Second Sunday in Lent, February 25th, 2024

 Second Sunday in Lent, February 25th, 2024

In the Fifteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, we hear the story of Our Blessed Saviour meeting the woman of Canaan who besought Our Lord seeking favour for her daughter.  Now keep in mind that this woman was not Jewish, and yet she made a point say to Our Lord: "Thou Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." (St Matthew 15:22)  Right from the beginning, it is evident that this woman must have recognized the greatness of Our Lord or else she would not have referred to Him as "Thou Son of David."  It seems that Our Lord initially ignores her because He says not a word at her request.  After that she then proceeds to bother the disciples for her request because St. Matthew informs us that the disciples "besought Him, saying, Send her away: for she crieth after us." (v.23)  After this, Our Lord still ignores her request by basically saying, in essence, that He was sent for the children of Israel.  And despite all of this, this woman still persisted until finally Our Lord recognized her persistence and her faith when He said:  " O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (v.28)

Now the point that we can all learn from this is that we should be determined and to have faith.  The woman of Canaan had both.  She recognized Our Lord to be the source of help and healing for her daughter.   But she was also determined.  In faith, we need to be determined.  But we need to be determined for the right reason.  In other words, sometimes we only get "religious" when we need God for something:  We want to get hired for a new job.  We need a favour of some sort.  We need guidance to get our of a jam.   Now there is nothing wrong with going to Our Heavenly Father when we need His assistance.  What is wrong, though, is when we ONLY go to Him when we need something and forget about Him the rest of the time.  A lot of people only go to God when they get into a jam or when they need something.  They suddenly get real "religious" when they are in need but the rest of the time they act as if there is no God.  Our Lord came to offer us Salvation.  He came to die on the Cross for us.  But He also spent some thirty-three years on this earth being a human being like you and I.  He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes.  He knows what it is like to laugh and to cry.  He knows what it is like to work and to rest. He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes as a human being.  As such, we can go to Him on a daily basis and we should go to Him on a daily basis.  Do not just go to God when you are in need of something.  Go to God every day with your concerns, your joys, your sorrows, your everything.

Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday.  St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible.  We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  And receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Saviour at Communion time.   We are all busy.  We all lead busy lives.  Take an hour out of your busy week and dedicate it to God.  Give that hour to God and spend it with Him

First Sunday in Lent, February 18th, 2024

 First Sunday in Lent, February 18th, 2024

The holy and penitential season of  Lent officially begins with Ash Wednesday and continues a forty day journey towards Easter.  On this First Sunday in Lent, we read about Our Lord's forty days in the wilderness in St. Matthew's Gospel:  "And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred." (St. Matthew 4:1ff)  Now, it certainly stands to reason that Our Lord was hungry after not eating for forty days and nights.  To be honest, I get hungry after not eating for forty minutes, let alone forty days and forty nights.  As human beings, we do become hungry if we do not eat for any extended period of time.  And if you are like me, if it has been a while since you have eaten . . .  once you do get something to eat, the food tastes so good, doesn't it?    But this is not only true physically in regards to feeding ourselves.   Human beings also hunger spiritually.   Just as we \need to nourish ourselves physically with food, we also need to nourish ourselves with spiritual things.  We know on a physical level that if we do not eat for any extended period of time, our body is affected physically.  But the same is true spiritually speaking as well.  If we go for long periods of time without receiving spiritual nourishment, we will be affected as well:  we may become distraught . . . sad .  . . angry . . . our consciences may fail us, for example, we don't acknowledge right from wrong or totally ignore right from wrong . . . etc.  Make no doubt about it, just as the body needs to be nourished with food, so too does our spirit need to be nourished.  And how do we receive spiritual nourishment?  We get spiritual nourishment by spending time in prayer .  .  . reading the Word of God . . . . attending church on a regular basis (not just when we feel like it!) . . .  availing ourselves of the Sacraments such as receiving Holy Communion, going to Mass, making our confession, etc.  Focus on Heavenly things instead of focusing on earthly things.  Try to focus more on the things above instead of only focusing on the things below.  If we focus on the "spiritual" and put emphasis on the "spiritual" during the next forty days, we will be better prepared for a good and holy Easter.  We will be better prepared spiritually to celebrate the Glorious Resurrection of Our Blessed Saviour as we celebrate Easter!  

