Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday, May 28th, 2023

 Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday,

May 28th, 2023

In the world in which we live . . .  if you want my opinion . . .  it's understandable if a person is scared.   I mean just look at all the things to be scared of.   All you have to do is turn on the nightly news and see a whole host of things that will terrify you:  school massacres . . . . drive-by shootings . . . . wars and threats of wars  . . . .  erupting volcanoes . . . . . These are just things which I saw featured on the news this week.  The news itself does a good job of scaring us, though, I have to admit.  The media focuses on negative things to begin with.  They report on murders, car wrecks, robberies, factories closing down, etc.  But then when you factor in the news being on for hours and hours during the day, the result is that you keep seeing the same scary news over and over and over and over  again . . .  . It's almost as if the "fear" is pounded into your head over and over again by the news media.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not saying that there are not things to be scared of or concerned about.  Oh, by all means, yes there are.  What I am pointing out is that by courtesy of the Internet, by courtesy of the news media, we are allowed to dwell on our fears twenty-four hours a day.  In my opinion, you can't watch the news without getting at least a little depressed.  

Perhaps this is the precise reason Our Blessed Lord said what He said.  If we look at the Fourteenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, we hear Our Lord say:  "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  In fact, let's look at the whole verse:  "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  (St. John 14:27)   In this verse Our Blessed Saviour makes a point to specify that it is "His peace" that He is giving us.  He is differentiating between His peace that He is giving and the the peace that the world gives.  The peace that the world "gives" is anything but peaceful.  The world gives us doubt.  The world gives us fear.  The world imparts jealousy and hatred.  We always have worries at the back of our mind about a whole host of things.  We are scared . . . .  sometimes rightly scared and sometimes not . . .  but still scared, nonetheless.  

But throughout all of these anxieties and fears and worries and concerns, the Lord is the cure to our concerns.  He is the sure foundation that we need in our life.  He is the One  . . . . the only One  . . . . Who can offer true peace and security of mind.  "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  God will always be with us, no matter what.  God will always be there for us, in good times and bad.  God will never forsake us.  God will never leave us.  God is ever faithful to His promise even when we are not.  Our Blessed Lord promised that when He left this world, He would send us the Holy Ghost to comfort us, to strengthen us, to fortify us.   "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."  (St. John 14:26)  We have to keep in mind as well that the Holy Ghost is known as the "Comforter" but that name is misleading in our modern day English language because it almost describes something very "comfortable" such as a nice comfy pillow, for example.  Actually, the translation would be more accurate as "Strengthen" or "Strength."  Our Lord is sending us the Holy Ghost to strengthen us.  Either way, let us be assured of one thing:  God is always there for us and we should not be afraid of anything this old world can throw at us.  

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please Join us as we gather together as God's family to:  hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life.  Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life.

Sunday after Ascension Day, May 21st, 2023

 Sunday after Ascension Day, May 21st, 2023

In the Twenty-fourth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear the telling of when Our Blessed Lord ascended into Heaven in the sight of the disciples"  " . . . . he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven ."  (v.51)  To say the least, this moment must have caused a wide range of emotions for the disciples:  joy, awe, confusion, majesty, excitement, inspiration, etc.  At any rate, in the following verse St. Luke tells us that they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy."  When we are in the presence of great people, we are inspired to greatness.  When we see truly inspiring acts of bravery or courage, we are inspired to greatness as well.  When we find ourselves in the presence of someone so filled with the spirit of God, we are inspired to want that same spirit.  The disciples and the apostles experienced all of this in the presence of Our Blessed Lord.  They saw His example on a daily basis:  they heard Him teach and preach; they saw Him cure the sick; they saw Him perform acts of love and compassion on those in need of God's love and forgiveness;  the disciples saw Him show love to those around Him.  And as a result of being in His presence day in and day out, they were affected as well by His life and the things that they saw and heard.  They were inspired to greatness just being in His company.

All of us, I am quite sure, can come up with an example of a time where we were inspired to greatness by what we saw or witnessed.   Whether it be the example of witnessing an inspiring performance by a great singer or a talented dancer.  Or it could be the witness of heroic bravery or courage exhibited by someone in the face of great danger who went forward anyway.  Or, finally, it could be the quiet example of someone who has such a close relationship with God that we can sense God's presence in that person.  Our Blessed Lord inspired the disciples to greatness.  He changed their "ordinary" lives into "extraordinary" lives.  This is how it should be with God.  So many people in the world are affected by the world, drawn to the world, brought down to the world's standards . . . .  We, for our part, should be inspired by Our Blessed Saviour's example to become something "extraordinary."  The disciples allowed their lives to be affected in such a way that the love of God showed forth in their lives.  So, too, we need to allow God to touch our lives in such a way that we show forth His love to the world around us.  Our Blessed Saviour inspired the disciples to greatness.  We should be inspired to that same greatness and show forth the glories of God to the world and to be a reminder of God's love to the world around us.

