corner.

23 This is the LORD's doing, / and it is marvellous in our eyes.

24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; / we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Help us now, O LORD: / O LORD, send us now prosperity.

26 BLESSED is he that cometh in the Name of the LORD: / we bless you from the house of the LORD.

27 The LORD is God, and he hath given us light: / set in order the procession with branches, yea, even up to the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I will thank thee: / thou art my God, and I will praise thee.

29 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is gracious: / for his mercy endureth for ever.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Habakkuk 1

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. ²O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! ³Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. ⁴Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

⁵Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. ⁶For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. ⁷They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. ⁸Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. ⁹They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. ¹⁰And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. ¹¹Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

¹²Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. ¹³Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? ¹⁴And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? ¹⁵They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. ¹⁶Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. ¹⁷Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therin.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

Matthew 15: 1-28

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, ²Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. ³But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ⁴For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. ⁵But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; ⁶And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. ⁷Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, ⁸This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. ⁹But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

¹⁰And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: ¹¹Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. ¹²Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? ¹³But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. ¹⁴Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. ¹⁵Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. ¹⁶And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? ¹⁷Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? ¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. ¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: ²⁰These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

²¹Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. ²²And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. ²³But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. ²⁴But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ²⁵Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. ²⁶But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. ²⁷And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. ²⁸Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Benedictus. St Luke 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us

That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;

Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servants St. Timothy and St. Titus to be a Bishops in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Murder of Swedish gay man by two "boys" aka "youths"

I got an interesting glimpse into the future of my profession in reading a translation of a Swedish report about the murder of a gay man in that country by two Muslim youths. Is there any outrage?

A translation is provided of the story in the mainstream Swedish press up at Gates of Vienna.

Here's an excerpt:

Two teenagers are suspected of the murder at Kapellgatan in Malmö. The motive might be a hate crime. One of the boys has been known for his extreme views on moral issues. On Thursday, the younger suspect confessed to using violence against the 26-year-old — claiming self-defense.

The two teenagers were picked up by police as they were on their way to school this morning. After an initial interrogation in which they both denied being involved in the crime, they were both arrested on suspicion of murder.

“We believe they are identical to the two unknown men who were seen in the building at Kapellgatan at the time of the murder,” prosecutor Bo Albrektsson said after the arrest. He refuses to offer any details about the murder. Not how it happened, nor what motive the police suspect.

Read it all. It's fascinating what ISN'T said. Then the translator provides the decoder ring.

He writes:

Further commentary by Henrik W.:

How does a Swede know the suspects are Muslims? Well, let’s examine it from the top:

1.		Because the victim is gay, a hate crime is suspected. And yet, the newspapers refer to the perpetrators as “boys”, something that is highly unlikely if they had been native Swedes, since they would almost certainly have been referred to as “the right-wing extremists” in that case, no matter their age.
2.		Then we learn that one of the “boys” is known for his extreme views about moral issues. At this point, any reader with a proficiency in European MSM texts should intuitively realize that they are Muslims — again, a native who committed a hate crime against gays would never be referred to as having “moral issues”.
3.		We learn that one of the suspects has a extreme blog, but we don’t learn what sort of extreme blog. The right-wing designation is missing.
4.		What really clinches it is the seemingly spurious information about how the victim’s partner denies having received threats about his service in Afghanistan.

Hmm… let’s see — what sort of people with “moral issues” and “extreme views” could possibly take issue with somebody serving in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan? In short, for someone who has become adept at decoding the European media — a business of looking at what is not said just as much as what is — it’s evident that the suspects must be Muslims.

(Henrik V. does a check through other means to find verify that this is in fact true. Continue reading the story and you'll see the names and a link to the jihadist blog of the older suspect)

This reminds me about how all the young men yelling Allahu Akbar ! and lighting carbecues in France were described as "youths."

When I was in the United States over Christmas, I was shocked because even the left-leaning Boston Globe had articles that mentioned the Muslim religion of suspects. In fact, given the kind of media training I had had for years at the CBC and breathing the politically- correct ether in the halls of Ottawa, I thought the mention of the religious faith in the instances I saw was gratuitous. Sorry, I can't remember what the crimes in question were.

But if religion is a possible motive for a hate crime, then it is not gratuitous to mention it. They sure would have mentioned if if the boys had been Christians, now wouldn't they?

By the way, the post linked to above talks about a gay man who was stabbed during a gay pride parade in Sweden.

Last year’s Stockholm Pride Parade, for instance, saw a stabbing to death of a gay man, an event that got very significant exposure in the media before it was established that the perpetrators were Muslims — at which point the story disappeared from the newspapers.

I and every other Christian I know finds the idea that people would get killed, beaten up, or even threatened simply because of they are gay is abhorrent. Just as we stand with Jews against anti-Semitism, we stand with gays against gay bashing. We may agree to disagree with you about marriage and God's plan for human sexuality, but most of us would just like to be able to share the public space without either of us having to be in the closet.
That goes for Muslims, too. I would hate seeing any violence directed against Muslims living in Canada.

