Reflections in Christ

Dear friends,

The Chancery offices will close this afternoon for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ and will reopen December 27th. I will return to writing the Chancellor’s Diary after the New Year, on Thursday…

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength…Therefore we will not fear.
The Lord of hosts is with us.
Be still and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:1,7,10)

Psalm 45: “In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all”

Today is the preview of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the temple of God, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation.

Psalm 44

Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name’s sake.
 
O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared it unto us.
Psalm 44:26,1 (Resurrection matins, tone 4 prokeimenon)

If the Christmas story has a villain, it would be King Herod.  In the passion story, the main villain would be Judas Iscariot, with possibly the High Priest Caiaphas and his Sanhedrin running a close second.  But there is no close second in the Christmas story when it comes to villains.  Herod has the field…

Psalm 43

Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me,

let them bring me to thy holy hill
 and to thy dwelling!
Psalm 43:3 (Transfiguration, entrance hymn)

In reading the account in Saint Luke’s Gospel, in which Christ healed ten lepers, we learn how only one leper - and a Samaritan at that - returned to Him to offer thanks:  “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed,  turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him…

Psalm 42

As a deer longs 
for flowing streams,
 so longs my soul
 for thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
(Psalm 42:1)

Psalm 41

Blessed is the man who cares for the poor and the weak
(Psalm 41:1)

Care for the poor is a constant theme in the…

Psalm 40 and Nelson Mandela

Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,

but a body hast thou prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.