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.

Quinquagesima, or the Sunday Next before Lent, February 11th, 2024

 Quinquagesima, or the Sunday next before Lent, 

February 11th, 2024

I love to look at pictures from the past.  I truly enjoy seeing the people and settings from decades in the past.  As such, I was looking at some of my family pictures from long ago.  Some of which were so long ago they were before my time.  That was a long time ago!  Anyhow, as I was looking at the pictures it dawned on me that the unfamiliar people in those pictures which I was seeing and not recognizing were still connected to me.  They were still a part of me.  Great-Great-Aunts and Great-Great-Uncles.  Great-Great-Great-Grandparents from long ago.  The faces in these pictures which I was looking at may look strange to my eyes.  They may seem unfamiliar to me.  But it dawned on me that despite the fact of me not knowing them, they are still a part of me.  They contributed to me being here.  Without them, I would not be here.  Thanks to them, when you think about it, I am here because of them.  By being here today, at this time, I am continuing on because of them. I am my own person, of course, but I carry on thanks in part to their efforts.  I have their blood, their DNA inside of me.  They are, to a certain degree, the foundation upon which my life is built.     This is how it is with God and so many people today.  They do not recognize God is in their life, let alone that He is their foundation.  They do not understand that God has been with them from the beginning.  God is a part of them in ways that they do not even realize.  Probably because they do not take the time to realize.  They do not take the time to try and understand.  We live in a day and age in which we do not need God in our own estimation because we are too busy or we think ourselves too important to need Him.  Modern day humanity is so full of themselves in regard to their self-importance that they think they do not need God.  But God is indeed our foundation whether we realize it or not.  God is still the basis for our life whether we acknowledge it or not.  God is still our reason for existence even though we spend our days ignoring Him.  Lent is a good time to turn all this around.  Spend the next forty days of Lent dedicated to the One Who loves you unconditionally.  Dedicate these upcoming days to the One Who died on the Cross for you.  Dedicate these upcoming days to love the One Who first loved us.

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.

Sexagesima, February 4th, 2024

 Sexagesima, or the Second Sunday before Lent, 

February 4th, 2024

On Sunday, February 4th, 2024 in the Gospel for Sexagesima (Second Sunday before Lent), we hear about seed falling on different types of ground.  The passage that we are referring to comes to us from St. Luke 8:4-14.  And Our Blessed Saviour was speaking to a many people and when He was finished His disciples wanted to know exactly what each of His examples meant.  Here, Our Lord explains directly to them that the "seed" represented the Word of God and that this same Word gets planted among different types of soil or ground:  some of the seed as it was sown got devoured by the birds; some of it fell on rocky ground; some of the seed got thrown in among the thorns; and, finally, some fell on good ground.  Trying not to get too awfully philosophical here but as I like to point out:  life is never perfect.  Sometimes it is easy-going; sometimes it is difficult; sometimes, life presents challenges to us; sometimes, life is boring; sometimes it is exciting, etc.  But no matter what challenges life presents us with, the one constant in our life should be God, first and foremost.  Even when we become Christians, we are not promised that life will be easy.  We are not promised that we will never have any problems.  We are not promised that we will never have any concerns in life.  What we are promised is that when we do have a loving, committed, personal relationship with Our Lord, we are promised that He will never leave us.  The point being is that throughout our life, going back to the parable of the sower, sometimes our life will seem as rocky ground; sometimes it will seem as filled with thorns; and sometimes it will seem like it is simply good ground for planting.  Let the Word of God be planted in you,  . .  .  .  in your heart.  Let your heart be the good ground that Our Lord was referring to.  Let the Word of God be planted so deeply in your heart that nothing can never take it away from you.  Let that Word of God grow in your heart so that you will become committed like never before to Our Blessed Saviour.

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.