Evensong, Jan. 23, 2009

Pray for Christian unity!

Evening Prayer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.
Then shall follow the Psalms.

PSALM 112. Beatus vir.

BLESSED is the man that feareth the LORD, / that hath great delight in his commandments.

2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth; / the generation of the faithful shall be blessed.

3 Riches and plenteousness shall be in his house; / and his righteousness endureth for ever.

4 Unto the upright there ariseth up light in the darkness; / he is merciful, loving, and righteous.

5 It is well with the man that is merciful and lendeth, / and ordereth his affairs with justice.

6 For he shall never be moved:/ and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance,

7 He will not be afraid of any evil tidings; / for his heart standeth fast and believeth in the LORD.

8 His heart is established and will not shrink, / until he see his desire upon his enemies.

9 He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor, / and his righteousness remaineth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

10 The ungodly shall see it, and it shall grieve him: / he shall gnash with his teeth and consume away; the desire of the ungodly shall perish.

PSALM 113. Laudate, pueri.

PRAISE the LORD, ye servants; / O praise the Name of the LORD.

2 Blessed be the Name of the LORD / from this time forth for evermore.

3 The LORD's Name is to be praised / from the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same.

4 THE LORD is high above all nations, / and his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, / that hath his dwelling so high,

6 And yet humbleth himself to behold / the things that are in heaven and earth?

7 HE taketh up the poor out of the dust, / and lifteth the needy out of the mire;

8 That he may set him with the princes, / even with the princes of his people.

9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, / and to be a joyful mother of children.

First Reading:

Nahum 3

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; ²The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. ³The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: ⁴Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. ⁵Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. ⁶And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. ⁷And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? ⁸Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? ⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. ¹⁰Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. ¹¹Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. ¹²All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. ¹³Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. ¹⁴Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. ¹⁵There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. ¹⁶Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. ¹⁷Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. ¹⁸Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. ¹⁹There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

I Corinthians 4: 18- 5-end

8Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. ²¹What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

I Corinthians 5

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. ²And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, ⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? ⁷Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ⁹I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: ¹⁰Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. ¹¹But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. ¹²For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? ¹³But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Dr. Sanity asks you to . . .

Ask yourself how the Women's Movement, of which I was once a proud member, degenerate solely into an Abortion Clinic?

Marriage is not "living together"

Great op ed by Andrea Mrozek in the Montreal Gazette:

Giving cohabitation the same privileges as marriage in effect forces couples to walk down the aisle - whether they actually decide in favour of marriage or not.

"Forced marriage" is the reality in many Canadian provinces, where the state steps in after a certain number of months and begins treating people living together as if they are married through the tax code. In Manitoba, common-law couples who split get the same benefits as those who marry if they've lived together for three years. It's similar in Ontario. Newfoundland on the other hand, is a bit stricter - common-law partners can't divide property after a break up and the couple is only considered official partners where there's a child involved. Each province is slightly different.

One of the purposes of this legal accommodation of common law was to offer equality to same- sex couples. Now that same sex marriage is legal, making living together the same as marriage has outlived its purpose. And doing so distorts our understanding of marriage.

That's the ultimate point: Marriage is not the same as living together, on any number of scales, and with great consensus from social scientists no matter their political stripe. The statistical realities are this: People living together break up more readily - even if they do eventually wed. They are more likely to have multiple partners. Any children face more problems - higher rates of school dropout, more drug use and an earlier age of sexual initiation. And single parents - mostly mothers - are more likely to be poor. Kay Hymowitz, the New York-based author of Marriage and Caste in America speaks of a "marriage divide"--a new class division between those who marry and those who don't. The latter end up trapped in a cycle of poverty.

There's nothing particularly empowering about the state quietly forcing our hands as we coast into pseudo-marital status. Those who believe marriage is important (as the woman in the court case did) should not stay silently in relationships that are not.

That we've lost sight of what marriage is doesn't mean governments should step in and make it even easier to live together. If anything, they should be increasing the distinctions between marriage and common law, letting individuals make an informed choice.

Probably not what Bernie Farber was hoping for

What did we do before YouTube? Anyway, Michael Swan has this report on Catholic response to the anti-Semitic signs, Hezbollah flags at a rally organized in Montreal. I don't think it's the denunciation that Bernie Farber and the Canadian Jewish Congress was hoping for when it "made public" what bloggers had already been reporting on.

Michael writes:

TORONTO - Chants of "Palestine is ours/The Jews are dogs" and "Burn, burn Israel" had nothing to do with the vast majority of protesters at an event organized by the archdiocese of Montreal 's social action committee, said the director of the archdiocese of Montreal's social action office.

"To claim that this peaceful demonstration was pro-Hamas is to grossly misrepresent the views of the overwhelming majority of persons who marched on a cold Saturday afternoon," Brian McDonough told The Catholic Register.

