Septuagesima, or the Third Sunday before Lent, January 28th, 2024

 Septuagesima, or the Third Sunday before Lent, 

January 28th, 2024

On Sunday, January 28th, 2024, the Church celebrates Septuagesima Sunday . . .  or the Third Sunday Before Lent . . .  The "Gesima Sundays" are the final countdown, if you will, or the three Sundays of preparation for the holy season of Lent. The Gospel for today's Mass comes to us from the Twentieth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew.  In this Chapter, St. Matthew recalls the words of Our Lord in regards to the householder who hired laborers to work in his vineyard.  And the householder went out at various points throughout the day to hire laborers to come and work in his vineyard.  And at the end of the day each of the laborers got paid the same exact wage whether they worked the whole day or just the last hour of the day.  God invites those whom He chooses to invite.  But the key is that it is up to us to accept or decline the invitation.  The very end of the passage that we heard today ends with:  " . .  .  for many be called, but few chosen ."  (St. Matthew 20:16)  I speak to so many people and it's the same thing for most people:  they are involved in a whole host of activities.  Just think about all the different "hats" that you may or may not have in your own life:  worker; homeowner; spouse; parent; neighbor; volunteer; friend; customer; etc.  The list could go on and on.  But I talk to so many people who have been chosen to work on a special committee or who have been chosen to be in charge of a special project of one sort or another.  Even at work, we get chosen by our boss or our manager to be in charge of something.  Throughout our life, all of us can think of one example or another where we have been chosen.  God has chosen His people as well.  "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord Thy God: the Lord Thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth."  (Deuteronomy 7:6)  We are chosen by God to be a "special people" unto Him.  We must never forget that.  God has chosen YOU!  It is up to us whether or not we accept the invitation.  Remember who you are:  You are "special"; You are "chosen" You are "loved."  I do not think that most of us realize the importance of this fact.  If we did, we would spend more time focused on the things above as opposed to being focused on the things here below.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church is a traditional Anglican parish, which uses the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We also use the King James Version of the Bible.  We believe strongly in Our Lord's words . . .  "this is My Body and this is My Blood" . . . and believe that Our Blessed Saviour is truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and we receive Him at Communion time.  Come join us every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM as we gather together as God's family to worship Our Blessed Lord.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Third Sunday after Epiphany, January 21st, 2024

 Third Sunday after Epiphany, January 21st, 2024

In the Second Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear the familiar story of the Miracle at Cana, where Our Blessed Lord turned water into wine.  For those of us who have read the Bible our entire lives, in particular the Gospels, it is easy for us to overlook the miraculous works of Our Lord because we are so used to seeing Him perform miracles all throughout the Gospel accounts.  But if we are not paying attention we may miss something, we may overlook something important.  You see, in this recounting of what happened at the Wedding Feast of Cana, buried deep within the story, we hear some of the most important words ever spoken in the entire Bible:  "His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." (St. John 2:1ff)  Our Lady is telling those in charge of the wedding feast to do whatever her Son tells them to do.  She should know what she is talking about . . .  this is her Son.  She raised Him.  She saw Him grow to become an adult.  The reason she is so confident in what she states is because she spent time with Him every day of His life.  "Do whatever He tells you . . . ."  We, too, are called to spend time with Our Blessed Lord every single day.  If we spend quality time with Our Saviour on a daily basis, we will also have confidence just like Our Lady did when she gave the advice, "do whatever He tells you . . ."  We need to follow this advice as well and this can only be done by making a point to listen to what He is telling us and we can only accomplish this by making a point to listen to Him.  Listen to what Our Lord is saying to you . . .  pay attention to what He is saying to you . . .  heed His advice.  "Do whatever He tells you . . . ."

