Many
health professionals today, along with popular TV stars, recommend that
everyone keep a gratitude journal to support good personal physical and mental
health. Many people do this daily; their
gratitude is concurrent with their familiar life experiences.
WHO ARE ALL THE SAINTS?
While All Saints’ Day encompasses celebrating the lives of exceptional Christians across the ages, our Church Calendar contains many separate days, throughout the year, honoring a single saint or by actions of a group of saints. Calendar observance for individual saints usually is set on the known, or nearby, date of their earthly death and birth into eternity. Christian saints covered in the calendar stretch from biblical saints to persons of our own time.
WHO IS THE MARTYR-SAINT FROM NEW MEXICO?
Of special significance to the Diocese of the Rio Grande is the name of The Rev. Frederick B. “Ted” Howden, whose human life was led in a saintly way. Fr. Howden left his duties as chaplain at the New Mexico Military Institute to serve in World War II, as a chaplain in the 200th Coast Artillery. After his capture, in the Philippines by the Japanese, Fr. Howden ministered, as a martyr caring for those forced onto the Bataan Death March, prior to his birth into eternity on December 11, 1942. Fr. Howden’s life is remembered on November 15 with these collected thoughts of prayer, or Collect:
“Almighty God, our sure defense: We give you thanks for your servant Frederick Howden, and all military chaplains who provided comfort and inspiration in time of battle; and, following the example of Jesus the Good Shepherd, laid down their lives in the service of others. Inspire and strengthen us, also, for the duties of life still before us, that we may be faithful to the end; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”
WHO ARE ALL THE SAINTS?
An Episcopal Church question from Elspeth was, “Who are saints and what is the communion of saints? The official Catechism answer is, “The communion of saints is the whole family of God, the living and the dead, those whom we love and those who we hurt, bound together in Christ by sacrament, prayer, and praise.” (BCP, p.862) Basically, what that means is that all human beings are holy because they are created by God.
Designated days for saints in the Episcopal Church are printed in the Book of Common Prayer Calendar on pp. 19-30 with Collects found on pp. 185-199 and 237-250. Newly added observances for saints can be found on the Episcopal Church website https://www.episcopalchurch.org.
While different denominations of world-wide Christianity define saints in other ways, including the Roman Catholic Church, which requires a complicated canonization process, the Episcopal Church, believing God created all humans as holy, considers all people actively committed to Christ and participating in the sacramental rites to be saints. Before any new names can be placed on the official Episcopal Church calendar, initiating petitions from dioceses are reviewed and considered by national church entities, and final approval is voted on at a Triennial General Convention.
WHO ENABLES EACH OF US TO BE SAINTS?
This brings us to a theological question we may wish to ponder. In both the first and second creation stories in Genesis, all humans come into being by the action of God. That means us! And because we come from God, we are holy and saintly.
In historical Christian biblical theology, only one human being ever has been uniquely biologically and genetically different from the rest of all of us with our humanity. When we recite our Creeds, we acknowledge this. Jesus was wholly human, born of a woman, and wholly divine, conceived by the action of God’s Holy Spirit, and lovingly parented by a human male. While we usually do not dwell on such specific details, our faith can be strengthened, when we pause to contemplate them.
Perhaps, my wonderment over these miraculous possibilities comes from reflection on my personal experience as a parent of adopted children. With no “bone of my bone” in our immediate family, unconditional, caring love bound us together. We are children God created, adopted, and made holy.
Two Collects in the Book of Common Prayer spotlight this theology:
Almighty
God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to
be born [this day] of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy
Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be
honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
(BCP, The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day, p. 213)
“All praise and thanks to you, most merciful Father, for adopting us as your own children, for incorporating us into your holy Church, and for making us worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints in light; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (BCP, Holy Baptism, p. 311)
Note: The banners shown were created by Elaine Wilson. They hung at St. Michael and All Angels, Dallas in 1980 for the visit of then Presiding Bishop John Allin. They are 20 feet long. Congregation members, to receive Communion, walk up the center aisle and turn right to begin kneeling at altar rail. In doing so, they join the silhouetted procession of historical saints crossing the marble reredos to follow the carved angels on the way to the cross.
