The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

What Are We Called To Be -- And To Be Preparing For?

Saturday, 19 December 2009 23:03

by Father Lewis Berry

I'm not speaking here about the Advent call to prepare for the entry of God The Son into the world at His Nativity which we will celebrate at Christmas, or about what we as Christians are each called to be and do in our lives and witness, or about what we as men in Holy Orders are called to exemplify and to do, although those callings are clearly related to the calling I want to discuss. Most of you could do a much better job of discussing those topics than could I.
WHAT I WANT TO EXPLORE IS THE QUESTION OF WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO BE - CORPORATELY (BUT ALSO AS INDIVIDUALS) - AS THE ANGLICAN EXPRESSION OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH WITHIN THE BOSOM OF THE WESTERN RITE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH UNDER THE HEADSHIP OF THE HOLY FATHER, THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER? IN OTHER WORDS, WHY US?, WHY ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS?
As preface, I would call your attention to the entire content of the document (it is brief but dense with theological truth and insight) and in particular to several things Pope Benedict says in it..
Read Fr. Berry's full post at Anglo-Catholic Central .

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