Dear Readers,
My
name is Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, Independent Old Catholic Church
(IOCC) of Africa, operating in South Africa, and also creator of this blog.
My background was that of a Liberal Catholic
Priest, and a Traditional Catholic Priest in South Africa, and then an
independent Priest in the Catholic tradition. I was incardinated into the
IOCC by Archbishop-Primate Emeritus Maurice McCormick founder of the IOCC of
America.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of
America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa
In
nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen (In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
14th
Sunday after Pentecost – 25th August 2013 (Colour of Celebration – Green)
Intent: Renewal of
Heart
O GOD, who in thy loving-kindness hast appointed for us a
ministry of reconciliation, that by it our feet may be restored to the path
wherein we should walk; grant us that, firmly resisting all temptation, we may
follow that path unto its glorious end in thee; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We have been initiated into spiritual life by the Sacrament
of Baptism, and strengthened, perfected, by the sacrament of Confirmation. The Feast of Pentecost has celebrated the
efficaciousness of Baptism and Confirmation: the graces and fruits given by the
Holy Ghost. The Church recalls in the
Liturgy today the duty of charity which derives from them.
Commemoration
of the Saints, for the coming week
Sunday August 25th
St Louis, Confessor
Monday August 26th
Commemoration of St Zephyrinus, Pope, Martyr
Tuesday August 27th
St Joseph Calasanctius, COnfessor
Wednesday August 28th
St Augustine, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
Thursday August 29th
The Beheading of St John the Baptist
Friday August 30th
St Rose of Lima, Virgin
Commemoration of SS. Felix and Adauctus, Martyrs
Saturday August 31st
St Raymund Nonnatus, Confessor
Announcements:
We are collecting members for Saint Titus, Ordinary
members, members who need baptism and confirmation, and candidate Priests, both
men and woman. We want to provide for
our members, all sorts of services that they may need, such as burial,
marriage, confession, and etc. We are
hoping to attract as many people as possible.
If you are interested, then please contact Fr. Franz devantierf@gmail.com
News:
Join
the Saint Titus
Newsletter
Sacred References:
John, chapter 1, verse 1 onwards
Matthew, chapter 9, verse 2 onwards
Homily:
Today’s homily or sermon is all about
the renewal of the heart. When we are
looking at the heart we, are looking at the seat of our emotions, we are
looking at our core belief system. By
core belief system I mean that which you believe in so strongly that at the
drop of a hat you will lay down your life for it. Yep, I am only kidding there, most of you
will probably think it a bit old fashioned to lay down your life for that which
you believe in. Also quite sad that our
core belief system is not that strong that we will lay our physical lives down
for it. Note this is not our soul, or
our immortal spirit that we are talking about here, it is merely our physical
or transient bodies. Yet in a way it is
a scary thought. It is like the ultimate
test of what you really believe in, when all the dross is removed. Christ Jesus laid his life down for what he
believed in, for us. Now we don’t have
to actually go and lay our lives down, but we just need to learn the lesson
that is given to us as a challenge with the “Renewal of Heart”.
In order to renew our hearts we should
start with the seat of our emotions our heart.
As a first step you can look at your heart / emotions to try to
understand where you are in relation to where you would imagine you should be. Some of us have developed emotions, but not
in the right sort of way. For example we
may be ideal candidates for an ongoing anger management class. Some of us may have very selfish emotions, in
which all the heart stuff ultimately benefits us, and not our “Neighbour”. Some of us due to the pressures of modern
living have allowed our emotions to become cold, under-developed and
unresponsive. We may have allowed
ourselves to crawl into an emotional shell, because we have been hurt so many
times on an emotional level.
Yet we need to change our emotions, we
need to renew our Hearts. We need to
renew our heart from where it is now to something closer to the understanding
of the meaning of the appearance of Christ on this Earth. We need to tune our emotions, our heart into
the purpose of the Christ, so that we can renew our hearts. With a renewed heart, we will change the
physical side of ourselves, the emotional side or the heart side, the
intellectual or the mind side. In fact
the complete vehicle that the soul inhabits on this earth plane will be
affected by the renewal of the heart.
