Waiving this question, therefore, I proceed to others, which appear to me, I own, at the present moment especially, of the very gravest practical import.

What are the symptoms, by which one may judge most fairly, whether or no a nation, as such, is becoming alienated from God and Christ?

And what are the particular duties of sincere Christians, whose lot is cast by Divine Providence in a time of such dire calamity?

The conduct of the Jews, in asking for a king, may furnish an ample illustration of the first point : the behaviour of Samuel, then and afterwards, supplies as perfect a pattern of the second, as can well be expected from human nature.

I. The case is at least possible, of a nation, having for centuries acknowledged, as an essential part of its theory of government, that, as a Christian nation, she is also a part of Christ’s Church, and bound, in all her legislation and policy, by the fundamental rules of that Church””the case is, I say, conceivable, of a government and people, so constituted, deliberately throwing off the restraint, which in many respects such a principle would impose on them, nay, disavowing the principle itself ; and that, on the plea, that other states, as flourishing or more so in regard of wealth and dominion, do well enough without it. Is not this desiring, like the Jews, to have an earthly king over them, when the Lord their God is their King? Is it not saying in other words, ‘We will be as the heathen, the families of the countries,’ the aliens to the Church of our Redeemer?

Read it all.

John Keble gave his famous Assize Sermon on 'National Apostasy' #OnThisDay in 1833, providing the first impulse to the Tractarian (or Oxford) movement

Image: Window in St Katharine's, Southbourne, Dorset pic.twitter.com/EX36KIOuAJ

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) July 14, 2024

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know thy presence and obey thy will; that, following the example of thy servant John Keble, we may accomplish with integrity and courage that which thou givest us to do, and endure that which thou givest us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Did you know that John Keble was only the second person to ever obtain a double first (in 1810 in Latin and Mathematics) from the University of Oxford? (The first was Robert Peel who later went on to become Prime Minister) #Keble150 #KebleArchives pic.twitter.com/oJvz2cav3W

— Keble College, Oxford (@KebleOxford) April 25, 2020

O God, who hast created man to be immortal, and madest him to be an image of thine own eternity: Lift our eyes, we pray thee, above earthly things, that we may claim, and by thy grace attain, our heavenly inheritance; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

#Sunrise on Saturday over the Potomac River and #DC! @capitalweather @StormHour pic.twitter.com/4efm1ujEFy

— Jeanne Stuart McVey (@RiverGirl707) March 29, 2025

The forced displacement and killing of Christians in Nigeria is not the product of climate change, or clashes between farmers and herders, but religiously motivated persecution, a bishop there said this week.

The RC Bishop of Makurdi, Dr Wilfred Anagbe, whose diocese is in the Middle Belt state of Benue, said on Tuesday that the international community needed to acquire a “clear narrative of what is going on. Previously it has been said it was based on climate change and farmers and herders clashing. . . That is not the reason.”

He spoke of a “clear, orchestrated agenda or plan of Islam to take over the territories” of people who were “predominantly Christian”. In some parts of Nigeria, villages were being given new Islamic names. “It is about the conquest and occupation of the land.”

Climate change was occurring in other countries, without simultaneous forced displacement, he said. Benue State was 99 per cent Christian; its economy was not based on rearing cattle.

Read it all.

The forced displacement and killing of Christians in Nigeria is not the product of climate change, or clashes between farmers and herders, but religiously motivated persecution, a bishop there said this week.https://t.co/Qmiq0Lh1aE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 28, 2025

O God, the font of resurrected life, draw us into the wilderness and speak tenderly to us, so that we might love and worship thee as did thy servant James Solomon Russell, in assurance of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For a town so small, Lawrenceville has been home to many notable people. James Solomon Russell was born into slavery. After the war, he joined the seminary and established a parish school, which later became St. Paul's College. #BlackHistoryMonth https://t.co/zWQm3aGKBU pic.twitter.com/81y2gagpwX

— SJR Research LLC (@SJRResearch) February 2, 2021

Lord Christ, almighty Saviour, we cry to thee for aid against our strong enemy.  O thou who art the Stronger than the strong, deliver us, we pray thee, from the evil one, and take sole possession of our hearts and minds; that filled with thy Spirit we may henceforth devote our lives to thy service, and therein find our perfect freedom; for the honour of thy great name.

Hawes, Wensleydale pic.twitter.com/ex67c6tfGL

— MARK CORNER (@MARKCORNER16) March 28, 2025

The Church of England’s drive to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 is already reducing energy bills and making churches fit for the future, the lead bishop for the environment says.

Speaking to a gathering of diocesan environment officers at the British Antarctic Survey, in Cambridge, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, said that acting to tackle the climate and nature crises was a sign of Christian compassion, and “the right thing to do”.

