Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,

In this season of the Holy Spirit,  I am writing to remind you to pray for the College of Bishops as we prepare to select the new Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America. In exactly one month from today, on June 20, our bishops will gather in Conclave and in prayer in LaTrobe, PA, to seek the Lord for our leader for the coming five years.

Please join me on Wednesdays or Fridays setting aside specific times of prayer (and fasting) asking for God’s discernment, wisdom, and guidance.  Also, please include this request in your Sunday prayers.

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of the bishops of our Church who shall choose a new Archbishop for this Province, that we may receive a faithful pastor who will preach the Gospel, care for your people, equip us for ministry, and lead us forth in fulfillment of the Great Commission; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (adapted from BCP 2019, for Selection of Bishop or Other Minister)

Faithfully yours in Christ Jesus,

The Most Rev’d Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America

Archbishop Foley Beach reminds to pray for College of Bishops as they prepare to select the new Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America. https://t.co/zgmSBO1hXn pic.twitter.com/qs6Auxu8DA

— ACNA (@The_ACNA) May 20, 2024

The November presidential election has filled many Americans with dread, and the prospect of violence, foreign interference and misinformation surrounding the contest is a big reason why.

The latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that half of battleground-state voters are worried about violent clashes once the results are in. The shares of Republicans and Democrats who harbor worries about violence are roughly equal, and independents are even more concerned about the election devolving into harmful chaos.

The presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has filled many Americans with dread, and the prospect of violence, foreign interference and misinformation surrounding the contest is a big reason why https://t.co/mjbSsZlUxQ

— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) May 22, 2024

The theocracy in Tehran is in deep trouble on every front. “The divide between the population and leadership has only increased—as evidenced by public apathy” at parliamentary elections held in March, Sanam Vakil, an Iran expert at Chatham House, told me. Only forty-one per cent of eligible voters cast ballots—the lowest percentage since the revolution. The reason for public disillusionment is partly economic. Inflation hovered at thirty-five per cent in February; the Iranian rial plummeted to an all-time low last year. Under Raisi, the government cut back on food and fuel subsidies and did little to sustain support for health, education, and welfare. The average Iranian feels trapped in economic purgatory. And, in April, the regime, which has the largest missile arsenal in the region, was humiliated militarily. It fired more than three hundred ballistic missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria, which killed three top generals. Iran’s weaponry either failed, was shot down, or was intercepted by Israeli, U.S., and Jordanian forces, among unnamed others. The U.S. called Iran’s brazen operation “embarrassing” and a “spectacular” failure. 

Quoted in ⁦@wrightr⁩ What Raisi’s Death Means for the Future of Iran The theocracy in Tehran is in deep trouble on every front. “The divide between the population and leadership has only increased—as evidenced by public apathy” https://t.co/FJ7scYyjf4

— Sanam Vakil صنم وكىل (@SanamVakil) May 21, 2024

Oleksiy Bozhko, a volunteer medic whose team examined the men near the eastern city of Avdiivka, identified the gas as chloropicrin, a banned chemical irritant, based on the men’s symptoms and description of the smell. U.S. and Ukrainian officials, as well as medics, soldiers and international researchers say Russian use of toxic gases on the battlefield is increasing as Moscow ramps up an offensive designed to seize more of Ukraine’s territory than the roughly 20% it already occupies.

“This weapon cripples and kills, it’s indiscriminate,” said Bozhko.

After Ukraine repelled initial Russian attacks in 2022, the war has morphed into a grind where each side is looking for an advantage against hardened defensive lines. Seeing an opportunity in Ukraine’s shortage of weapons and reserve forces, Russia has been pressing forward on several fronts, using guided aerial bombs to smash up Ukrainian positions. Toxic gases can impair Ukrainian troops’ ability to defend entrenched positions, even forcing them to withdraw.