McDonough did not publicly distance his office from slogans such as "There is no God but Allah and the jihadist is the beloved of Allah" and "O Nasrallah, o beloved, strike, strike Tel Aviv" before media reports and video of the demonstration went across Canada. He said he and the demonstration's other organizers didn't want to bring undue attention to "an extremely marginal, fringe group."

Canadian Jewish Congress president Bernie Farber is still waiting to hear from the protest organizers.

Here's a video from that Montreal rally. Doesn't look like a small, fringe group to me, but a healthy-sized mob.


and in Montreal:

Download video!

Christian Horizons type decisions in the offing for the U.S.?

From City Journal, my bolds:

American philanthropy is a vital force for good, expressing the imaginative genius and countless enthusiasms of its donors, writes Heather Mac Donald in “Never Enough Beauty, Never Enough Truth.” Unfortunately, a phalanx of liberal activists and Democratic pols doesn’t like this spontaneous creativity. It wants foundations to meet “diversity” targets in their giving and on their staffs. And if the charities don’t comply, the advocates threaten, they will push for new laws forcing them to do so. This is the very opposite of true diversity, a kind of liberal authoritarianism that increasingly threatens American civil society. Mac Donald’s essay is a call to arms to protect our rich philanthropic tradition.

Here's information about the Christian Horizon's case, in case you need a refresher.

Good stuff from Big Hollywood to remember

What the right is experiencing at the moment is a phenomenon called “cultural para-stimuli.” You can read all about it in Tom Wolfe’s wonderful novel I Am Charlotte Simmons. It’s sort of like peer pressure on steroids. It was discovered by Nobel Laureate Victor Ransome Starling, who found that when he surrounded normal cats with cats whose behavior had been bizarrely altered by brain surgery, the normal cats began acting like the crazy cats all around them.

That’s us–surrounded by the mainstream media. So steeped are we now in their lies about our representatives, their ridicule of our commentators, their demonizing dismissal of the causes we know are just, that we’ve begun to adopt their attitudes toward ourselves! [my bold, David Frum and your friends please take note] And perhaps chief among the lies they’ve sold us is the lie that they’ve won, that the media are theirs for good and all, and that Americans are going to be hoodwinked and brainwashed by their constant barrage of misinformation forever.

Well, only if we let them. And only if we in the media surrender first.

Look, the American media are in a bad way, a disastrous way. Movies, TV, literature–instead of illuminating vehicles for art and entertainment, they’ve become like the Matrix, replacing reality with a plausible leftist imitation. Journalists especially have so shamed themselves in their coverage of the last election–hounding Sarah Palin’s daughter and Joe the Plumber while all but ignoring Barack Obama’s ties to Illinois corruption, and his long and deep association with the racist anti-American Jeremiah Wright–that it’s going to take them years to recover. When people shame themselves that badly, they don’t admit it in a hurry. They savage their critics instead and continue their own shameful practices as a kind of defiant denial–anything rather than look in the mirror and confront what they’ve turned themselves into.

So yeah, we’re on our own for now. But we’re not unarmed and we’re in no way defeated.

Not everyone on the Left supports Obama

This is a sobering video, and frankly I find lots to agree with. I disagree with the charge that Rick Warren is a bigot though. I think the people who call him a bigot are bigoted.

Brussels Journal on Geert Wilders

An excerpt:

As in Belgium, the prosecution against Mr. Wilders is a political attempt to kill a politician and a party which threaten the ruling establishment. As Dutch public prosecutor Otto Van der Bijl told CNN, Mr. Wilders will be prosecuted because a total of nine (!) people filed complaints against him. One of these is Mrs. Els Lucas of the governing Labour party, a political opponent of Mr. Wilders’ PVV party, and a party which is rapidly losing its blue-collar voting base to the PVV. What must one call the methods of a court that issues verdicts like the one in Amsterdam? The Wall Street Journal calls them Saudi methods.

It makes me wonder about what sorts of political attempts to kill conservative opinion are in the offing from the new Obama administration. He promises beefed up hate crime legislation over at the White House site. He's put on hold Bush's conscience protection regulations. Brace yourself, Americans.

Most interesting: A Meditation on Crowds

This is a must-read post over at Brussels Journal entitled A Meditation on Crowds. I have always been creeped out by hypnotized crowds all acting in unison. This article explains my discomfort. Here's an excerpt:

No matter how well behaved, as at one of the carefully staged presidential rallies of the 2008 campaigns, a crowd always at least portends something atavistic, some swift recursion from civic courtesy – an institution that required struggling centuries to achieve and is maybe not yet perfected – into thoughtless, purely appetitive behaviors. Some events one cannot imagine in conjunction with a crowd. The intense debates of the Founders that yielded the Constitution provide an example. The Symposia recorded in Plato’s dialogues are likewise exemplary. Other events one cannot imagine except in conjunction with a crowd or crowds. I have been wrestling recently with Le livre noir de la revolution française (“The Black Book of the French Revolution”), whose 800 pages saw publication earlier this year in Paris, in which the words foule (“crowd”) and émeute (“riot”) appear in proximity with one another on almost every page.

