Anno Domini 2025 August 11

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Monday, 11 August, in the year of our Lord 2025. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Tuesday (tomorrow): 5:30 PM, Mass, S. Claire, Virgin.
  6:30 PM, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Evensong.
• Wednesday: Mass, SS. Hippolytus & Cassian, MM.
• Thursday: 8:00 AM, Morning Prayer, men's monthly.
  6:30 PM, BCP Lecture, Holy Communion, Soup & Study (Vigil of the Assumption).
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, Assumption of the BVM, using the Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
• Saturday: 10:00 AM, Holy Communion.
• Sunday: 8:30 AM, Deacon's Liturgy, Trinity IX.
  10:00 AM, Mass, Trinity IX.

We are now in the last burst of Summer travels; pray for those journeying to destinations near-and-far. The last Sunday of this month will fall on the Thirty-first. That will be the next Parish monthly brunch, which will, as-always, take-place after the 10:00 Mass on that day. The location is yet to be determined.

The National Synod will take-place from the Ninth through the Twelfth of September, which is now less than a month away. There will be a meeting for all volunteers working on the Synod, said meeting to be held on Saturday, 6 September, at 10:00 AM, at the Parish. PLEASE be in-attendance then-and-there. Any lingering questions or final details will be addressed at that time.

Although probably unknown in the Early Church, the belief in the Assumption of the BVM was present in the Ancient Church. It is first encountered in New Testament Apocrypha in the latter Fourth century, some of which texts were Gnostic in character. Due to the antiquity of the matter, even the textual sources for the date of the death of the BVM vary from three- to fifty years after the date of the Ascension. The same holds true for her bodily assumption, some sources stating that it occurred on the way to her burial, whilst others claim that it took-place three days after her decease. Still others, one being a surviving homily attributed to Timothy of Jerusalem (prob. 4th - 5th cent.), seem to imply that she was assumed body and soul during her natural life.

Feasts celebrating the death of the BVM were were observed in Palestine in the Fifth century, possibly in the 'Fourth at Antioch. The doctrine of her bodily assumption was first formulated by Western Orthodox, namely S. Gregory of Tours, in the Sixth century. The Byzantine feasts, which do reference the Assumption, were probably introduced during the time of Pope Sergius I, in the late Seventh century. By the end of the Eighth century, the Feast of the Assumption was universally observed in the West; in the Ninth century, the Octave was added in 847 by Pope Leo IV.

From the First Vatican Council (AD 1870) forward, the Popes were under increasing pressure to clarify the Church's position on the Assumption. On 1 November, 1950, Pope Pius XII, in Munificentissimus Deus, defined the Doctrine, and provided a new Mass for the Feast. Thus, now having been clearly established as Doctrine, all Roman Catholics must accept this Doctrine as Salvific, if they wish to enter Heaven.

For we Anglicans, it is a matter of pious belief. You may ~ or may not ~ accept it; in neither case does your response impinge upon your Salvation. Personally, it has only ever made sense that Our Lord would favour His Mother with great honour. To do less, when all things are within His power to give, seems almost unthinkable, and certainly not reflective of that perfect duty, love, and grace, of which the most holy Trinity alone is capable. I remain

in His praise,

The Rt. Rev'd T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish