Readings

January 14: Richard Meux Benson, Priest and Vowed Religious, 1915

The Collect of the Day

Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore]

Gracious God, who kindled in your servants Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore the grace to lead a revival of monastic life: Grant us also the resolve to serve you faithfully in contemplation and prayer, ministering to the world that you have made, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore]

Gracious God, who didst kindle in thy servants Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore the grace to lead a revival of monastic life: Grant us also the resolve to serve thee faithfully in contemplation and prayer, ministering to the world that thou hast made, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Richard Meux Benson and Charles Gore are remembered for their role in the revival of Anglican monasticism in the nineteenth century.

Richard Meux Benson was born in London in 1824. He was educated at home until he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied under Edward Bouverie Pusey. He was subsequently ordained as a priest and served as vicar of the village of Cowley, not far from Oxford. In 1858 Fr. Benson conducted the first of many silent retreats for priests for which he later became well-known. Also around this time, he established a church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist in Cowley, and made plans to travel to India to gather a community of missionaries to live with him in poverty. His bishop, however, urged him to stay in England, where the Oxford Movement was spreading.

At this time, although there were several Anglican monastic communities for women, there were not yet any communities for men. Therefore, in 1865, Fr. Benson and Fr. S.W. O’Neill established a community that was both contemplative and externally focused, which they called the Mission Priests of St. John the Evangelist. It was the first religious order for men in the Church of England since the Reformation. Fr. Benson was named Superior, and as such, developed the Society’s Rule of Life and Constitution. The brothers recited the Daily Office together, were urged to spend at least an hour in contemplation each day, and continued their priestly ministry outside of the monastery. In the late 1800s the Society spread to the United States, India and South Africa. Fr. Benson himself visited the community in Cambridge, Massachusetts and remained there for a number of years before returning to England, where he died in 1915.

Charles Gore was born in 1853 in Wimbledon and was educated mainly at Oxford. He was ordained in 1876 and served in positions at Cuddesdon and Pusey House, Oxford, both of which were focused upon theological education and the formation of clergy. While at Pusey House, Gore founded the Community of the Resurrection, a community for men that sought to combine the rich traditions of the religious life with a lively concern for the demands of ministry in the modern world.

Gore, a prolific writer and noted theologian, was a principal progenitor of liberal Anglo-Catholicism in late 19th and early 20th century Anglicanism. He was concerned to make available the critical scholarship of the age available to the church, particularly with respect to the Bible. A second but no less important concern was to prick the conscience of the church and plead for its engagement in the work of social justice for all. Between 1902 and 1919, Gore served successively as bishop of the dioceses of Worcester, Birmingham, and Oxford, seamlessly uniting his vocations of bishop, monastic, and theologian. He died in 1932.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

5One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; *that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

6To behold the fair beauty of the Lord *and to seek him in his temple.

7For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; *he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling and set me high upon a rock.

8Even now he lifts up my head *above my enemies round about me.

9Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; *I will sing and make music to the Lord.

10Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; *have mercy on me and answer me.

11You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” *Your face, Lord, will I seek.

Gospel

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John 17:6–11

6 ”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

1 Kings 19:9–18

9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”