A CNSNews.com article on last Tuesday’s festivities in Washington DC quotes participants in that event on their emotional responses to the occasion. The reporter opens with this comment: “President Barack Obama is similar to the Biblical character of Joshua and Martin Luther King Jr. was like Moses, boxing promoter Don King told CNSNews.com on Tuesday.” The article quotes actor Denzel Washington’s mother as saying: “The apostle Paul, Moses, John the Baptist – [Obama is] any one of them. Seriously, he is like one of those apostles for our day. He came to lead us to the original design of what we are supposed to do on this earth.” Washington himself disputes such sacred identifications, but his reasoning hardly reassures an astute observer: “As Mr. Obama has said, it’s not about him. It’s about us. It’s about what we do collectively.” The article also quotes musician Smokey Robinson as calling Obama “a world leader who brought people together.” The past tense seems rather odd in the context, except that there is something inexorably sacrificial about democracy and elections.

Such sentiments as Washington’s, no doubt widely shared, go in tandem with a desire to identify and punish villains. A Fox News report ascribes to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the disposition of being “receptive to the idea of prosecuting some Bush administration officials, while letting others who are accused of misdeeds.” Metaphysically speaking, all politicians probably deserve prosecution. The nastiness of Pelosi’s opinion lies exactly in its partisan character. As William F. Buckley once wrote, no movement is so incapable of living with dissent as liberalism.

Read the whole thing.

A sad anniversary

Nova Scotia Scott reminds me of the martyrdom ten years ago of Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two beautiful little boys, burned to death in their station wagon by a mob.

He has a number of links. AsiaNews has a beautiful interview with his widow:

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Ten years have passed since the night of January 22, 1999, when Hindu extremists burned alive the Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy (ages 9 and 7, in the photo) while they were sleeping in their station wagon in the village of Manoharpur, district of Keonjhar (Orissa). The widow Gladys Staines talks to AsiaNews about the drama of Hindutva violence and the recent anti-Christian persecution in Orissa.

The woman has been back in Orissa since June of 2006, together with her daughter Esther. About the recent anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal, she says "I feel very sad and I am pained at their suffering." On January 22, there will be a commemorative Mass in Monoharpur, at the site of the murder. On the morning of the 23rd, a prayer service will be held at the Baripada Mission, which will conclude with the inauguration of a new physiotherapy hall.

Staines remembers her husband and sons calmly, with tenderness. "During these ten years, there have been times of sadness, I feel sad that I do not have my husband to support me, to guard me, but these are just momentary emotions of sadness which also fill me with great hope, the hope of heaven and of being reunited with my husband and children in paradise and seeing the Father face to face. This guarantee fills me with consolation.

"I cannot express that how I felt when I got the news of my husband and sons being burnt alive. I told my daughter Esther that though we had been
left alone, we would forgive and my daughter replied, 'Yes, we will'."

But time has not taken away the sadness. Last week, Gladys and Esther visited the Hebron Ooty school, where Philip and Timothy studied. Gladys tells AsiaNews, "I feel sad that I do not get to see my sons growing up. Christ has been my companion, but at times I miss the support of my husband. God gives me great support, and the prayers of people has been
a source of great consolation, and this is the solidarity I share with the widows of Kandhamal. It is Jesus who is the source of every consolation and support. God gives us the strength to be able to carry our cross and to live in
His will. Our life and our work here on earth has to go on according to His holy will.

Morning Prayer Jan. 23, 2009

Pray for Holy Spirit-inspired Christian unity.

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord has manifested forth his glory: O come let us worship.

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 110. Dixit Dominus.

THE LORD said unto my lord, / 'Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.'

2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion: / be thou ruler, even in the midst among thine enemies.

3 Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power; / in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4 The LORD sware and will not repent, / 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.'

5 The Lord upon thy right hand / shall smite even kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He shall judge among the nations, and he shall fill them with the bodies of the slain; / yea, he shall smite the heads over many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook in the way; / therefore shall he lift up his head.

PSALM 111. Confitebor tibi.

I WILL give thanks unto the LORD with my whole heart, / in the council of the faithful and in the congregation.

2 The works of the LORD are great, / sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

3 His work is worthy to be praised and had in honour; / and his righteousness endureth for ever.

4 The merciful and gracious LORD hath so done his marvellous works, / that they ought to be had in remembrance.

5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him; / he shall ever be mindful of his covenant.

6 He hath showed his people the power of his works, / in giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are verity and judgement; / all his precepts are sure;

8 They stand fast for ever and ever, / and are done in truth and equity.

9 He sent redemption unto his people; / he hath commanded his covenant for ever; holy and reverend is his Name.

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; / a good understanding have all they that do thereafter; his praise endureth for ever.