© 2023 Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande & Elaine Aniol Wilson
October 25, 2023 +++ #4 +++ “Mary”
As we found out last week, John has been an important name from biblical times until our time. The same can be said for the name of Mary. With her curiosity, Elspeth tossed Elaine the challenge to explain who in the New Testament is called Mary and where each one can be found.
The name Mary is throughout our Bible. In translations of the Old Testament Hebrew look for the English spelling of Myriam or Miriam. Old Testament Greek translates to Mariam. In translating the Aramaic used by Jesus, the spelling is Maryam. In our Southwestern United States, we often encounter the Spanish form of Maria. Women from other European backgrounds may use Marie. With Mary variations popular in many languages, how many people named Mary do you know?
MARY IN ISLAM:
Also, Mary is popular as an Arabic woman’s name. Mary is the only female name used in the Quran and is found 70 times, often referring to her honored place as mother of Jesus. Christians, who may be uninformed about Islam’s reverence of Mary, may be surprised to know she is mentioned more in the Quran than in the Bible.
(About 40 years ago, Elaine read an English translation of the Arabic of Islam’s holy book in preparation for a two year study of world religions at St. Michael and All Angels, Dallas.)
Then the spelling of the book title, after translation into English, was Koran. Now, a helpful Muslim friend tells her the preferred title in English is Quran. How words are understood across time and language translations becomes incredibly important when referencing religious documents that were created centuries ago. This becomes even more true when realizing no actual original source items exist, therefore holy texts cannot be read literally.)
MARY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
Seven women are identified by the name of Mary in the New Testament. Each plays a special role in either the life of Jesus or the early Christian church. Marys in the Bible lived in God’s service.
The Diocese of the Rio Grande Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque has a dazzling Chapel window symbolizing Mary. But, which Mary? With no original authenticating information available, the images seem to be portraits of two Bible women, the Annunciation Mary and the Resurrection Mary. (Annunciation Mary, mother of Jesus: Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:26-56) Resurrection Mary Magdalene: Matthew 27:56-28:10; Mark15:40-16:18; Luke 23:50-24:12, John 20:1-18)
#1 MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS:
This is everyone’s favorite Mary, perhaps because, as the mother of Jesus Christ, she miraculously brought Christmas into human lives well before there was a even a saint named Nicholas. Mary’s humanity is obvious in various biblical texts beginning with her pre-pregnancy and ending with her place of comfort surrounded by the fellowship created by her son Jesus. (Matthew 1:16, 18-2:15,
19-23; Luke 1:26-2:40, 51; Acts 1:14)
It is possible for us to relate to Mary’s everyday motherly concerns by reflecting on what happens in the stories about her amazement at her pre-teen’s activities and her help-your-neighbor-out nudges at the wedding at Cana. (Luke 2:52; John 2:1-12)
The Mary is responsible for a glorious recitation used in Christian liturgy, The Song of Mary or Magnificat. (Luke 1:46-55, Book of Common Prayer, p. 119, in Rite Two uses the translation from the International Consultation on English Texts 1971 shared by many Christian denominations.) These words connect Mary with her old Testament heritage, as voiced by Hannah’s prayer. (I Samuel 2:1-10)
#2 MARY MAGDALENE:
Mary, from the town of Magdala, has generated an amazing amount of interest over the 2000 years of Christian history. Because her role is not precisely defined in the stories shared about her in all four gospel sources, her persona has been subject to embellishment, often lacking any valid process of verification. Mary Magdalene’s many New Testament mentions let us know she was important to Jesus and should be to us. (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41, 16:9-10; Luke 8:2-3; John 19:25, 20:14-17)
#3 MARY OF BETHANY:
Sister of Martha and Lazarus, Mary’s home was in a nearby suburb of Jerusalem. Mary of Bethany’s lovings actions suggest that through listening and learning, she truly became a disciple of Jesus. (Matthew 26:6-13; Luke 10:38-42; John 12:3-6)
#4 MARY, THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOSES OR THE OTHER MARY:
Witness to the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, this Mary was a supportive companion within the community of disciples during these impactful moments. (Matthew 27:55-61, 28:1-10; Mark15:40-16:8; Luke 23:50-24:12)
#5 MARY OF CLOPAS (CLEOPHAS):
Present at the crucifixion of Jesus, this Mary was the wife of a man named Clopas (Cleophas). (John 19:25b) Mary’s husband Clopas was a post-resurrection witness on the walk to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-35)
#6 MARY, THE MOTHER OF JOHN MARK:
After an angel secured his release from Herod’s custody, Peter, at the beginning his ministry, sought refuge in the home of this Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, a companion missionary in these nascent times. (Acts 12:12-14)
#7 MARY OF ROME:
Noted only in a single verse, this Mary was a dedicated worker in Rome’s Christian community. Her name is in a listing Paul gives us of active church leaders, both women and men, a scant two decades after the earthly ministry of Jesus. (Romans 16:6 of 1-16)
Fra Angelico, The Annunciation of Cortona, painted in 1433-1434, tempera on wood panel
Three lines of text are painted between the Archangel on the left and the Virgin on the right. The words of the angel are written on two lines, reading from left to right. The words of Mary are between those two lines, and are written upside-down.[3] As a consequence, one needs to turn a photo of the painting upside-down to comfortably read her words, "Ecce Ancilla Domini" (Behold the Handmaid of the Lord). This indicates to the viewer that these words are not addressed to us, but are rather meant for God, who would be better situated to read them.
© 2023 Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande & Elaine Aniol Wilson
This John trinity is not The Trinity. Clarity is needed in understanding both. The Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a subject for a future presentation.
In this question go-round, the presence of our most significant John threesome, introduces each singularly in New Testament texts. Each John has importance from the messages each brings to us about God’s activity in our lives. All three of these Bible guys named John fulfilled major roles during their lives in the first century of the Common Era (CE), or what Latin speakers would call Anno Domini (AD) meaning the year of our Lord, with dates starting during Jesus earthly presence.
In biblical times, like today, John was a common name. Bible scholars agree that these three famous people named John actually lived. However, in telling about their separate Bible duties, they communicate God’s word to us in three different separate ways.
Since all three VIP’s named John carried God’s message to help us grow our faith understanding, it is appropriate to honor their names by calling them saints, the word from Latin meaning holy. This helps us identify these three guys as very special.
So, Elaine will answer Elspeth’s first question: “Which Bible John is Albuquerque’s Cathedral of St. John named for?”
Posing this question about the principal church for the Diocese of the Rio Grande is proper. And why is this specific church called a cathedral? Churches are designated as cathedrals, when they contain the unique episcopal, throne-like chair, called a cathedra, officially assigned, in the consecration rite, to the bishop of the diocese. (BCP, p. 522)
Personal note
on use of references:
Graduating from the School of Journalism at The University of Texas in Austin, twenty years before starting her Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology masters degree, Elaine wrote feature stories and advertising copy, but had to learn about academic writing, where details and citations are important. Both styles answer Questions for Angels.
NEW TESTAMENT JOHN #1:
John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth, grew up slightly ahead of Jesus, Mary’s son. In all four gospels, the Bible casts him to prepare the way for the earthly ministry of the Son of God. This John’s personal mission is confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles. (Matthew 3:1-17, 4:12, 9:14-15, 11:1-19, 14:1-12, 16:13-20, 17:1-13, 21:23-32, Mark 1:1-11,14-15, 2:18-20, 6:14-29, 8:27-30, 11:27-33; Luke 1:5-80, 3:1-22, 7:18-35, 9:7-9, 18-20, 11:1-4, 16:16-17, 20:1-8; John 1:6-9, 15, 19-37, 3:22-4:3, 5:31-37, 10:40-42; Acts 13:23b-25)
NEW TESTAMENT JOHN #2:
The patron saint of our Albuquerque Cathedral of St. John in the Diocese of the Rio Grande is John the Evangelist, who wrote the fourth Bible gospel. The nickname of this John comes from a Greek word that is currently abused by twisted, wrong use. Evangel means merely “good news” and has been misappropriated to describe a fundamentalist, literalist subgroup of Christian churches as “evangelical.” Responsibility of ALL Christians is to spread God’s good news (god-spel) and to be evangelical, but few folk realize that. (John 21: 24-25)
Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, NM
NEW TESTAMENT JOHN #3:
Revelation’s writer, living maybe two generations into post-Jesus time, John of Patmos gives a scenario for Christians to survive in a world with ungodly, power-seeker pressures engulfing everyday living. Because this highly imaginative text is full of fantastic images, and Revelation, as read today, is rarely placed accurately in its original historical setting, very distorted explanations result about its meaning. Revelation is in no way a text of either “the end days” or doom; it offers loving hopeful fantasy and reassurance that now and in God’s eternal time, all will be well.
