The Anglo Catholics - icons
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 12:37PM 
We always had the example of the saints and martyrs put before us: the Gates of Gold and the City of the Lamb were always glittering before our eyes... There was a consciousness of God's Saints actually around and about us, which moved and inspired us to do and to dare anything and everything. Mother Kate, SSM
The icons are a series -- the Anglo Catholics. They have been written by five different artists. A few years ago I felt called to commission this series of icons. Bit by bit, as they have been written, they have come to live and pray with me in my home in Seattle. They are companions and friends. In time they will be given to a parish church and join in that community's life of adoration and awe.
The series is in memory of Brother Basil, OSB, of the Companions of Saint Luke (June 20, 1943 - March 2, 2019). William Thomas Edwards was a teacher and a physician. He specialized in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine serving at two Seattle hospitals. His partner, Steve Long and former wife, Florence, died before him Tom had two sons - Alan and Adam. He had a vocation and gift for music and prayer. He became a postulant with the Companions of St. Luke, OSB was given the religious name 'Basil', and after six years as a novice, in 2015 he made life vow. In time he was elected abbot.
For many years Basil and I prayed Evening Prayer together in All Saints Chapel at St. Paul's. We didn't socialize a great deal with one another-- a few meals over the years, conversation before and after saying the Office, a few sessions as part of a group exploring the inner life, and saying the Office at his bedside as he moved more completely into eternity.
Our strongest bond was prayer--Eucharist and Office, especially the Office. There are many excuses that clergy offer for not having a public office in their parish church--not enough people will come, it's not "my" form of spirituality, my family eats at 5:30 so Evening Prayer would be impossible, and so on. In all the parish development work I've done over 50 years one thing that has become clear to me is the the single most significant thing a priest can do to "develop" the parish is to help it live more fully in the Threefold Rule of Prayer, especially in doing a daily public office.
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