Today is the feast day of one of our most important Anglican saints, St. Anselm of Canterbury.

You can learn more about him in Lesser Feasts and Fasts or at the above link, and his readings are here.

Here’s a short summary of his life:

Anselm was born in Italy about 1033, and took monastic vows in 1060.  He became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093.  His episcopate was stormy, in continual conflict with the crown over the rights and freedom of the Church.  His greatest talent lay in theology and spritual direction.

Undergirding Anselm’s theology is a profound piety.  His spirituality is best summarized in the phrase “faith seeking understanding.”  He writes, “I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand.  For this, too, I believe, that unless I firstbelieve, I shall not understand.”

Here is the collect for St. Anselm:

Almighty God, you raised up your servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in your eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide your Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hi, everybody!  It’s Easter Friday…has everybody recovered from Holy Week?

As with most things, we’re a lot better at doing the “bad stuff” rather than the good stuff.  Not that the mysteries of our salvation carried out in Holy Week are bad…but the events were hard, and hard work.  Easter Week is supposed to be the mirror image of Holy Week, a week full of celebration, rest, enjoyment, gratitude, joy, feasting and fun.  In the same way, the whole Easter season is supposed to be the mirror image of Lent, a continuation of all the things we celebrated on Easter.

Don’t forget to celebrate and enjoy as intenionally and with as much commitment as you fasted and repented during Lent.  It wouldn’t hurt to make some Easter disciplines for the season, because Christian joy is a choice that we must make day by day.  Off the top of my head, here are a few ideas for observing the Easter season:

• eat more ice cream
• enjoy the things you gave up for Lent
• have a party
• go on picnics
• sing…out loud
• offer praise to someone every day
• buy something you don’t need, but you really want
• put flowers on the kitchen table
• dress up for school or work
• go on a date with a special person (this can be but doesn’t have to be romantic– in our family we have Daddy/Daughter dates pretty frequently)
• write letters…by hand–real mail makes people happy
• say “I love you” to someone who already knows; it’s still nice to hear

If you have some suggestions for how to observe our 50-day celebration, post them in the comments, or post them in the Yahoo group.

Here’s the collect for Easter Friday:

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.