Day of Prayer – 22nd February 2010
The Day of Prayer on 22nd February, the feast of the Chair of Peter, is an opportunity to reflect, pray, and discern the way forward for each of us, our priests and our parishes.
The Day should focus on the Blessed Sacrament exposed. This will happen in different ways in different places. Some congregations, I hope, will join with their Roman Catholic brothers and sisters locally, in the Roman Catholic parish church. Others will not have this opportunity and will keep vigil in their own church. Some people, inevitably, will be restricted to taking part in their own homes, though we hope that the Day will be organised so that those who are at work have an opportunity for half an hour or so, on the way to work, during a lunch break, or during the evening.
Various exciting plans are emerging. One parish in Birmingham has organised a joint Anglican-Catholic vigil already. Our parishes in Stoke-on-Trent are organising a procession from church to church. There is no uniform pattern except for the shared elements of keeping watch, praying, the focus on Jesus in our midst in the Blessed sacrament, and the celebration of the feast.
Despite press reports, this is not a day of decision. The Apostolic Constitution (Anglicanorum coetibus) is not a crisis point but the opening up, permanently, of a new way into unity with the See of Peter. Decisions about how and whether this should happen for each of us will take place in different ways, and at different times. The time now is a time of prayer and discernment. May God bless us in and through it and further reveal his saving grace.
† Andrew (taken from Ebbsfleet Extra, January 2010)