Having renewed our heart we will become more in touch with our soul, and
hence reach out to our spiritual side, or our higher selves. Reaching out to our spiritual side or higher
self will ultimately change the vibrations of the Earth, and speed the return
of the Christ to this Earth. So there
are many benefits that are only hinted at in the Holy Scriptures. You can think of this as the hidden
teachings, or as the meat, instead of the milk, that is reserved for more
mature followers of the Christ. We
always have the problem of having more than 99% of the followers of Christ
being in an average or normal relationship with Christ Jesus, and so not in a
position to receive the deeper teachings of the reason for our existence here
on this Earth. It is only the few who
will ever be close to being ready to understand these deeper teachings, that
are veiled in the same Holy Scriptures that ordinary man has been studying for
thousands of years.
It is only when the renewal of the
Heart has taken place, that we as ordinary mankind will start to have a chance
of understanding what is meant by the renewal of the heart. I don’t think that you will find anything
profound in the teachings, but just simply a deeper understanding of the same
stories that you have been keeping close to your heart all the time in anycase.
As a kick-off to renewing the Heart,
and please keep in mind that many of you reading this will already be blessed with
a renewed heart. We read in the Epistle
how the Word was God, and the Word was made manifest as man. God decided to subject himself to all the
pain and humiliation of undergoing the human experience. Here is the first big meaty lesson, God
manifested on Earth as Christ Jesus because he had a renewed heart. You see that whole story is trying to teach
us something very deep, something very deep and subtle, something so profound
that it defies words. When you think
about it for long enough, you will start to find an understanding in the seat
of your emotions, an understanding in your heart. To put this another way, when you meditate on
these bible stories, or contemplate them, and keep them close to your heart, in
time they will start to transform your heart, or renew your heart.
We get a very profound truth a little
further into the scripture reading. If
we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
Now what does that really mean?
You may agree with me, that if you can say that you have no sin, that
your heart has not been renewed.
On the other hand if we confess our
sins, God the father through his son the Christ will forgive us our sins, and
the truth will start to grow in our lives.
Whether you confess your sins to a Priest or to a prayer partner, or
just to yourself, the effect is very similar.
You see the sacrament of Confession as
practiced in the Catholic and the Anglican churches as well as others, is in
fact quite useful. The sacrament when
practiced on a regular basis has the tendency to renew your heart, because you
are forced to face the sins in your life, and receive atonement or forgiveness
for your sins. People who practice the
sacrament of Confession in some or other form, tend to have fewer psychological
problems, and end up being far more balanced people. Confession is an opportunity to take your
fate into your own hands, and bring a little renewal of your heart into your
life.
Further on in the reading we find that
the reference is to the nature of light.
God is light, and there is no darkness in the light. As you think on the implications of this “God
is Light”, the truth will start to permeate your being, and you will start to
experience the renewal of your heart.
In the Gospel we find Christ Jesus
confronted by the bed-ridden man who was afflicted by Palsy. This man could not even get up, he was too
sick. At the time Christ Jesus was
surrounded both by his disciples as well as his critics. The scribes who were really the intellectuals
of the day, were watching carefully to see which approach Christ Jesus would
take. Eventually to the puzzlement of
the disciples and the satisfaction of the scribes, Christ Jesus said to the
man; “Your sins are forgiven”.
Now if you come to think of this from
a point of view of a renewed heart, this was of course the best thing to do in
the circumstances. On the scheme of the
immortal spirit, the physical body is just a fleeting moment, and it is gone
again. So to prolong that moment a
little bit, that moment of physical reality, physical existence is a very small
thing when compared to eternity.
Forgiving the man his sins, would have given the man an opportunity of
developing a wonderful relationship with others in Heaven. Healing his body would have been a disfavour
to the man who was afflicted from Palsy, on an eternal basis.
In the end Christ Jesus asked the man
to “arise, take up thy bed and go unto thy house.” Christ Jesus tried to explain to the people
there present, that he had power to forgive the sins of the people on
Earth. He also had the power to heal the
people on Earth. You see in order to
understand this concept, you would need a renewed heart, or may the advantage
of two thousand years of history, to prove your point. If you ponder these truths. The truth that Christ Jesus has the power to
forgive anybody on earth for their sins.
The Truth that Christ Jesus has even today, the power to heal anybody on
earth. Think on these things, and keep
them close to your heart, because ultimately it will lead to you renewing your
heart.
Love Father Franz.
