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| Brian A. Butcher |
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Dr. Butcher is a professor
at the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies
at Saint Paul University (Faculty of Theology) and a subdeacon in the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church. He has taught theology at Trinity Western University and humanities at Simon Fraser University and is this term leading the Seminar at Augustine College on Augustine's Confessions. |
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"In his first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger. In his second coming he is clothed with light as with a garment. | | | |
In his first coming he bore the cross, despising its shame; he will come a second time in glory accompanied by the hosts of angels. | | |
| It is not enough for us, then, to be content with his first coming; we must wait in hope of his second coming. What we said at his first coming, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,' we shall repeat at his last coming...." | | |
| St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 15:1 |
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| Advent is perhaps one of the most misunderstood of the traditional liturgical seasons. Not least because our society's commercial 'Xmas' announces itself earlier each year, expiring in turn almost as soon as Boxing Day arrives - just as the genuine Twelve Day feast of Christmas has properly begun! But also because, I would suggest, we have forgotten how to wait - and how, therefore, to hope. |
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To stave off Christmas parties, carols, and treats during Advent is not, despite appearances, to promote a dour, curmudgeonly evasion of the ubiquitous 'holiday cheer' but rather to exercise contemplative muscles that might otherwise atrophy. To wit, we must learn to celebrate not only the Lord's Incarnation but his paradoxical presence-in-absence: the longing, yearning, aching for the Messiah that haunted the Old Testament sojourn of Israel (and pains Jewry even today) and the wounded love of the Church who must, until the End, be deprived of seeing the face of her Bridegroom. | | |
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For the same one who said "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt 28:20) also taught that "the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast" (Matt 9:5). What the liturgical year thus proposes is the challenge of holding in productive tension two ostensibly contradictory truths: namely, that the Lord is with us, and yet absent; that he has come, and yet is still to come. | | |
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As Ecclesiastes admonishes, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (3:1). A time, in fasting and prayer, to wait with Israel for the Messiah's coming ("O Come, O Come, Emmanuel") and to hope with the Church for his return in glory ("Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending") - as also a time to feast his Nativity and dwelling, in the Holy Spirit, in our midst today. | | |
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Blessed indeed is He who has, is, and will come, in the name of the Lord. Maranatha. | | |
| SbDcn. Dr. Brian A. Butcher |
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| Augustine College Update |
In addition to the spiritual anticipation and struggle that we experience throughout Advent, our students are working hard and feeling the pressures of paper-writing and exam season. Last month students gathered at the War Memorial on Remembrance Day, had a potluck to celebrate American Thanksgiving, and participated in our monthly Film Night. On November 19th we had our biggest fall-term Student-for-a-Day event yet. A bright young group of prospective students joined us for Edward Tingley's Art in Western Culture class, lunch, and Andrew Bennett's History of Christianity class and we look forward to seeing those students again.
Prayer
- Pray for patience and hope for each of our students and faculty as they persevere through their end-of-semester duties;
- for the safe travel of our students as many of them return home for Christmas;
- for our financial situation and that God would guide our plans and commitments according to His will and provision;
- for the physical health of our students, faculty, and staff;
- for the health of relationships among students, faculty, staff, and the wider community.
Media
Recent additions to the Media Centre include Dr. Patrick's appearance on Cross Country Checkup with Rex Murphy
and Edward Tingley's illustrated lecture The Ethics of the New Testament.
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