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Nahum 2

He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. ²For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. ³The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. ⁴The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. ⁵He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. ⁶The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. ⁷And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. ⁸But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. ⁹Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. ¹⁰She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. ¹¹Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? ¹²The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. ¹³Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

BENEDICITE, OMNIA OPERA.

The Song of the Three Children.

O ALL ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O YE Heavens, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O LET the Earth bless the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Green Things upon the Earth, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O LET Israel bless the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord: / praise him, and magnify him for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

Matthew 14

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, ²And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

³For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. ⁵And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. ⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. ⁸And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger. ⁹And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. ¹⁰And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. ¹⁴And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

¹⁵And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. ¹⁶But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. ¹⁷And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. ¹⁸He said, Bring them hither to me. ¹⁹And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. ²⁰And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. ²¹And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

²²And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. ²³And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. ²⁴But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. ²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. ²⁷But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. ²⁸And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. ²⁹And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. ³¹And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? ³²And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. ³³Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

³⁴And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; ³⁶And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

Benedictus.
St. Luke i. 68. LESSED be the Lord God of Israel : for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us : in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets : which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies : and from the hand of all that hate us.
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers : and to remember his holy Covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham : that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies : might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him : all the days of our life.
And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people : for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God : whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death : and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostle's Creed, by the Minister and the people standing : Except only such days as the Creed of Saint Athanasius is appointed to be read.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling: the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Then the Minister, Clerks, and people shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people.
Answer. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects; the first of the day, which shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; The second for Peace; The third for Grace to live well. And the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth, all kneeling.

Collect of the day:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second Collect, for Peace. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The third Collect, for Grace. LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People. LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels; Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. LMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians xiii. HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Evening Prayer, Jan. 22, 2009

Pray for Christian unity!

Evening Prayer

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;

People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Minister. O God, make speed to save us;

People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and the the Holy Ghost;

People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord's Name be praised.
Then shall follow the Psalms.

PSALM 107 Confitemini Domino.

PART 2

THE LORD turneth the floods nto a wilderness, / and water-springs into a thirsty ground.
34 A fruitful land maketh he barren, / for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
35 Again, he maketh the wilderness a pool of water, / and water-springs of a dry ground.
36 And there he setteth the hungry, / that they may build them a city to dwell in;
37 That they may sow their land and plant vineyards, / to yield them fruits of increase.
38 He blesseth them, so that they multiply exceedingly, / and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
39 And again, when they are minished and brought low, / through oppression, through any plague or trouble;
40 Though he poureth contempt upon princes, / and maketh them to wander out of the way in the wilderness;
41 Yet helpeth he the poor out of misery, / and maketh him households like a flock of sheep.
42 The righteous shall see this and rejoice; / and the mouth of all wickedness shall be stopped.
43 Whoso is wise will ponder these things; / and they shall understand the loving-kindness of the LORD.

First Reading:

Nahum 1

The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 7The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. 8But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 9What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 11There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor. 12Thus saith the Lord: Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 13For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. 15Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

MAGNIFICAT. St. Luke 1:46

MY soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded / the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth / all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me; / and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him / throughout all generations.

He hath showed strength with his arm; / he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble and the meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; / and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy / hath holpen his servant Israel;

As he promised to our forefathers, / Abraham and his seed for ever.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then THE SECOND LESSON as appointed.

I Corinthians 4: 1-17

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 6And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? 8Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. 9For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. 11Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; 12And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: 13Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. 14I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. 15For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. 17For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke 2:29.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, / according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, / which thou has prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, / and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles' Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;

People. And with thy spirit.

Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;

People. And grant us thy salvation.

Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;

People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;

People. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people;

People. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

People. And evermore mightily defend us.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;

People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY, together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

Collect of the Day:

ALMIGHTY God, by whose grace and power thy Martyr St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr (Spain c.304) was enabled to witness to the truth and to be faithful unto death: Grant that we, who now remember him before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O LORD Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or a Hymn.

Here may be said the prayers found at this point in Morning Prayer or selections from the Prayers and Thanksgivings or such other prayers as are contained in this Book or set forth by lawful authority, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Imagine if Christians demanded separate swim times

The Binks writes over at Canucki Jihad:

A New Civil Rights War?
After the medi-gasm over Obama– first black prez
and such legitimately good stuff, whatever his flawed character, goals, and
friends– and all that Civil Rights remembrance, we’re stupidly blinded by
liberal geezers remembering their glory days from seeing racism and
discrimination right in front of us. Saddest of all, they’ve co-oped the
hijacked rights-language of the Civil Rights battles as stolen by same-sex
agitators. White & Black drinking fountains? Pah! Amateur! How’s about
Islamist and infidel swim-times at public pools? Get to the back of the bus,
infidel!