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church is a traditional Anglican parish, which uses the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We also use the King James Version of the Bible.  We believe strongly in Our Lord's words . . .  "this is My Body and this is My Blood" . . . and believe that Our Blessed Saviour is truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and we receive Him at Communion time.  Come join us every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM as we gather together as God's family to worship Our Blessed Lord.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 14th, 2024

 Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 14th, 2024

I kid around that I am always the last one to know something.  And I am out of the loop especially when it comes to popular things or fashionable things, so to speak.  So it  certainly comes as no surprise that I only recently heard about this furor surrounding Stanley mugs/tumblers.  Have you heard about this?   People line up to buy these Stanley mugs and they sell out immediately.  And as a result of these mgs selling out, people are reselling them for 200, 300, 400 dollars.  It simply astounds me.  It is funny, though, because I was washing my coffee mug recently and while I am washing it, I noticed something which I never noticed before.  It turns out that my mug which I have been using for years is a Stanley mug.  The thing that is so popular throughout the world right now is something that I already possessed all along.  This got me to thinking about God or should I say people searching for God.  So often we search for God because we need Him.  So often we search for God in all kinds of places.  But the bottom line is that God was there all along.   So often God is right there alongside us and we don't even realize it.   "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?  Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" (Psalm 139:7)  God is everywhere.  God is with us at all times.  God is always with us.  But at the times when we do not think God is with us, the truth is that we were not focused on God.  We were too busy focused on other things.  We were too busy focused on the things of the world . . . the things that we wanted  . . . focused on things of the world.  But no matter what God remains there with us.  And we are surprised that God was there all along.  At those times we discover that God was not absent from us, we were absent from Him. 

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church is a traditional Anglican parish, which uses the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We also use the King James Version of the Bible.  We believe strongly in Our Lord's words . . .  "this is My Body and this is My Blood" . . . and believe that Our Blessed Saviour is truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and we receive Him at Communion time.  Come join us every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM as we gather together as God's family to worship Our Blessed Lord.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

First Sunday after Epiphany, January 7th, 2024

 First Sunday after Epiphany, January 7th, 2024

Have you ever noticed when a teacher is checking to make sure the answer is correct, the teacher will not only look at your answer, but will also want to know how you arrived at the answer?  In other words, the teacher wants to check what path you took to find the answer to the question.  I remember when I was young, going to elementary school, I remember asking the teacher how to spell a particular word and the teacher would respond:  "Look it up in the dictionary."  How are you going to look up a word in a dictionary if you don't know how to spell the word, I would wonder.  Well, the answer if obvious.  A good teacher will not only provide you with an answer but will provide you with the knowledge and the know-how to obtain an answer.  A good teacher, in other words, teaches you how to find out the answer to a question instead of simply giving you the answer.  This is because often times, in life, there are different ways to find the answer that we are looking for.

In the Second chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear the story of when Our Blessed Saviour was left behind in the Temple.  And St. Luke tells us that when Our Lady and St. Joseph returned to Jerusalem to find their Son, they found the Divine Child in the Temple, "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions." (Chapter 2:46)  After Our Lady approaches her Son and tells Him that they were worried and looking for Him, the Divine Child responds:  "How is it that ye sought me?"  (Chapter 2:49)   As pointed out above, a teacher may ask the path you took to find the answer.  Our Lord often asks us the same question.  He wants to find out what path we took to find Him.  So often in life, people look for God in so many different places.  Sometimes the path we take to find happiness takes us down a wrong path.  Sometimes we end up feeling lost and miserable.  Often, when we think we have found happiness, we end up not feeling as satisfied as we thought that we were.  As a Christian, we realize that God is our ultimate happiness.  Other things that we think will bring us happiness and joy . . .  whether it be drink, or drugs, or money, or wealth, or honor in the eyes of the world . . . these things only give us contentment for a time.  God, we know, gives us everlasting contentment.  St. Augustine teaches that in trying to find joy and fulfillment, we are really searching ultimately for God.  Because he states that all things that we think will bring us satisfaction will ultimately fail us.  Only God brings everlasting joy and contentment.  What path have you followed to find God?  Have you searched for Him in your longing to find joy and contentment in earthly possessions?  Things of the world never bring everlasting joy.  Only a true, dedicated, committed, personal relationship with God will bring us true satisfaction.  Give Him your heart.  Make Him the King and Ruler of your life.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church is a traditional Anglican parish, which uses the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We also use the King James Version of the Bible.  We believe strongly in Our Lord's words . . .  "this is My Body and this is My Blood" . . . and believe that Our Blessed Saviour is truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and we receive Him at Communion time.  Come join us every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM as we gather together as God's family to worship Our Blessed Lord.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.