.@wsj: Burning Skin, Teary Eyes: #Ukraine’s Troops Say Russia Is Using a Banned Toxic Gas https://t.co/3oIwPVspkt

— Amb Antonio Garza (@aogarza) May 23, 2024

As the heavens declare thy glory, O God, and the firmament showeth thy handiwork, we bless thy Name for the gifts of knowledge and insight thou didst bestow upon Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler; and we pray that thou wouldst continue to advance our understanding of thy cosmos, for our good and for thy glory; through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler, Astronomers, 1543 & 1630 https://t.co/4ZmtA6dEAQ pic.twitter.com/tR2BUfDVZn

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 23, 2020

O Holy Spirit of God, Lord and Giver of life: Come into our hearts, we beseech thee; that enlightened by thy clear shining, and warmed by thine unselfish love, our souls may be revived to the worship of God, and our lives be dedicated anew to the service of our fellows: for Jesus Christ’s sake.

Na een bewolkte dag klaarde het nog mooi op. Fijne donderdag😀 #natuur #landschap #lente #Rhenen #ElstUt #Elsterbuitenwaard #zonsondergang #mooieluchten pic.twitter.com/8GhvIUT5bx

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) May 23, 2024

My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;

keep my commandments and live,
keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;

bind them on your fingers,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend;

to preserve you from the loose woman,
from the adventuress with her smooth words.

–Proverbs 7:1-5

Beautiful sunrise getting starting looking from Downtown toward the Ravenel Bridge! pic.twitter.com/dxpsYA1Smc

— Joey Sovine Live 5 (@JoeySovine) May 23, 2024

China’s economic miracle is ending, leaving President Xi Jinping with a challenge none of his predecessors faced: how to govern after the boom.

For four decades, China’s 1.4 billion population experienced unparalleled gains in income and wealth. But recently the blows have just kept coming. Real estate collapse, trade war with the US, a crackdown on entrepreneurs, and extended Covid lockdowns have stalled the prosperity engine.

Chinese incomes are still rising, but under Xi gains have been the slowest since the late 1980s. The property crisis is hammering household wealth. And the cautious opening-up of China’s society has gone into reverse too. For many people across the country, it feels like a different world.

Take for example Mr. Hu, a factory worker in Shanghai. For almost a decade after moving from his hometown, Hu was upwardly mobile. He earned enough to buy a car, drove passengers at the weekend to top up the family income, and in 2020 bought a big-city apartment. Hu felt good about the future. Now he feels “desperate.”

Unlike his reform-era predecessors, Xi Jinping can’t count on rapid gains in prosperity to underpin support for Communist Party rule in China https://t.co/xAj5ruyMbw

— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) May 22, 2024

Or you can listen to it all here. The sermon itself starts around 17:45.

For those interested in downloading you may find the link there.

Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles,empowering them with divine inspiration&guidance.Just as flames danced upon their heads,let this Pentecost renew our faith&fill our hearts with the warmth of divine love.#Pentecost #feastofpentecost pic.twitter.com/v4usaCfCut

— The John Bradburne Memorial Society (@BradburneJohn) May 19, 2024

The latest report on the Church of England’s strategic investment shows how funding in the last year has prioritised doubling the numbers of children and young people, and revitalising parishes for mission.

In the year 2023, Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Funding (SMMI) awarded £60 million to Church of England projects and parishes plus an additional £29 million to support lowest income communities around England.

Alongside the focus on growing the church younger and more diverse, funding prioritised parts of society where other sources of support have been withdrawn.

There was also a new structure, with a single Board – the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) – set up to distribute funding on behalf of the Archbishops’ Council.

Read it all.

Church’s 2023 strategic investment focuses on doubling number of children and young people – reporthttps://t.co/TvsuU2BlC3

— Nick Edmonds (@nickedmonds575) May 21, 2024

Most Merciful God, who didst vouchsafe to bless thy servant Helena with such grace and devotion to thee that she didst venerate the very footsteps of our Savior; Grant unto us the same grace that, aided by her prayers and example, we too may evermore behold thy glory in the cross of thy Son. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Helena of Constantinople, by Cima de Conegliano, 1495. A panel now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC pic.twitter.com/dQErpfthSR

— Pictures of Churches (@ChurchPictures8) August 18, 2017

Send, we beseech thee, Almighty God, thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, that he may rule and direct us according to thy will, comfort us in all our afflictions, defend us from all error, and lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who, with thee and the same Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth one God world without end.