“There is a link here through compassion with Anglicans — with all people around the world — many of whom are on the front line of climate change and biodiversity loss,” he said. “If we truly believe that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we should have a concern and a compassion for where biodiversity and climate-change loss is impacting people’s lives.”

Read it all.

The Church of England’s drive to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 is already reducing energy bills and making churches fit for the future, the lead bishop for the environment says https://t.co/HqvW3NE7TD pic.twitter.com/2bDaAog0hh

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 27, 2025

Emma Elizabeth French Randel, a devoted wife, mother, and trailblazing pioneer in Virginia’s wine industry, passed away peacefully at her home in Woodstock, Virginia, on March 21, 2025, at the age of 98.

Born on November 1, 1926, in Woodstock, Virginia, Emma was the daughter of Warren B. French Sr. and Lena Sheetz French. The third of eight siblings, she exhibited extraordinary intellect and determination from an early age. At just 16 years old, Emma graduated as valedictorian of Woodstock High School’s Class of 1943. She continued her education at Duke University, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and earned a degree in Economics in 1947.

After World War II, Emma moved to Washington, D.C., where she met James B. Randel Jr., who would become her husband and steadfast partner. Together they built a life filled with love and shared purpose. The couple eventually settled in New Jersey for Jim’s career and there they raised their five children. She was a devoted mother, making home-cooked meals everyday, including dessert. Emma also found time to give back to her community, including by volunteering at a local hospital where she was a Pink Lady.

In 1972, Emma and Jim returned to Virginia and planted grapes on their farm in Edinburg — a venture that blossomed into Shenandoah Vineyards, which they opened in 1976. Following Jim’s untimely passing shortly thereafter, Emma assumed leadership of the winery with remarkable courage and resolve. Under her long stewardship (only retiring at age 92), Shenandoah Vineyards thrived and became a cornerstone of Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry. Today, it stands as the oldest active winery in Virginia — a living testament to Emma’s vision and perseverance.

Emma’s leadership earned Shenandoah Vineyards’ wines numerous awards, but her impact extended far beyond her own vineyard. Her efforts helped elevate Virginia to prominence as a respected wine region. 

Read it all.

More on Emma Elizabeth French Randel RIP–In 1972, Emma and Jim returned to Virginia and planted grapes on their farm in Edinburg — a venture that blossomed into Shenandoah Vineyards, which they opened in 1976. Following Jim's untimely passing shortly thereafter, Emma assumed… pic.twitter.com/5VXsryylmC

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 27, 2025

In 1899 a relatively obscure priest working in a City Mission in the slums of South Boston was compiling a book on prayer from articles he had written for the Saint Andrew’s Cross, a magazine of the recently established lay order of the Protestant Episcopal Church known as the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Seven years before, this celibate priest had left the Order of the Cowley Father’s whose House was just across the Charles River in Cambridge. Although he left the order over a dispute between his superior, Fr. A. C. A. Hall and the Order’s Father Superior in England, the young priest never left the inward embrace of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience—even less did he leave behind the spiritual disciplines of the religious life he had learned so well under Fr. Hall’s steady hand. Somewhere between his pastoral and social work among the sordidness and squalor of the South End—replete with red light district, street waifs, immigrants and vagrants— and his late night vigils of intercessory prayer or early mornings spent in meditation, not to mention the full round of parish duties, he found the time to write. In the final chapter of his little book, With God in the World, he wrote words that now appear as strangely prescient for his own life: “Men—we are not thinking of butterflies—cannot exist without difficulty. To be shorn of it means death, because inspiration is bound up with it, and inspiration is the breath of God, without the constant influx of which man ceases to be a living soul. Responsibility is the sacrament of inspiration. . . . The fault of most modern prophets is not that they present too high an ideal, but an ideal that is sketched with a faltering hand; the appeal to self-sacrifice is too timid and imprecise, the challenge to courage is too low-voiced, with the result that the tide of inspiration ebbs and flows.” He was to parse this belief taking root in his soul, with the phrase “the inspiration of responsibility”. Within two short years he would have the opportunity to test these words with his life.

His name was Charles Henry Brent, born the son of an Anglican clergyman from New Castle, Ontario in 1862. How Charles Brent, a Canadian by birth, came to be a priest in of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and under the episcopacy of the renowned Phillips Brooks, and later, the almost equally celebrated Bishop William Lawrence, is itself an interesting story we haven’t time to explore. Suffice to say that God seemed to be grooming through the seemingly quixotic twists and turns of providence a bishop not merely for the church or for one nation, but for the world—a man, of whom it could be said, he was Everybody’s Bishop.

