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July 6: [Eva Lee Matthews, Monastic, 1928]

The Collect of the Day

Eva Lee Matthews

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of your servant Eva Lee Matthews, we may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Eva Lee Matthews

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of thy servant Eva Lee Matthews, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Eva Lee Matthews was born on February 9th, 1862, in Glendale, Ohio. She grew up as an active member of the Episcopal Church, and felt a call to service in the church from a young age. While working at Bethany Mission House, an Episcopal charitable organization designed to help the less fortunate residents of Cincinnati, she and her coworker Beatrice Henderson discerned a call to create a new Episcopal religious order. The purpose of this order was to assist Cincinnati's poor, especially children. Eva became the community’s first superior, taking the name Mother Eva Mary.

On August 6th, 1898, Episcopal Church officials formally recognized Matthews' and Henderson's order, naming the group the Community of the Transfiguration. The Community of the Transfiguration remained in Cincinnati for only a short time. The order soon relocated a short distance away to Glendale, Matthews's childhood home. The order grew slowly but by the 1920s, the Community of the Transfiguration had members engaged in ministries in Painesville, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, Woodlawn, Ohio, Hawaii, and China.

Matthews served as the leader of the Community of the Transfiguration until her death in July 1928. The community she founded continues to serve the church through a variety of ministries in Ohio, California, and the Dominican Republic.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1Sing to the Lord a new song; *sing to the Lord, all the whole earth.

2Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; *proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

3Declare his glory among the nations *and his wonders among all peoples.

4For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *he is more to be feared than all gods.

5As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; *but it is the Lord who made the heavens.

6Oh, the majesty and magnificence of his presence! *Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary!

7Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples; *ascribe to the Lord honor and power.

8Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his Name; *bring offerings and come into his courts.

9Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *let the whole earth tremble before him.

10Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is King! *he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”

11Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea thunder and all that is in it; *let the field be joyful and all that is therein.

12Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the Lord when he comes, *when he comes to judge the earth.

13He will judge the world with righteousness *and the peoples with his truth.

Gospel

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Micah 6:6–8

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 26:6–13

6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8 But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”