Buttercups at dawn. Taken this morning on Glastonbury Tor. pic.twitter.com/wAXezwnmpo

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) May 21, 2024

Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has borne witness to his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.

–1 John 5:1-12

Happy Rose Wednesday #RoseWednesday pic.twitter.com/ZE377V6PPF

— 🌱Mystic Mel (@Melshenny1) May 22, 2024

So we are celebrating being one-fifth smaller as a church (in terms of attendance) than we were in 2019.

These kinds of figures are always easier to grasp in visual form, so this is what the graphs look like:

(These graphs are from the papers for the Archbishops’ Council in January, when the first figures were known. I am not sure why the information has been released now, four months later, when the figures have not changed much if at all. The release seem to coincide with communication from the meeting of the House of Bishops, in which encouraging stories of growth were shared; this provides important context for that.)

In terms of the goals of the Church to see decline turned around and become growth, this is not very encouraging news. It means that not only have we not seen overall growth, we have not seen an end to decline. In fact, the rate of decline has not yet slowed, and is perhaps getting faster.

It could be argued that this is almost all the result of Covid lockdown losses, and we are still to see the full recovery. But I think that is now quite hard to sustain: this is now the third year since lockdown; other institutions seem to have made any recovery they expected; and other churches seem to have already fully bounced back (this is certainly the case here in my city). The awkward question remains about the national Church’s response, and in particular the comments of the Archbishops, which closed church buildings unnecessarily, and appeared to communicate that in-person attendance was not essential anyway. It appears as though many Anglicans have taken this seriously, and the habit of church attendance has been lost.

Once more: whither the Church of England? | Psephizo https://t.co/BnPfhGT5ke

— Simon Sarmiento (@simonsarmiento) May 22, 2024

Attendance figures are assembled each year and published in the Statistics for Mission report in the following autumn. This year, however, preliminary figures were released by Church House on Monday. They provide “a snapshot of the overall picture”, and are based on returns from more than 11,000 churches, a statement said. “The totals could be revised as further figures come in and checks continue.”

The returns received so far suggest that average all-age weekly attendance, which includes Sunday and midweek services, increased from 654,000 people in 2022 to 685,000 in 2023: a rise of 4.7 per cent. The number of children (defined as anyone under the age of 16) attending weekly rose from 87,000 in 2022 to 92,000 in 2023: an increase of 5.7 per cent.

In 2021, average all-age weekly attendance was 605,000 people, compared with 345,000 people in 2020 (when churches were closed during periods of national lockdown), and 854,000 people in 2019….

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Archbishops take comfort from small signs of growth in church attendance https://t.co/bHTPyymClZ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 20, 2024

The new tariffs President Biden announced last week aren’t economically significant. Symbolically, they are huge.

The U.S. buys almost no electric vehicles, steel or semiconductors—all targets of the tariffs—from China. But, by adding to, rather than rescinding, tariffs imposed in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, it signals that the decoupling of the Chinese and U.S. economies is becoming irreversible.

More important, the tariffs are the final piece of an economic strategy for competing with China.

This strategy is a three-legged stool. The first consists of subsidies to build a viable technology manufacturing sector, from clean energy to semiconductors. The second is tariffs on Chinese imports that threaten those efforts. The third is restrictions on access to money, technology and know-how that could help China compete. A fourth leg, a unified economic front with allies, remains unrealized.

Read it all.

Biden's new tariffs round out a three-legged strategy for competing with China. Leg 1: subsidies to build a viable technology manufacturing sector, from clean energy to semiconductors. 2: tariffs on Chinese imports that threaten those efforts. 3: restrictions on access to money,…

— Greg Ip (@greg_ip) May 20, 2024

‘The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit that has always intrigued me. They called Him An Geadh-Glas, or “the Wild Goose.” I love the imagery and implications. The name hints at the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed.

An element of danger and an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious at first earshot, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to pursue the Spirit’s leading through life than Wild Goose chase. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something that institutionalized Christianity has missed out on. And I wonder if we have clipped the wings of the Wild Goose and settled for something less—much less—than what God originally intended for us.’

–Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008), pp. 1-2, quoted by yours truly in this past Sunday’s sermon

Today is Pentecost. This 16th c. devotional card showing the Holy Spirit descending on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles is sewn into LPL's copy of Thys prymer of Salysbury use (Paris, 1534) [ZZ]1534.46 #pentecost #whit pic.twitter.com/c37Q5Fflup

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 19, 2024

[At Pentecost Peter] intendeth to prove…that the Church can be repaired by no other means, saving only by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, forasmuch as they did all hope that the restoring drew near, he accuseth them of sluggishness, because they do not once think upon the way and means thereof. And when the prophet saith, “I will pour out,” it is, without all question, that he meant by this word to note the great abundance of the Spirit….when God will briefly promise salvation to his people, he affirmeth that he will give them his Spirit. Hereupon it followeth that we can obtain no good things until we have the Spirit given us.

–Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

The Pentecostal descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church is connected with his descent on Christ at baptism: the mission of the Church, the community of God's children, in the power of the Spirit is a continuation of the mission of Christ, the eternal Son.@keblelib Ms 39, f.111v pic.twitter.com/IE6SaYCFZA

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 19, 2024

Eternal God, who gives good gifts to all people, and who teaches us to have the same spirit of generosity: Give unto us, we pray thee, hearts that are always open to hear thy word, that following the example of thy servant Lydia, we may show hospitality to all who are in any need or trouble, through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira listened and the Lord opened her heart.” -Acts 16:14

“The Baptism of Lydia” by Marie Ellenrieder (1861) Alte Nationalgalerie pic.twitter.com/B7DKLGgiQF

— Lady of Good Counsel (@ofgoodcounsel) May 23, 2022

Almighty and everlasting God, who in days of old didst cause thy Word to grow mightily and to prevail: We praise and magnify thy holy name for the manifestation of thy presence in this our day, and we beseech thee to pour out thy Spirit upon the Church, that thy way may be known upon earth and thy saving health among all nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Holy Spirit is a living fountain ("fons vivus", Veni Creator) in God's Church. When the apostles visibly lay their hands on people when administering the sacraments, they are invisibly filled with the Spirit.@CdeChantilly Ms Fr 71,f.25
Heures d'Étienne Chevalier (J. Fouquet) pic.twitter.com/aePq2vuCGa

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 20, 2024

Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight;
for I give you good precepts:
do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
he taught me, and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Get wisdom; get insight.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.

–Proverbs 4:1-7

Sunny start and clear skies – Skye Bridge, Kyleakin, Isle of Skye #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 21/05/24 @angie_weather @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland @carolkirkwood @BBCScotWeather pic.twitter.com/iXMmmA1o5b

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) May 21, 2024

Then, as now, the majority of global Anglicans believed that apostolic teaching calls for those engaging in sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage to be loved by the church and called to repent. Without repentance, such a person cannot be considered a “true shepherd” and therefore should be precluded from ordination or consecration. It was, therefore, TEC’s willingness to consecrate a man in a same-sex relationship which tore “the fabric of [the] communion at its deepest level.”

Returning to the events of Saturday 11th May 2024, Bishop Jill Duff told Anglican Futures that she was asked to attend the consecration of Bishop David Morris as a representative of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York…. She was very clear that it was in that capacity, rather than as an honorary assistant bishop in the Church in Wales, that she did so .

This raises a number of issues of national and international significance:

First, this means a bishop of the Church of England was involved in the consecration of a man whose conduct would prevent him from being consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England.

Read it all.

When @AnglicanFutures publishes a piece like this it quickly becomes obvious that the only real sin for @churchofengland bishops is to dissent from the idea that truth is best regarded as being plural. Nearly 3,000 reads shows how wrong that is. https://t.co/Z5hLAuYA8D

— Dan Leafe (@DanLeafe1) May 19, 2024

The problem of being a poor paymaster is equally evident in the case of Ukraine. For reasons that future historians will struggle to understand, the US suspended its aid to Ukraine in late 2023. Europeans did not fill the gap, with the result that Ukraine’s military capacity was diminished and Russia’s hopes of victory revived. According to the latest Ukraine Support Tracker published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, between the beginning of the war and this March, the European Union plus its individual members together allocated a total of €89.9 billion in military, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine. The US pledged less, €67 billion.