(When Elaine and Dick worked together on Revelation, he was
into his second hospice year. Serious
discussions helped them prayerfully understand how God was giving comfort and
joy in the end of life, as both were passing onto
their next unknown separate adventures.
They experienced Revelation as a life drama of God’s love to be
celebrated now and forever.)
The Revelation series can be accessed through the Links to Past E-Studies.
NEW TESTAMENT guys named JOHN #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8:
Five more people bearing the name John are in the New Testament writings. #4 is John of Zebedee, who with his brother James, becomes an important disciple, because Jesus includes him in many transcendent ministry moments. (Matthew 4:18-22, 10:1-4, 17:1-13, 48-56, 22:7-13, 20:20-28, 26:36-46, 27:55-56; Mark 1:16-20, 29-31, 5:22-24, 35-43, 9:2-13, 38-41, 10:35-45, 13:3-13; Luke 5:1-11, 6:12-16, 8:40-42, 49-56, 9:28-36; John 21:1-14)
Simon Peter and Andrew’s fisherman father is #5 John playing a minor role. (John 1:40-42, 21:15-19)
The final triad of guys named John appear as the title-bearers of three short New Testament epistles. Bible scholars agree these letters were not written by any of our three famous guys named John. Experts also tell us the identity of the three letter authors are unknown, may or may not be a single writer, and could possibly not have really been named John, which we now know was a very common name in New Testament times. Good scholarship tells us there is no definitive information as to when, where and to whom these guys (or possibly gals?) were writing. All three letters, ascribed to John’s authorship possibilities, have value for readers in the first or twenty-first centuries, because they are short, easy to read, and contain bits of advice for living a Christian life.
©
2023 Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande & Elaine Aniol Wilson
October 13, 2023 +++ Why? God, why?
The second storyteller continues on with God’s focus on goodness with the creation of animals for the man to tend to and the construction of a personable companion, as no human should be lonely. (Gen. 2:18-25)
Massive miscommunications, blaming, and discipline follow in the story. (Genesis 3:8-19) Yet God’s loving compassion for these first human beings spared them from immediate death. The man and woman were sent to live in the world, outside the heavenly paradise, with their gift of Free Will. God arranged for protective barricades keep the man and woman from possibly returning to the garden’s delightfully beautiful tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen.20-24)
WILLING A GOOD WORLD:
Pausing to remember these creation Bible stories allows us to think of different ways to have a better understanding of the current world crisis. Throughout history and in our everyday lives, we are confronted with how Free Will can be abused for hatred, violence, and evil. God does not cause terror, cruelty, and suffering. Evil is an act of humans. Individuals make decisions about doing right or wrong and whether to follow or lead in any situation.
When pure evil comes into personal or world life, thanks be to God, we are not powerless. A loving God gave us Free Will to activate us to do our part, however we are able, in continuing to make God’s creation good. While we cannot instantly extinguish all the evil in the world, God always empowers us to accomplish good. In rightly honoring God’s gift of Free Will, we can have peace.
Begin by praying the Lord’s Prayer, slowly phrase by phrase, and discover a new awareness of what each thought means. God loved all humans enough to become fully human as Jesus Christ, who taught us this prayer. (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) As you say the Lord’s Prayer, let your mind dwell on the goodness of God.
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
Welcome to the perfect time to begin a new opportunity to encounter detailed trivia about the fascinating background of texts, legends, doctrine, dogma, and experience that enrich our understanding of God and our Christian Faith. There is delight in beginning shortly after the annual Major Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels on September 29. Let us start by exploring the reason for our chosen use of angels in the title of our new weekly learning adventure. Our offering is designed to provide ever expansive boundaries that will enable all of us to better comprehend the mission God has given to each one of us in our worldly lives.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS AS WE
BEGIN:
Think of yourself as a curious person filled with questions about what and why you believe. Dwell within the idea about how all interesting knowledge you discover in your searching can best be shared with others, so you may inspire all you encounter to experience growth in their own personal, individual spiritual life. Christianity is full of fascinating data points just waiting to be turned into fun facts to be shared unexpectedly with others. Embracing this makes all of us messengers, the job description for all angels.