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please Join us as we gather together as God's family to:  hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life.  Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life.

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 14th, 2023

 Fifth Sunday after Easter, commonly called

Rogation Sunday, May 14th, 2023

If we think back on our life, every single person reading this will be able to remember a time or two where they got themselves into a real jam and needed some assistance or a helping hand.  On the other hand, every single person reading this will remember a time or two when YOU were that person lending a helping hand to a person in need.  I've been the person that needed help; I've been the person that did the helping.  So I have been on both ends of the stick, so to speak.  But the bottom line is this, we have all known people that talked a good game but when it came down to it, their words did not quite equal their actions.  I am sure that all of us can think of a good example of one or two people who talked a lot but when you needed that person, they were nowhere to be found.  Like the old saying goes:  "Actions speak louder than words."   I point all this out to show that it just makes sense to expect people to back up their words with actions.  Even St. James knew this and this is why he wrote in the first chapter of his epistle:  "BE ye doers of the word, and not hearers only . . . ." (St. James 1:22)  In the everyday world, if we went to work and had a coworker who bragged and boasted of everything he or she was capable of doing but that person did not actually do anything when it came down to it, what would we think of that coworker?  What if you had a friend that you would see every now and then and each time you saw that friend, the friend said "Oh, I got you a nice jacket but I don't have it with me but I'll give it to you the next time I see you." But, as you can guess, the next time you see the friend:  no jacket.  But then the same friend says, "Oh, I got you a really nice book but I don't have it with me . . .  I will give it to you next time I see you."  Again, you guessed it, no book to be found the next time you met this friend of yours.  After a while, if this pattern continues, what will the word of this friend mean?  Nothing.   As human beings, we expect people to live up to their word.  If they do not, their word means nothing.  St. James points out that we put our Christianity into practice by what we do for others, especially the less fortunate.  We don't earn our way into Heaven by what we do.  But on the other hand, the more we do for others . . .  in the Name of Christ . . . .  we show what our Christianity means to us.  And it also shows how much we have learned from the teachings of Our Blessed Saviour.

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please Join us as we gather together as God's family to:  hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life.  Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life.

Fourth Sunday after Easter, May 7th, 2023

 Fourth Sunday after Easter, May 7th, 2023

In the Epistle for today's Mass from the Fourth Sunday after Easter, we hear the following:  " . . . . and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls ." (St. James 1:17-21)   Have you ever received a gift . . .  .. or for that matter, perhaps you bought something for yourself . . .  . and as you opened up the package, you discovered that it was something very precious to you.  As a result, you opened the package with great care not wanting to damage your new treasure in the least.  When I read the words of St. James from the quote above it makes me think of that image:  " . . .  receive with meekness the engrafted word . . . ."  Here, St. James is referring, of course, to the Word of God.  And what he is advising is that we take the Word of God and plant what we read in our hearts.  Sometimes if you go to the various social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, etc.  you will read various sayings that people have posted.  One saying I read recently stated something to the effect of:  "It is good to read the Word, but it is better to know the Author."  Of course, the meaning is clear.  It is clearly one thing to read the words of Scripture but it is better to know God and to have a personal relationship with Him.  I would agree with this and I am sure that you would also.  How many times do we read something, whether it be an email at work, or a news article, or even a handwritten message, and if we are not paying attention we have to read it all over again or go back to it again to get exactly what it means?  When we read Holy Scripture, often times we may read one specific passage .  . .  or one specific verse . . .  or one specific chapter . .  . and then we go back and read the same exact passage some time later, we seemingly get a completely different meaning from our reading.  The passage speaks something brand new to us that we did not "see" in our previous reading.  Has that ever happened to you when you read the Bible?   When that happens, be assured of two things:  God is speaking to you and that the Word of God is alive!  This is what St. James is getting at when we stated " . . . .  receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."  Engraft the Word of God into your hearts.  Let it become a part of you.  Let it live within you.  To so many people, the Word of God is just a set of words and no more than that.  To others, the Word of God is simply some "book" setting up on a shelf gathering dust.  The Word of God is so much more than this.  The Holy Scriptures are meant to be absorbed into your heart, your soul.  The Word of God is like a seed that is planted in your heart.  And you water that seed by not only reading the Word of God but also opening yourself to God and letting Him into your life.  As St. James reminds us, let the Word of God to be "engrafted" into your hearts.  Let God speak to you through His Word and then put those words into practice on a daily basis.

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please Join us as we gather together as God's family to:  hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life.  Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life.