More on the freedom of speech implications of the Wilders case

Robert Spencer writes:

FP: Geert Wilders is being put on trial by the Dutch Court of Appeals in Amsterdam for making anti-Islamic statements. Tell us what this charge is about and the ramifications if Wilders loses.

Spencer: The charge is essentially that he has insulted Islam and Muslims, and engaged in hate speech. Hate speech, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and hate speech laws are tools in the hands of the powerful that they can use to silence the powerless and crush dissent.

And make no mistake: even though the Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the West present themselves as embattled victims of racism and "Islamophobia," that is exactly what is going on here: this is just one part of the 57-government Organization of the Islamic Conference's efforts to silence speech that they deem critical of Islam -- including "defamation of Islam" that goes under the "pretext" of "freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security."

If they succeed in doing this, we will be rendered mute, and thus defenseless, in the face of the advancing jihad and attempt to impose Sharia on the West -- in fact, one of the key elements of the laws for dhimmis is that they are never critical of Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an, so this initiative not only aids the advance of Sharia in the West, but is itself an element of that advance.

FP: So if this attempt to silence the truth about Islam succeeds, who exactly, at this stage, “will be rendered mute”? If the totalitarians get their way, who will be silenced? Tell us what boundaries this affects.

Spencer: Well, when the Organization of the Islamic Conference specifies that they consider defamatory even speech about Islam that goes under the rubric of "counter terrorism or national security," they are trying to stop counterterrorism analysts from studying and discussing the motives and goals of Islamic jihad terrorists. The ones who will be rendered mute will be the ones who we most need to speak: those who understand why the jihadists are attacking us, what they hope to accomplish, and what kind of society they envision.

Should there be an abortion business bail-out?

Looks like Obama is going to bail out the abortion industry, and even direct tax dollars to abortion.

Good idea in tough economic times?

Too bad Canadians won't ban the public funding of abortion. Sad that someone is waiting in line for cancer treatment when maybe some of the money and resources directed towards abortion could be redirected towards saving lives, and not just that of the unborn child.

Praying for a successful National March for Life

Blogs for Life has an agenda today with live streaming here:

Blogs for Life is an excellent opportunity for individuals and organizations to network with pro-life bloggers and activists and to grow in their knowledge of how internet technology can be used to strategically promote life and transform ideas into action as we move toward a post-Roe America. The event will also webcast live on www.frc.org, providing an opportunity for pro-life bloggers and blog readers to participate in the March, even if they cannot travel to Washington, D.C.

Schedule (all times Easter Standard AM):

8:30-8:35: Introduction - emcee Jill Stanek, JillStanek.com

8:35-8:50: Peter Shinn/Major Samuel Mosteller, Pro-Life Unity

8:50-9:05: Shaun Kenney, Executive Director, American Life League

9:05-9:20: Danny Glover, Blogger/Journalist

9:20-9:35: Michael New, Ph.D., University of Alabama

9:35-9:50: Dr. Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President, Americans United for Life

9:50-10:00: Break [22 Weeks film preview]

10:00-10:15: Chris Gacek, PhD., J.D. (FRC) /Martha Shuping, M.D.

10:15-10:30: Michael Illions, Conservatives with Attitude!

10:30-10:50: Amanda Carpenter, Townhall.com

10:50-11:10: Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan)

11:10-11:30: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash)

Thank you Fr. Neuhaus--please pray for us

I got my January copy of First Things in the mail and there is wonderful writing by the late Fr. Neuhaus in it. I haven't finished the issue yet, but Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review's The Corner brought my attention to this excellent piece posted on the First Things website.

Fr. Neuhaus writes (my bolds):

Well yes, the abortion battle is over abortion and whether the unborn child counts as a human person, but where one comes out on that question is, I believe, powerfully influenced by a host of other beliefs and attitudes aptly summarized in the pro-life language of a culture of death versus a culture of life. There are two cultures, one focused on rights and laws and the other on rights and wrongs; one focused on maximizing individual self-expression and the other on reinforcing community and responsibility.

This is interesting, because I went to a Civitas-sponsored lecture last night in which University of Ottawa philosophy professor Graeme Hunter pointed out that the language of good and evil is preferable to the present discourse about human rights aka entitlements. He pointed out how ridiculous the notion of human rights are without God and human beings made in the image of God. Human rights otherwise become a battle for power, as we can see as each new interest group leverages it's piece of the human rights "pie".