You may find Part One there and Part Two here. Take the time to read it all.

#OTD March 27, 1929
Death in Lausanne, Switzerland, of Charles Henry Brent, an Episcopal priest active in the ecumenical movement. Two years before his death, he had presided over the 1927 World Conference on Faith and Order, in Lausanne, Switzerland. pic.twitter.com/NgUT4qgI34

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) March 27, 2022

Heavenly Father, whose Son did pray that we all might be one: deliver us, we beseech thee, from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following thy servant Charles Henry Brent, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of thy Son Jesus Christ: who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

GISTEREN 95 JAAR GELEDEN: 27/03/1929 + Charles Henry Brent, Canadees hoofdgeestelijke van het Amerikaanse leger in WO1-Frankrijk/ bisschop van New York 1918-26 (66) https://t.co/KjuPdOic1z ||| Granada: Federico García Lorca draagt kruis in Maria-processie pic.twitter.com/nGaBrtptml

— John Brouwer de Koning (@BkingJohn) March 28, 2024

O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Can you spot the bird?
.#ireland #stormhour #ThePhotoHour #sunrise #wicklow #dogsoftwitter #greystones #irelandsancienteast #KeepDiscovering pic.twitter.com/E9fxRewAdS

— Marc (with a Sea) Diamond (@MarcD_Weegem) March 27, 2025

Loving God, who hast made us all thy children by adoption in Jesus Christ: May we, following the example of thy servant Richard Allen, proclaim liberty to all who are enslaved and captive in this world; through Jesus Christ, Savior of all, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and its first bishop, died on March 26, 1831, at his home aged 61. According to some accounts, Allen was sitting in a rocking chair at his front window when he passed away. https://t.co/jQKJdwx7OA pic.twitter.com/GXPVSKHxoa

— Trivia Encyclopedia (@edpearce080759) March 26, 2025

O Thou who hast prepared a place for my soul, prepare my soul for that place.  Prepare it with holiness; prepare it with desire; and even while it sojourneth upon earth, let it dwell in heaven with thee, beholding the beauty of thy countenance and the glory of thy saints, now and for evermore.

Wednesday morning sunrise Nairn beach pic.twitter.com/ylxGp4qomg

— graham ross (@grahamr27165817) March 26, 2025

We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that we who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Today is the feast of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, 'Lady Day'. In England it was once the spring quarter-day, when accounts were settled and servants took new jobs; until 1752 it was also the start of the New Year. A day for new beginnings, new life in more ways than one. pic.twitter.com/IYdK7MyjgV

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) March 25, 2025

O almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who hast made the light of thy truth to shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning everyone I hope you are well. As the old song went "Over The Sea To Skye". Up until the mid 90's the only way across was by ferry, until the bridge was built. Controversial at the time, because there was a toll to pay, it is now free to cross. Great viewpoint from The… pic.twitter.com/qM7lG1dyHr

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) March 25, 2025

Five years ago, on Mothering Sunday, the first national online service was broadcast on the Church of England’s media channels in response to lockdowns mandated by the Government to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Marking the anniversary in Sunday’s broadcast, the Archbishop of York expressed his gratitude to this online worshipping community, and “to those who have made it happen”. Last year, 59 weekly services were produced which accrued 21 million views. An average of 4000 people a week watch the service from start to finish.

“These services have connected us together as a Christian community, as an online community, and my prayer now is that, in our worship this morning, we will be more deeply connected to Jesus,” Archbishop Cottrell said.

This week’s broadcast, for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, featured highlights from previous services, including the Revd Richard Allen leading the confession from a lifeboat in the Trelawny Benefice, in Cornwall, and hymns from St Martin’s Voices, on locations in Holy Island and in a stable, where Clover the donkey interrupted filming with her own chorus of braying.

Read it all.

Five years ago, on Mothering Sunday, the first national online service was broadcast on the Church of England’s media channels in response to lockdowns mandated by the Government to slow the spread of the coronavirus https://t.co/KXnR0XbFUN pic.twitter.com/PzVaw5jqiS

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 24, 2025

And so his question to all those who have the freedom to speak in the Church and for the Church is ‘who do you really speak for?’ But if we take seriously the underlying theme of his words and witness, that question is also, ‘who do you really feel with?’ Are you immersed in the real life of the Body, or is your life in Christ seen only as having the same sentiments as the powerful? Sentir con la Iglesia in the sense in which the mature Romero learned those words is what will teach you how to speak on behalf of the Body. And we must make no mistake about what this can entail: Romero knew that this kind of ‘feeling with the Church’ could only mean taking risks with and for the Body of Christ – so that, as he later put it, in words that are still shocking and sobering, it would be ‘sad’ if priests in such a context were not being killed alongside their flock. As of course they were in El Salvador, again and again in those nightmare years.