The result is that Kyiv listens much less to Washington than it did in 2022 and 2023 — hence the recent spate of deep drone strikes aimed at Russia’s energy infrastructure, operations that cannot possibly have been approved by Team Biden, which it seems will (to quote John F. Kennedy) “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship … to assure the survival and success of liberty” — except for higher gasoline prices in an election year.

This has been a horrible failure of American policy. Turning off aid to Ukraine has unquestionably encouraged Putin to believe that victory can be achieved in a relatively short time frame. Thanks to Samuel Charap and Sergey Radchenko, we know now that, when their invasion was going badly in early 2022, the Russians were ready to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine. The compromise would have ruled out North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership for Kyiv but provided it with multilateral security guarantees to protect its neutrality, and paved the way to EU membership.

Read it all.

The Biden administration wants other countries to do its fighting in Cold War II, but that approach is economically crippling and rarely achieves victory https://t.co/ogeTcnGAkk via @opinion

— Robert Burgess (@BobOnMarkets) May 20, 2024

Ms Howatch, 52, believes God has been guiding her. Although she made her first fortune writing blockbusters such as Penmarric, success and its trappings left her spiritually empty. She had houses in several countries, drove a Porsche and a Mercedes and after the break-up of her marriage had too many ‘facile, transient liaisons’. In the early Eighties she told her editor she would be late with a novel and he said: ‘What will I tell the accountants?’

‘I was not interested in fame and fortune any more – I’d had it all since I was 30 and it hadn’t satisfied me. So I thought, ‘If I’m not in it for that and I’m not in it to keep my publishers in the black, what the hell am I doing it for?’

‘God seized me by the scruff of the neck, slammed me against the nearest wall and shook me until my teeth rattled. I thought: ‘Okay, what does God actually require of me?”

–From there and quoted by yours truly in yesterday’s Pentecost sermon (emphasis mine)

Followers may be glad to read that @Cambridge_Uni has announced that I am to become a professor in October. This is an ideal opportunity for me to reiterate our gratitude to Susan Howatch for endowing the Starbridge position around thirty years ago. pic.twitter.com/Qk2i5U41f0

— Andrew Davison (@AP_Davison) June 14, 2023

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wields ultimate decision-making authority in Iran, but Raisi still holds significant power within the regime. Raisi is the deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a regime entity constitutionally responsible for monitoring the supreme leader and selecting his successor.[8] Iranians re-elected Raisi to serve as a representative of South Khorasan Province in the Assembly of Experts during the recent March 2024 Assembly of Experts elections.[9] Raisi also holds numerous ex officio positions. He is a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, and Supreme Cyber Space Council.

Raisi’s death would have serious implications for supreme leader succession. Raisi is considered one of the top contenders—along with Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei—to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader. Khamenei appointed Raisi to the position of judiciary chief in 2019 and endorsed Raisi during the August 2021 presidential elections.[10] The next several days have the potential to reshape the immediate and long-term dynamics of the regime, including supreme leader succession. Raisi’s death would ultimately not change the regime’s current trajectory toward more hardline and conservative domestic policies and more aggressive regional policies, however.

Read it all.

With the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, becomes acting president.

Here’s what to know about him. https://t.co/mlW89Mh2JD

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 20, 2024

Almighty God, who in a rude and barbarous age didst raise up thy deacon Alcuin to rekindle the light of learning: Illumine our minds, we pray thee, that amid the uncertainties and confusions of our own time we may show forth thine eternal truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates Alcuin of York, Deacon, Abbot of Tours, 804

Image: Portrait of Alcuin, preaching & holding an open book; illustration to Thevet's "Vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustres" (Paris 1584), © Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 pic.twitter.com/3pC6vTZMgz

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 20, 2024

O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform 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 for ever.
Amen.

Good Morning pic.twitter.com/qulJgH6AwF

— philip jackson (@pajacksonartist) May 20, 2024

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

–Psalm 1:1-3

Pentecost, with the dove descending on Mary and the apostles#Pentecost
BL Lansdowne 383; the 'Shaftesbury Psalter'; 12th century; England; f.14r @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/CoK4jl5buQ

— Ennius (@red_loeb) June 4, 2022