laudable Practice

In some parts of the Anglican Communion, 15th August is marked as 'Saint Mary the Virgin' (TEC BCP 1979), 'The Blessed Virgin Mary' (Common Worship), or 'The Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary' (Canadian BCP 1962). In the Church of Ireland, today is merely the Thursday of the Eleventh Week after Trinity. Our equivalent Marian observation is 8th September, celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a provision also permitted as an alternative to 15th August in Common Worship). This wisely avoids any confusion which may arise, in the Irish context, in light of our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters celebrating the Assumption on this day. Whether we, as Anglicans, are observing this day a Marian observance or not, however, is rather beside the point. We all rejoice that the Blessed Virgin Mary shares in the heavenly glory with "all thy saints departed this life in thy faith and fear", the hope of "all thy whole Church". This is se...

From Taylor's 1661 visitation sermon, ' The Minister's Duty in Life and Doctrine ', the second part addressing doctrine. On this day, let the reader understand.  It is the rule of S. Paul, 'let him that prophesies do it according to the proportion of faith;' that is, let him teach nothing but what is revealed, or agreeable to the auтómora , the prime credibilities of Christianity; that is, by the plain words of scripture let him expound the less plain, and the superstructure by the measures of the foundation, and doctrines be answerable to faith, and speculations relating to practice, and nothing taught as simply necessary to be believed, but what is evidently and plainly set down in the holy scriptures; for he that calls a proposition necessary which the apostles did not declare to be so, or which they did not teach to all Christians learned and unlearned, he is gone beyond his proportions. For everything is to be kept in that order where God hath placed it: t...

Is it the case that those of us who - faithful to the Reformed Catholicism and classical Prayer Book tradition of Anglicanism - did not celebrate the Assumption on Sunday past have a 'low' view of the Blessed Virgin Mary? The question comes to mind after I saw the above illustration shared on Twitter.  The illustration, needless, to say, entirely ignores the Reformed tradition's reverence for the Blessed Virgin.  (And, we might add, it is hardly a convincing depiction of Roman Catholic teaching.)  Leaving that aside, the idea that the Assumption is somehow necessary in order to have a rich and reverent understanding of the Blessed Virgin is, at the very least, odd. It is odd because the participation of the Blessed Virgin in redemption does not in any way require the Assumption for that participation to be profoundly and deepy glorious, what the Apostle proclaims as "the riches of the glory of this mystery".  The Blessed Virgin participates in the hope of the Lord...