August 7

Today is the feast day of St. Cajetan. Born in Italy in 1480, he wasn’t ordained until the age of 36. Shortly after, he began to speak out about corruption in the Church and immoral behavior amongst clergy, who often took parishioners’ money without offering care in return. He met with the Pope to express his concerns before re-establishing an order known as the Oratory of Divine Love, which focused on spiritual healing and the work of active ministry. In 1540, he founded a bank dedicated to helping the impoverished and addressing income inequality. He is the patron saint of Argentina, the unemployed, and job seekers.

Today is also the Feast Day, in the Anglican Church, of John Mason Neale, a priest and hymn-writer who was deeply in love with the Eastern Orthodox Church and who translated many of its liturgies and hymns into English (including “All Glory, Laud, and Honor”). Though he died on August 6, 1866, because the date would conflict with the Feast of the Transfiguration, his feast day was moved to today.

Today also marks the death of Francis Blackburne in 1787, who was also an Anglican priest. He gets no feast day in his church because he was primarily known for his opposition to the idea of clergy having to swear to uphold the Articles of Religion, and felt the church should be more intellectually honest in its policies, and that freedom of conscience should be a defining principle in Christian communities. He believed in only two doctrines: the divinity of Christ and the sufficiency of the Bible for salvation. 

Reflection:

The lyrics of “O Blest Creator of the Light,” translated into English from Latin by John Mason Neale:

As I’ve shared in this devotional, I draw my saints from many different traditions because I don’t think God is as hung up on theology as we are. But while this opinion makes me sympathetic with folks like Francis Blackburne who find many church doctrines tiresome, believe in radical inclusion, and have the intellectual honesty to challenge church authorities, I also read doctrine from the perspective of the history of theology. The Articles of Religion, for example, teach a history of how people have struggled with the theological crises of their day. 

For example, I don’t really think God cares much about how one is baptized: as an adult or an infant, through sprinkling or full immersion. But I recognize the importance of the debate at different points in Christian history, and I’m intensely interested in how we think of sacraments, and whether we imagine our rituals as products of human activity or channels of divine grace. I think what we believe about the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, what “salvation” means, and what the Bible has to do with it are reflections of our journey, and that it’s possible to regard them as important, but not of ultimate importance. 

At the Final Judgment when I stand before God and throngs of angels (or however you might imagine it), I don’t really think God is going to quiz me on the difference between prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. But I do believe that how I conceptualize what God is up to (the meaning of grace) has an impact on how I live my life.

Prayer: God, may we never mistake our ideas of you for you. Amen.