Mark Steyn on the Dutch's "social euthanasia"

At National Review's The Corner he writes:

The Dutch, like the Canadians, think they can maintain social peace by shriveling the bounds of public discourse and bringing what little remains under state regulation. But one notices that the coercive urge, which comes so naturally to Euro-progressives, only goes in one direction. The Swedish Chancellor of Justice shuts down the investigation into the Grand Mosque of Stockholm for selling tapes urging believers to kill "the brothers of pigs and apes" (ie, Jews) because that's simply "the everyday climate in the rhetoric". The masked men marching through the streets of London with placards threatening to rain down another 9/11 on the infidels are protected by a phalanx of Metropolitan Police officers. The PC nellies of the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission, happy to hound the last neo-Nazi in Saskatchewan posting to the Internet from his mum's basement, won't go anywhere near Abou Hammaad Sulaiman Dameus al-Hayitia, the big-time Montreal imam whose book says infidels are "evil people", Jews "spread corruption and chaos", and homosexuals should be "exterminated".

Instead, the state's response to explicit Islamic intimidation is to punish those foolish enough to point out that intimidation. You don't have to be as intemperate as Minheer Wilders can sometimes be: In the Netherlands even the most innocuous statement can get you into trouble. To express his disgust at Theo van Gogh's murder, the artist Chris Ripke put up a mural outside his studio showing an angel and the words "Thou shalt not kill". But the cops thought this was somehow a dig at the local mosque and so came round, destroyed the mural, arrested the TV news crew filming it, and wiped their tape. The Dutch have determined to commit societal euthanasia, and dislike fellows pointing out it might not be as painless as they've assumed.

I like David Frum a lot, but . . .

But I don't agree with his strategy on how to rebuild the Republican Party. The message he is sending is that those who are prolife are irrelevant and even damaging to hopes of winning a majority. He writes in today's National Post:

2 We need to modulate our social and cultural message. Not jettison. Not reverse. Modulate. For example: We are a pro-life party, but every Republican platform since 1980 has gone much further, calling for a federal constitutional amendment to ban all abortions in all states under almost all circumstances. We don't mean it. We don't act on it. Yet we keep saying it.

That's just one way in which we're confusing voters. We don't intend to police every single one of the millions of deathbeds in America, either. So why did we obsess over Terri Schiavo? We don't believe in sectarianism, yet some candidates in 2008 seemed to cross that line. One explicitly campaigned as a "Christian leader." This is self-destructive in a country where the fastest-growing religion is no religion at all.

Meanwhile, some moderate GOP stances go unpublicized. George W. Bush allowed private-sector and university stem-cell research to proceed unregulated. How will voters know that, unless we forcefully remind them?

The message I would like to send to David Frum is that we have no basis for human rights and freedoms if we lose the conception of the human person as made in the image of God. Pro-life Americans hold to this concept of human dignity in supporting human life from conception to natural death. They are the last bulwark in protecting the our great Judeo-Christian inheritance. Marginalize those voices and you have marginalized liberty.

Marginalize the voices that also cry out for the protection of the biological family, the best crucible for the inculcation of virtue, then you can also kiss small government goodbye, because without virtue, without men who commit to the children they sire, then big government will be necessary to clean up the mess people make of their lives. Someone has to be publicly making these arguments in the public square. Someone has to articulate them and win people over with them. If not, then America is going to go the way of Europe and if that happens, Western Civilization is toast.


Kathy Shaidle makes an excellent point that I agree with wholeheartedly:

But what good is "winning" if the "conservatism" that "wins" is faddish, unprincipled and unmoored from traditional American, Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism?

I for one plan to side with the "conservative, but not necessarily Republican" camp, and leave the electioneering to the careerist beltway CPAC Establishment.

After all, back in the early sixties, it was grassroots activist and housewife Phyllis Schlafly's self-published, million-selling anti-GOP Establishment book, A Choice Not An Echo, that led to Goldwater, who led to Reagan.

Not bad for a small-town mom running an accidental movement from her kitchen table, without email, the web -- or any support from Party bigshots.

Ezra on the charges against Geert Wilders

I disagree with Geert Wilders on a number of things. For example, I do not think the Koran should be banned as hate literature. I personally have not been able to sit through Fitna because some of the images are too graphic for me. I think I had to tune out at the scream of a hostage being beheaded. I don't need to see this movie to be convinced about the barbarism of radical jihadists.

But like Ezra Levant, I believe the Dutch government's prosecution of Wilders is a national suicide note. Ezra writes:

It is a national suicide note, a white flag of surrender flown by a once-great empire in the face of illiberal fascists and hoodlums. It is a homicide note, too -- announcing the murder of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And it is a warning note to other Western democracies. The warning is this: liberal democracy, multiculturalism and immigration -- pick any two.

Holland has picked multiculturalism and immigration, and has heaved liberal democracy overboard.

Read the rest of Ezra's analysis.

He adds:

Hatred is an emotion. And apparently in Holland, "making" someone feel that emotion is a crime. And inciting "discrimination" is, too. Not just discrimination itself, mind you. But inciting someone to discriminate. The Dutch court has not announced the prosecution of anyone who Wilders has "incited" to discriminate against someone else. But they're still charging Wilders with discrimination, once removed -- even if that discrimination hasn't happened, and isn't logically tied to his political criticisms of Islamic fascism. (Question: don't we all have a duty to incite each other to discriminate against -- or at least hate -- fascists who would destroy our liberal way of life?)

