"Take some time each day this week to sit and gaze at something that inspires you or comforts you. Slow your breathing and be present in the moment. Imagine God watching you and taking delight in your enjoyment of his creation."Amen.
It began with words from the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, hallowed by generations of Anglicans: “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy Name…”
Other passages from the Book of Common Prayer included The Comfortable Words and The Prayer of Humble Access: “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in the manifold and great mercies…” Traditional elements of the Roman Rite such as the Last Gospel and the preparatory Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, options within the Ordinariate Use, were also included.
The sermon was preached by Monsignor Andrew Burnham, Assistant to the Ordinary and a member of the special working party set up by Rome which devised the new Use. In his sermon, Mgr Burnham said:
"...Have we, in the Ordinariate, dreamed up our very own ‘hermeneutic of rupture’? Certainly, we have broken away from the Church of England, in which most of us had spent most of our lives. We have broken away too from the trajectory of modern Anglican liturgical revision... But ... we have most truly discovered in place of rupture ‘a hermeneutic of continuity’, that is we have found a way of joining together Cranmer’s linguistic brilliance, and feel for translation, with the ancient Canon of the Mass, prayed everywhere in England from the time of St Augustine until the Reformation, that is, a thousand years. And that Canon continues to be prayed throughout the Universal Church. There’s continuity for you."