August 24: Saint Bartholomew. The collect asks two things: love what he believed, preach what he taught. Not a rehearsal of his martyrdom. Not a chronicle of his mission. Just belief and proclamation; the whole apostolic vocation in a single petition.
August 15: the Virgin Mary. The BCP says simply: you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary. The manner of her taking is not defined. The fact of God’s gracious reception is affirmed. Anglican honor rests on what Scripture says plainly: she is the mother of the incarnate Son.
August 6: the Feast of the Transfiguration. The August collect asks not for strength to bear the cross but to behold the King in his beauty, delivered from the disquietude of this world. The Season after Pentecost is long. The mountain appears in the middle of it. Rise, and have no fear.
July 25: Saint James. First among the Twelve to be martyred. Acts 12:2 gives him two verses. The man who was at the Transfiguration, who slept in Gethsemane, who asked for the seat of honor — gone in a subordinate clause. This is what drinking the cup looks like.
July 22: Mary Magdalene. The risen Lord’s first word to any person on Easter morning is a name. He says ‘Mary.’ She recognizes him by her name in his mouth. The first Easter proclamation follows: I have seen the Lord. Four words spoken first by a woman who had been healed and refused to leave.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul therefore give the Church not two foundations but two great apostolic witnesses standing upon the same one: Jesus Christ.