But he never suggests that speaking on behalf of the Body is the responsibility of a spiritual elite. He never dramatised the role of the priest so as to play down the responsibility of the people. If every priest and bishop were silenced, he said, ‘each of you will have to be God’s microphone. Each of you will have to be a messenger, a prophet. The Church will always exist as long as even one baptized person is alive.’ Each part of the Body, because it shares the sufferings of the whole – and the hope and radiance of the whole – has authority to speak out of that common life in the crucified and risen Jesus.

So Romero’s question and challenge is addressed to all of us, not only those who have the privilege of some sort of public megaphone for their voices. The Church is maintained in truth; and the whole Church has to be a community where truth is told about the abuses of power and the cries of the vulnerable. Once again, if we are serious about sentir con la Iglesia, we ask not only who we are speaking for but whose voice still needs to be heard, in the Church and in society at large. The questions here are as grave as they were thirty years ago. In Salvador itself, the methods of repression familiar in Romero’s day were still common until very recently. We can at least celebrate the fact that the present head of state there has not only apologized for government collusion in Romero’s murder but has also spoken boldly on behalf of those whose environment and livelihood are threatened by the rapacity of the mining companies, who are set on a new round of exploitation in Salvador and whose critics have been abducted and butchered just as so many were three decades back. The skies are not clear: our own Anglican bishop in Salvador was attacked ten days ago by unknown enemies; but the signs of hope are there, and the will to defend the poor and heal the wounds.

Read it all.

St Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, died #onthisday in 1980.

He committed himself to the poor and the persecuted of his native El Salvador and was assassinated while celebrating Mass in the chapel of the hospital where he lived.

He was canonised in 2018 is one of ten… pic.twitter.com/hqU2aVCXcE

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) March 24, 2025

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, we may without fear or favor witness to thy Word who abideth, thy Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and for ever. Amen.

Today is the feast day of St. Oscar Romero. He was canonized by Pope Francis in 2018 and is remembered for his faithfulness as Archbishop of San Salvador. On March 24, 1980 he was shot to death while offering Mass.

Amidst persecution we face today, St. Oscar Romero, pray for us! pic.twitter.com/G24TQP0EIw

— EWTN Global Catholic Network (@EWTN) March 24, 2025

Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sunrise over Bamburgh #Northumberland #photography #landscapephotography pic.twitter.com/spnlIq5Y9E

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) March 24, 2025

Eternal God, through your Spirit
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited; KSH).

Almighty and everlasting God, the source and perfection of all virtues, who didst inspire thy servant James de Koven to do what is right and to preach what is true: Grant that all ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may afford to thy faithful people, by word and example, the knowledge of thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates James DeKoven, Priest, 1879

A priest/educator dubbed the "American Keble", he was a leader of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Episcopal Church & taught at Nashotah House + Racine College (now The DeKoven Center https://t.co/nPAViHbmdE) pic.twitter.com/DzRcUGY9eE

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 22, 2024

Almighty God,you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,that they may return to the way of righteousness:grant to all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion, that they may reject those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;through our Lord Jesus Christ,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Lovely sunny view of #StJohninBedwardineChurch! @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @StormHourMark @lebalzin @YoushowmeP #WorcestershireHour #Worcester #spring pic.twitter.com/iWz9DHZEZp

— Patricia Cooper (@pac1610) March 22, 2025

Almighty God, who didst give to thy servant Thomas Ken grace and courage to bear witness to the truth before rulers and kings: Give us also thy strength that, following his example, we may constantly defend what is right, boldly reprove what is evil, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and ever.

#OTD 19 March 1711: death of Thomas Ken, non-juring bishop and hymn-writer. pic.twitter.com/jVKCoTpsyw

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) March 19, 2025

Eternal God, who has made all things for man, and man for thy glory: Sanctify our bodies and souls, our thoughts and our intentions, our words and actions.  Let our body be a servant of our mind, and both body and spirit servants of Jesus Christ; that doing all things for thy glory here, we may be partakers of thy glory hereafter; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grand Rising…#FridayFeeling #spring #weather #sunrise #GoodVibesOnly #StormHour #jefinuist #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/1wXR3XpNnF

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) March 21, 2025

Nearly every Sunday, as confirmands are presented, I ask the rector, “Have they been adequately
prepared?” Now, I’ve been a parish priest. I’ve worked with people. I know just how fraught with
opportunities to fall short the goal of things like confirmation classes can be. “Adequately
prepared” is something of a moving target. But the Prayer Book presses on. “Dearly beloved,” I’m
required to say, “it’s essential that those who wish to be confirmed or received in this church
publicly confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, become his disciples, know and affirm the
Nicene Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and have received instruction in
the Holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the catechism of the church.”
I always imagine the clergy saying, “Well, I mean, yeah, they finished our eight-week new
members class.” But my deep concern is that we live in an increasingly complicated world where
living out the Christian faith has become a challenge and is often also challenged by those around
us.