Church History – Article 9:
Renewal through Monasticism
From the tenth century onwards,
spiritual renewal began to sweep through the Western world. It all started with the laying of the
foundation for the monastery at Cluny in central France, way back in the year
910. Cluny was founded with the purpose
of rejuvenating Christian Monasticism with a stricter observance of the
Benedictine rule. In time there were
many daughter houses in Cluny, which followed with the purpose of creating an
expression of the deepening of Christianity in the Western world. Cluny tried to regain the original purity of
the monasteries that were started in the West by Benedict of Nursia in the
sixth century (480 - 547). Benedict had
striven to separate his monks from society.
Cluny had a different approach, in that he strove to integrate
monasticism with society.
Cluny became the focal point of
the reform movement in the West. There
were reforms that the Cluniacs (monks of Cluny) wanted to stop, such as the
buying and selling of church offices or posts, which is known as Simony. They wanted to eliminate corruption from the
church. They wanted to re-establish the
celibacy of the clergy. Of course a
thousand years later, we may be asking ourselves if the celibacy of the clergy
was really a good thing or not. The
Cluniacs set about achieving their goals with a top down approach, which is a
concept that we use these days in project management, and computer
programming. In their case they had
achieved this goal by enlisting Pope Gregory VII (1077 – 1088), which was about
a century later, so that had to be patient in order to achieve their goals.
In the eleventh century Cluny
started to falter in its reforming zeal, and was replaced by other monastic
orders. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 -
1153), and in the twelve century the Cistercians took over. In the thirteenth century it was the turn of
the Franciscans, Francis of Assisi (1182 - 1226), and the Dominicans, Dominic
(1170 - 1221) to keep the reforms going.
By the thirteenth century dozens of orders had been established, and the
Franciscans and Dominicans are perhaps the best known in this period of
history. All of these orders, that
traced their roots back to Cluny were helping to prepare the foundation for the
raising of the spiritual level of Christianity in Western Europe.
The renewal and reform in the
church stimulated missionary endeavours, with the result that great missionary
thrusts were undertaken into Northern and Eastern Europe. The result was the conversion of the
Scandinavians, the Poles, and the Magyars.
In the twelve century Francis of Assisi mounted a serious mission
amongst the Muslims. In the ninth
century the eastern Orthodox church had sent missionaries into Eastern Europe
and they had successfully converted many of the Slavic peoples. In the tenth century , Orthodox missionaries
had reached Kievan in Russia, which marked the beginning of the Russian
Orthodox church. The Russian Orthodox
Church eventually claimed that they were the true successors of Rome and
Constantinople. This same theme was
repeated again in a slightly different form, in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, when the Russian Czars claimed that they were the heirs of the
Caesars and that Moscow was “The Third Rome”.
(Next week we look at the Challenges for the
church)
An Anglican Catechism
– Article 9:
God the Holy Spirit
=>
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The
Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, God at work in the world and in
the Church even now.
=>
How is the Holy Spirit revealed in the Old Covenant?
The
Holy Spirit is revealed in the Old Covenant as the giver of life, the One who
spoke through the prophets.
=>
How is the Holy Spirit revealed in the New Covenant?
The
Holy Spirit is revealed as the Lord who leads us into all truth and enables us
to grow in the likeness of Christ.
=>
How do we recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
We
recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord
and are brought into love and harmony with God, with ourselves, with our
neighbours, and with all creation.
=>
How do we recognize the truths taught by the Holy Spirit?
We
recognize truths to be taught by the Holy Spirit when they are in accord with
the scriptures.
(Next
week we will look at the Holy Scriptures)
Prayer:
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 those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
[Protestants
can optionally add: For Thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.]
Amen.
A Meditation for all Humanity, The Great Invocation:
This meditation or prayer refers to the Kingdom of God,
establishing itself on Earth.
(In place of the word “Christ” below, you may be more
comfortable with the term “Lord Maitreya”, “the Imam Mahdi”, “the Bodhisattva”,
“the Messiah”, or etc.)
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let Light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ
return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
By using the Invocation and encouraging others to use it,
no particular group or organisation is sponsored. It belongs to all humanity.
Benediction:
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Christ
our Lord; and the Blessing of God almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you
always. Amen.
Love,
Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,
devantierf@gmail.com
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