Moving behind theological tidbits presented in our study, we’ll travel through historically-based comments on the Bible and the experienced existence of our Christian Church traditions. Our new series evolved from a commission of the Council of the Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Both committed study creators are lay women, a questioner and an answerer. Members of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque, they have never met in person.
Questions, birthed by a busy wife and mom of two pre-school children, are planned to provoke answers from a recently widowed octogenarian with a seminary degree and abundant years of designing religious art, guiding interactive Bible classes, and parish and diocesan volunteering.
Their baptismal names are clues to expectations for answering God’s calling. When “EL” is part of a name, it signifies the active presence of God. So when ELspeth comes up with questions, ELaine is challenged to produce answers. And the title of our new series springs from Elaine’s childhood expectation about the joy of producing visual and verbal messages about God, because she bore the family name of Aniol, the Polish word for angel.
Our Questions for Angels challenge is to
help each of you be angel messengers, as we offer you interesting data points to pass on, whenever you encounter curious
folk on your own. In beginning,
our prayer is that God will help us all deepen our spirituality by sharing with
others. As angel messengers, let us
help you with your own questions.
ORIGINAL ANGEL CONCEPTIONS:
To fully understand why you, as a human being, are called by God to be an angel, we ask you to remove from your mind usual ways that angels are described. Forget about popular depictions of angels wearing a uniform of wings, white robes, and a halo of gold; these ideas will limit you from understanding what, why, and how you are called to be an angel. Seriously focus on the true calling God requests of you. Be a messenger carrying God’s word of love into a world yearning to hear it.
To do this, it helps to learn about the historic visual evidence, before humans invented written words, of angels from the lands of antiquity, where the Old Testament stories are founded. Discover otherworldly, winged-beings, both human and animal. These early depictions of messengers, speak with wings as their common visual accessory. In later centuries, angels evolved with other accoutrements to indicate their messenger duty in paintings, stained glass, words calligraphed or printed, broadcasts on radio and television, and now ever enlarging electronic media possibilities for spreading God’s word. Broaden your knowledge by tumbling back in time thanks to museum visits:
kimbellart.org/collection/ap-198104-ab
https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/0feb4ff5-6a9d-497c-9958-ba5cf482cd6a
ANGELS IN RELIGION:
Most of the world’s major religions have messengers. Activities of angels are noted in the Koran for followers of Islam. Within the Judaic Christian tradition, angel messengers are found in both the Old and New Testaments, although the Old Testament mentions only two archangels by name, Michael with a name meaning who is like God, and Gabriel with a name meaning God is my strength; both are mentioned in the Koran.
The leader of Bible archangels, the highest rank of angels, is Michael, honored in the festival day name. Michael’s preeminence among all angels is featured in Revelation, as the leader in the battle against Satin and all enemies of God. (Revelation 12:7) In the Old Testament, Michael joins the archangel Gabriel to participate via dream visions to accomplish God’s efforts against the evil ancient world powers. (Daniel 8:13-19; 9:21-23; 10:5-6, 9-21) Gabriel’s importance for Christians comes with carrying New Testament birth messages to Zechariah and Mary. (Luke 1:5-38)
The quartet of traditional archangels is completed by Raphael, thought of as a healer and protector, and Uriel, an angel of prophecy and wisdom. Unnamed random beings, said to be angels, appear in many Old Testament texts, including predicting a child for Abraham and Sara, and warning Lot of the dangers of Sodom and Gomorrah. Angels in action are obvious throughout the New Testament from the birth night of Jesus through the Book of Revelation. Stay alert to encounter their messages.
As Jesus,
God calls all of us to spread
the good news. (Matthew 28:18-20) In prayer, listen
to God. Be open to share your
message. Our responsibility is all
good, because we are all God’s angels.