Sonnets to the Saints and Sacred Days
in the Anglican Calendar: April - June

Saint Mark, the Evangelist, April 25
MARK THE EVANGELIST
Mark may have been the youth who fled the scene
Where scribes and elders seized our precious Lord;
Whose mother's house was where Jesus had been
Last supping with Apostles of His word.
Nephew of Barnabas, Mark served with Paul
And then as Peter's right hand man in Rome.
From what he gleaned of Peter's words to all,
At Rome's request, he scribed his sacred tome.
"Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
Were Mark's beginning words with which he led
Us clearly past all doctrine vainly trod
To know God's truth in Christ as done and said.
A martyr who by heathens bound and tied,
Dragged praying over rocky roads, Mark died.
Collect:  O ALMIGHTY God, who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark; Give us grace that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect:  O ALMIGHTY God, whom truly to know is everlasting life; Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. . Amen.
PHILIP  THE  APOSTLE
When Jesus said to Philip "Follow me,"
He joined the first our Savior did enlist.
When Philip told his friend to "Come and see,"
He proved to be Christ's first evangelist.
Philip was there when Jesus fed the crowd
Five barley loaves, two fishes. At the Last
Supper to Philip's query Jesus vowed
Indwelling Fatherhood of God recast.
In legend Philip witnessed far and wide;
Purged Turkish pagans' serpents, healed their bites
Yet, doomed by pagan chiefs, was crucified
Inverted. Then a quake shook all with frights.
As buildings crumbled, people cried for aid.
For their safe rescue, dying Philip prayed.
JAMES OF ALPHEUS,  APOSTLE
Believed to be related to our Lord,
James ranked among The Twelve summoned by Him
Although the Scriptures offer not a word
Of what he did or said. Nor does this dim
His silent service in our Savior's ranks.
Said to have sown in Syria the truth
Of our Lord's blessed teachings, his phalanx
Made him first bishop there. He seemed, In sooth,
So faithful and obedient to his charge
As Christ's evangelist that naught is known
Of his own fervent preaching to enlarge
Christ's message to the masses to atone.
Condemned to martyrdom, this James, 'tis said,
Was stoned to death and sawed apart when dead.
Saint Barnabas the Apostle, June 11
Collect:  O LORD God Almighty, who didst endue thy holy Apostle Barnabas with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost; Leave us not, we beseech thee, destitute of thy manifold gifts, nor yet of grace to use them alway to thy honour and glory; through  Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
BARNABAS,  "A GOOD MAN"
Luke's Acts says that of him, and with much cause.
A Cypriot of Hellenistic Jews,
He was an early convert from the Laws
To Christ's uplifting word of the Good News.
He trusted Paul's conversion to The Way,
Convincing the apostles to believe him.
When sent to Antioch to save the day,
He called on Paul at Taurus to relieve him.
Then forged this team its missionary lock
On preaching to the Gentiles Asia-wide
As Christians (first so called at Antioch)
And, quarrels mended, to Paul's end allied.
At last to Cyprus Barnabas returned.
He died, 'tis said, a martyr choked and burned.
Saint Philip and Saint James,  Apostles, May 1
Saint John the Baptist, June 24
Collect:  ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
THE NATIVITY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
While yet in mother's womb, John gave a leap
At Mary's visit, glad she'd bear our Lord,
He knew his role: prepare His way and keep
The prophecy of wise Isaiah's word.
Thus did this zealous herald serve as link
Of prophecy from old times to the new,
A voice from wilderness that bade us think
Of end times and our Savior's path to hew.
He baptized sinless Jesus; saw God's dove
Alight on Him, proclaimed as blessed Son.
He preached repentance due our God above
And truth and honor 'til our days are done.
While saving souls he baptized without rest.
John's "Lamb of God" praised him as mortals' best.
Saint Peter the Apostle, June 29
Saint Peter and Paul, Apostles, June 29
Collect:  O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
Collect:  ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified thee by their martyrdom:  Grant that thy Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by thy Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
PAUL, GREATEST OF MISSIONARIES
Lowered in basket from a windowed wall
Around a riled Damascus, thence to flee,
Was first of many escapades that Paul
Would cope with in his arduous ministry.
Imprisonments and lashings, stoned near death,
Three times shipwrecked, adrift a day in deep,
Acutely hungered, thirsting, gasping breath,
In peril from all sides, deprived of sleep,
And yet Paul left a corpus vast of mind;
Thirteen canonic letters bear his name
That teach us greatest truths known to mankind
And shape religious thinking brought aflame!
Paul ran his course and kept the faith, his word,
And died a martyr's death by Roman sword.
PETER, FOREMOST OF APOSTLES
Unschooled, impulsive, and so often swayed,
Peter was but a fisherman at heart,
Yet he became the follower who stayed
Most close to Jesus, always being part
Of every major happening on His Way
Of miracles: restoring lives anew;
Feeding the throngs, transfiguration day.
He thrice confirmed his love of Jesus, due
Repentance for denying Him that night.
He'd earlier been named by Christ his "rock,"
And now the risen Lord, there in plain sight,
Three times directed Peter, "Feed my flock,"
As shepherd in His stead.  Peter's last crown:
A martyr's crucifixion  upside down.
Collects from the Book of Common Prayer and
Inspirational Sonnets by George K. Johnson (1920-2007), used with permission
Home