Friday, April 4, 2008

The Sarum Legion of St. Michael

Traditionally St. Michael has been the patron of Soldiers and Warriors; as those baptised into the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ are to "Put on the whole armor of of God" and become soldiers of God it is fitting that our society should bare his name. The Legion of St. Michael is dedicated to the reconversion of the word especially countries of European especially English descent, our goal is to do this through prayer, fasting, penance, and evangelization.

Prayer-
As members of the body of Christ we are called to be a people of prayer, for our society this prayer is centered around the traditions of the Pre-Reformation English Church, in particular the Church of Sarum.
We use the Sarum Missal as translated by A. Harford Pearson.
We are currently undertaking the task of translating the Sarum Breviary as we have not yet found a suitable English translation.
Daily Prayer life
Upon waking
  • The shorter St. Michael prayer 3 times for the intentions of 1 himself, 2 his Priest and Bishop, 3 the protection of the whole Church of God.
  • 1 Hail Mary.(for the conversion of sinners)
  • 1 Our Father.(for our conversion)
  • 1 Glory Be.(in thanks giving)
Throughout the day
  • Christ our King convert our hearts to thee.
  • Lord have Mercy on us sinners.
  • Mother of Sarum pray for us.
  • Mother of all Anglicans pray for us.
In the Evening.
  • Shorter St. Michael prayer.(for our defense in the evening)
  • Hail Mary.(for the conversion of sinners)
  • Our Father.(for our conversion)
  • Glory Be.(in thanks giving)
Before bed.
  • Before bed the Sarum Complin
  • followed by the shorter St. Michael prayer.
  • followed by the ejaculation "St. Micheal patron of this Legion, may we the soldiers of Christ in your care always be obedient to Jesus our Lord, and may the Lord grant us His protection through you this night."

Fasting and abstinence
Fasting and abstinence is an important part of our life as Christians so that we might "make up for what is lacking in Christ's affliction" Col1:24. It one way in which we unite ourselves in a small way through sharing in his suffering. As our suffering is made Holy and Sacramental through Christ crucified who we preach always, we are made Holy in so much as we share in the Passion of our Lord. For this reason we abstain from meet on Fridays and fast the first Friday of every month.

Penance
Christ has bestowed in his ministers the authority to bind and loose, so it is our practice to recieve the Sacrament of penance the first and third week of every month. And to do small acts of penance for ourselves and for others; in this respect we weekly choose one thing to abstain from, or choose to take a particular devotion up.

Evangelization
Evangelization comes in three forms; 1 Prayer, 2 Active, 3 Passive. If we do not pray we cannot be Christ centered and if we are not Christ centered we are dead instruments. It is Christ who converts others not ourselves and so we petition Him for the grace to do his will as well as that others might have the grace to be receptive to His will. As far as Passive evangelization goes we rely on the words often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi "preach always and when necessary use words"; we understand this to mean that our actions reflect our belief as Christians, and thus we must always act as Christians especially when we think no one is looking. Actively evangelization means the deliberate working for and towards the conversion of another individual.

1 comment:

Canon Tallis said...

Why not the Sarum Diurnal as once used by the Community of St Mary the Virgin at Wantage? I used it for years as a layman and both the day office, vespers and compline have been noted.