My question is, are we preparing people to bear witness to the faith when it, the faith, and its
moral vision are constantly challenged? Can we say that the people in our churches are being
given the tools necessary to give an answer for the hope that they have?

From the youngest age to our oldest members, we must be in the business of teaching the Creed,
the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Holy scriptures, and the Catechism of the Church.
That we might be prepared to resist our great adversary who is always on the prowl seeking whom
he may devour. I’ll add briefly here that our ACNA catechism, To Be a Christian, is an excellent
resource. If you haven’t already, I urge you to look into it, and especially into the cottage industry
that’s grown up around it, about how to use it for instruction for all ages.

There is a wealth of material available to teach our great Catholicism. My first passion, which
births vision, is a serious commitment to Christian education.

Read it all.

#SouthCarolina #Anglican Bishop Chip Edgar's Diocesan Convention address https://t.co/UHSdYyTXnn #parishministry #lowcountrylife #faith #charlestonsc #religion #anglicannews pic.twitter.com/zwZ6dhFztU

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 19, 2025

Merciful God, who didst call Cuthbert from following the flock to be a shepherd of thy people: Mercifully grant that we also may go without fear to dangerous and remote places, to seek the indifferent and the lost; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

12th century wall painting of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne in the Galilee Chapel at Durham Cathedral. Today is St. Cuthbert’s feast day. #StCuthbert #Lindisfarne #Durham pic.twitter.com/c6gtvZ76tv

— Kevin Wilbraham (@KPW1453) March 20, 2025

O God, who through thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised help to man according to his faith: Grant us the freedom of the children to taste the food of eternal life, and to share with others what we ourselves receive; through the merits of the same thy Son, our Lord.

Good Morning…#thursdaymood #spring #weather #sunrise #GoodVibesOnly #StormHour #jefinuist #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/FWOOynzH14

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) March 20, 2025

“All right, so let me say a word about the setting because it’s absolutely crucial for our purposes. At the beginning of chapter 20, it reads this way, And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord, you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You cannot understand any of the ten commandments unless you understand this as the preface and the premise of the entire passage. Whose we are and therefore who God is, and who we are, and who we were, and what God did. God first, God at the start, God as the fundamental reality, the only non-contingent being from whom all contingent reality and being and matter comes to exist. The only reason we’re here is because God allows us to be here. The only reason that there’s something rather than nothing is because God allowed it to be.”

“The only reason there is a nation of Israel is because God came down and heard their cry, and constituted them, and brought them out. So they are God’s people. They are redeemed out of a house of slavery, and they’re going into the Promised Land, and all these things, whatever else they are, are in the context of this covenant relationship, and that saving act, and the reality that He is our God, and we are His people. Now, as if that all isn’t enough, and that’s a ton, one more thing. And that is the specific setting of this passage in the book of Exodus itself. And I just want to remind you, because when we read in chapter 20, and God spake these words, my question is simply this. In what context, in the flow of the book, are these words actually said? It’s a crucial question.”

Or you may download it there.

The Ten Commandments, 1516 #cranach #lucascranach pic.twitter.com/WCVDG4prk0

— Lucas Cranach the Elder (@ArtistCranach) March 1, 2021

ZENIT spoke with Father Tarcisio Giuseppe Stramare of the Congregation of Oblates of Saint Joseph, director of the Josephite Movement, about Tuesday’s feast of St. Joseph the Worker….

ZENIT: What does “Gospel of work” mean?

Father Stramare: “Gospel” is the Good News that refers to Jesus, the Savior of humanity. Well, despite the fact that in general we see Jesus as someone who teaches and does miracles, he was so identified with work that in his time he was regarded as “the son of the carpenter,” namely, an artisan himself. Among many possible activities, the Wisdom of God chose for Jesus manual work, entrusted the education of his Son not to the school of the learned but to a humble artisan, namely, St. Joseph.

Read it all.

"In order to assess the sanctity of Saint Joseph, it would be sufficient to know that he was elected by God in order to fulfill the duties of a father towards Jesus Christ." – St. Alphonsus pic.twitter.com/1bbR5kMrRC

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) March 19, 2025