In addition, the Court of Appeal considers criminal prosecution obvious for the insult of Islamic worshippers because of the comparisons made by Wilders of the islam with the nazism.

I appreciate the honesty. This is the criminalization of "insults".

Of course, the comparison of radical Islam and Naziism can be found in their fascist, anti-democratic and illiberal streaks. And -- something the Dutch should know -- anti-Semitism. But, more practically, if comparing people to Nazis is now a crime, how about the countless comparisons of Jews to Nazis -- comparisons ubiquitous at the United Nations conference in Durban, just to pick one big example?

This is very, very troubling.

When it comes to being Green, talk is cheap

Everytime I go to the supermarket, I look around to see how many people have brought plastic bins or reusable grocery bags. Sometimes I see no one. I would say that in middle class Ottawa, maybe one person out of every twenty or forty bothers to bring reusable bags.

Maybe they're like me. I like the idea. I have a whole bunch of reusable bags. I have plastic bins. But somehow I always forget to have them with me when I'm at the check out.

A couple of times, as a penance, after paying I have just loaded up my groceries on the cart without any plastic bags so that I can fill the reusable ones stashed in my trunk. But I don't always remember to put them in my trunk either.

But I look at the lack of use of these reusable bags as an indicator of how important the environment really is to Canadians who tell pollsters its a top of mind issue for them.

I think most of those people who tell pollsters this are really saying they want "corporations" or "government" to clean up the environment, but they don't want to make any sacrifices themselves in terms of inconvenience or added cost.

Case in point: look at how all these Obama-worshipping Democrats treated their own mall in Washington on the new president's inauguration day. Do they expect the magical Obama to make their litter vanish? This is disgusting and disgraceful. I bet you won't see anything like this from the National March for Life.

Morning Prayer, Jan. 22, 2009

Pray for Holy Spirit-inspired Christian unity.

The Prayer Book Society (The Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962)


O Lord, open thou our lips.
Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Priest. O God, make speed to save us.
Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Priest. Praise ye the Lord.
Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed; and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

Invitatory: The Lord is glorious in his saints: O come let us worship

Venite, exultemus Domino.
Psalm xcv. COME, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
To day, O if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me : proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Then shall follow the Psalms in order as they be appointed. And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

PSALM 107. Confitemini Domino.

PART 1

O GIVE thanks unto the LORD, for he is gracious, / and his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let them give thanks whom the LORD hath redeemed, / and delivered from adversity;

3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, / from the north and from the south.

4 THEY that wandered in the wilderness, even in a desert place, / found no way to a city where men dwelt.

5 Hungry and thirsty, / their soul fainted in them.

6 So they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, / and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them forth by the right way, / that they might go to a city where men dwelt.

8 O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness, / and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!

9 For he satisfieth the empty soul, / and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

10 THEY that sat in darkness and the shadow of death / were fast bound in misery and iron;

11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, / and lightly regarded the counsel of the Most High.

12 He also brought down their heart with hard labour: / they fell down, and there was none to help them.

13 So they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, / and he delivered them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, / and brake their bonds in sunder.

15 O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness, / and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, / and smitten the bars of iron in sunder.

17 THEY that are foolish are afflicted for their offence, / and because of their wickedness.

18 Their soul abhorred all manner of meat, / and they were even hard at death's door.

19 So they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, / and he delivered them from their distress.

20 He sent his word and healed them, / and saved them from their destruction.

21 O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness, / and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!

22 That they would offer unto him the sacrifices of thanksgiving, / and tell out his works with gladness!

23 THEY that go down to the sea in ships, / and occupy their business on the great waters;

24 These men see the works of the LORD, / and his wonders in the deep.

25 For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, / which lifteth up the waves thereof.

26 They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep: / their soul melteth away because of the trouble.

27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, / and are at their wits' end.

28 So they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, / and he delivereth them from their distress.

29 For he maketh the storm to cease, / so that the waves thereof are still.

30 Then are they glad, because they are at rest; / and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.

31 O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness, / and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!

32 That they would exalt him also in the congregation of the people, / and praise him in the assembly of the elders!

Then shall be read distinctly with an audible voice the First Lesson

First Lesson:

Zephaniah 3

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! ²She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. ³Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. ⁴Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. ⁵The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. ⁶I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. ⁷I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

⁸Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. ⁹For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. ¹⁰From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. ¹¹In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. ¹²I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. ¹³The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

¹⁴Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. ¹⁶In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. ¹⁷The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. ¹⁸I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. ¹⁹Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. ²⁰At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therin.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's Day.

Second Lesson:

Matthew 13: 44-end

⁴⁴Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: ⁴⁶Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: ⁴⁸Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. ⁴⁹So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁵¹Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. ⁵²Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

⁵³And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. ⁵⁴And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?