One of my favorite parts of the Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion service is the Comfortable Words following the confession and absolution. After the minister and people together confess their sins and and the minister pronounces the absolution, he says (here, in the 1662 version:)
I recently discovered that the Comfortable Words can also be found in the Divine Missal used by Catholics who worship in the Ordinariate - obvious connections to the Anglican liturgy, but fascinating nonetheless.
Thanks, Ben. I love reading this line in the original, “…to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” It would be so great if the clergy still said this… it’s why I have come to think of the east facing altar as my favorite now… it’s so moving to think of the priest this way, not as moral exemplar but representative in need for mercy, all of us facing God together…
Amen, brother!
I recently discovered that the Comfortable Words can also be found in the Divine Missal used by Catholics who worship in the Ordinariate - obvious connections to the Anglican liturgy, but fascinating nonetheless.
See page 6: https://www.liturgia.it/content/DivineWorshipPewMissalWEB.pdf
Thanks, Ben. I love reading this line in the original, “…to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” It would be so great if the clergy still said this… it’s why I have come to think of the east facing altar as my favorite now… it’s so moving to think of the priest this way, not as moral exemplar but representative in need for mercy, all of us facing God together…
Oops - the Comfortable Words are retained in the TEC Rite I, not Rite II, of course. Thanks to a careful reader for catching the typo!