Quinquagesima, February 23rd, 2020

Quinquagesima, Or the Sunday Next Before Lent, 

February 23rd, 2020

In the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we are told that Our Blessed Lord took the Twelve Apostles up to Jerusalem.  And along the way He described to them the way He would be treated according to the Prophets:  " . . . . and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death." (St. Luke 18:32-33)   After Our Lord told them this, St. Luke tells us that the Twelve did not understand any of these things which Our Lord just told them.  I don't know if they didn't understand or perhaps they understood but they did not want to understand.  Haven't we all experienced the pain and suffering before the healing takes place?  Don't we have to go through frustration and irritation quite often before we can find a solution to our problems?  If you ever ask someone who has had a knee replacement surgery, for example, they will tell you that the pain is intense.  It is painful to move your leg.  It is painful not to move your leg.  It is painful.  Period.  And they will also tell you that it is painful to do the physical therapy.  But the bottom line is that the physical therapy needs to be accomplished or else the leg will never get better and you'll still have the pain anyway.  No matter what example we can think of.  Working on a project at your home.  Fixing something that has broken.  Have you ever had to fix something in your house that is broken?  Very often it will take a lot of effort (and elbow-grease) to get it back into working order again.  We all know this because we have all experienced exactly what I am speaking of.  A student studies long and hard for a final in a class.  A woman goes through much pain and agony in order to give birth to her baby.  The list goes on and on.  We all know this for a fact because in our own examples we have experienced this aspect of life.  The problem is that so often we are ready to give up, willing to give up right away when suffering happens.  Our Lord knew that He had to suffer in order to achieve what He wanted to accomplish.  Our Lord had to die on the Cross before He could be raised from the Tomb.  In other words, that glorious first Easter morn would never have happened without out that first painful Good Friday.  The Resurrection would have never been made possible without the Death on the Cross.  Though all of our suffering.  Through all of our pain.  Through all of our sacrifice.  We should always keep God ever close to us.  Let your suffering be a reminder to you how Christ suffered for each one of us.  Our Blessed Lord willingly carried His Cross to that hill at Calvary in order to save us from our sins.  He did not let the pain stop Him.  He did not let the suffering stop Him.  He kept moving forward, secure in the knowledge that the pain . .  the suffering  . . .  the agony . . .  it would all be worth it ultimately because He knew it would produce the results He was looking for:   forgiveness of sins for you and I and the possibility of being with Our Blessed Saviour for all eternity in Heaven.

St. Margaret of Scotland  Church worships every Sunday morning at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located on the Northwest side of Indianapolis at 8140 N. Township line Road.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  Come join us for traditional worship.  We use the King James Bible along with the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We gather together to join as God's family to listen to His Word and worship Him and receive Him in His Precious Body and Blood.  Please join us for Mass and then stay with us afterward for our delicious Coffee Hour.