Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28th, 2025

 

Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28th, 2025

In the Gospel for today's Mass (St. Matthew, Chapter two) in commemoration of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the scene unfolds before us: The angel appears in a dream to St. Joseph and tells him in no uncertain terms to take Our Lady and the Child Jesus to safety, saying to him:  "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt . . . ."  The reason for this urgency is because Herod was angry.   "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem . . . . "  Herod was beyond angry.  In fact, Herod was scared, quite frankly.  He was scared that the Messiah had finally come and would replace him of his kingship.    St. Joseph did as he was directed by the angel and fled into Egypt along with St. Mary and the Child Jesus.   St. Joseph is always such a good teacher for us.  In this case, the lesson that we can learn from St. Joseph is to always take God with you no matter where you are going.  You see, if we get into the habit of having God with us wherever we go, we will always be in good company no matter the situation we find ourselves in.  In this case, St. Joseph was in the company of Our Lady and the Child Jesus.  What better company could he have chosen?  We are known by the company that we keep.  Thus, if we get in the habit of keeping company with Our Blessed Saviour, we know that He will never steer us wrong.  Our Saviour makes the best company, . . .  the best friend,  . . . the best counselor,  . . .  When we get in the habit of travelling with Our Blessed Saviour we know that we will always go in the direction that He wants us to go in.  Even when danger or trial or tribulation faces us, just as it did in today's Gospel passage, take God as your travelling companion.  He will always keep you close to Him and never leave you alone.

Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday.  St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am.  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.

Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 21sr, 2025

 

Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 21st, 2025

Human beings seem to exaggerate at times.  This is their way of making a point or to emphasize something.  For example, if you are anything like me you might say something like:  "I am ALWAYS looking for my car keys!"   . . .  . or  .. . . . "I am ALWAYS paying bills!" . . . . or  . . . . "I am ALWAYS doing laundry!"   We say to ourselves or to others that we are "always" doing something to emphasize that we are constantly doing something"  "I'm ALWAYS tripping over that rug!"  Well, in today's epistle from Philippians 4:4 ff, we hear:  "Rejoice in the Lord always and I again I say rejoice!"  This is certainly good advice for us human beings because, it seems to me, that human beings complain an awful lot.  We like to either complain about our lot in life or focus on the negative.  Now, don't get me wrong, certainly if we look around there are things to complain about:  unemployment . . .  bills . . . . family or loved ones being sick . . . . crime . . . .  etc.  Yes, if we make the point to look for negative things in general or specifically in our own life we will find them.  But if this is true, then the "opposite" would be true as well:  we need to make a point to look for the positive things in our life as well.  Just as there are negative things that we could find in our life, there are just as many . . .  . . no, there are more  . . . .  positive things we could find in our life, if we only make a point to look for them.  And when we find them, we should rejoice in them.

Advent is a season of anticipation, of preparation . . .  We are anticipating the coming of the Christ Child.  We are preparing for His birth on Christmas day.  But, unfortunately, our society has turned the month or so prior to Christmas into anticipating what gifts we will be getting or preparing for what stores to shop in and spend our money at.  While this is very nice, I'm sure, it also has caused great stress among people in regards to worrying about what to buy and anxiety over how to pay the bills.  A relationship with God gives us something to truly rejoice in . . . . a personal relationship with our Loving Saviour gives us something to truly be thankful for . . . . a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father gives us something to look forward to in life.    There is enough negative things that try to control our life.  Let's make the effort to focus more on the positive things in our life.  And the first thing that we should focus on is that God loves us and that Our Blessed Saviour forgave our sins by dying on the Cross for us.  This alone should cause us to  . . .  "Rejoice in the Lord always!"

Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday.  St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am.  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.

Third Sunday in Advent, December 14th, 2025

 

Third Sunday in Advent, December 14th, 2025

When St. John the Baptist was in prison.  He sent two of his disciples to inquire of Our Blessed Saviour:  "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" (St. Matthew 11:3)  Now if you read this passage it would almost sound like St. John is not sure and he wants to find out definitely.  And yet I would contend that St. John the Baptist has an ulterior motive in sending his two disciples to Our Lord.  He sent his disciples so that they could see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears.  He was already sure that the Messiah had come into the world.  He knew this through faith.  He knew this through a personal relationship with God.  He knew this through his commitment to God.  

Advent reminds us of the three ways in which Our Blessed Saviour comes to us.   The first way has already taken place.  On that first Christmas Day over two-thousand years ago Our Lord came to the world as a small, innocent Baby born in Bethlehem.  Although to our eyes He appeared as a small, innocent baby, we know through faith that this truly was the long-awaited Messiah of the world.  The second way Our Lord comes to us in in Blessed Sacrament.  Our Lord tells us in the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John:  "For the bread of God is He which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world." (6:33)  Our Lord did come down from Heaven to give life to this world.  Our Lord continues in Verse 51 of this chapter:  "I am the living bread which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."  Our Lord comes to us in the form of Bread and Wine when we receive Him at Communion time.  He feeds us.  He nourishes us.  He sustains us.  The third way in which Our Blessed Saviour will come to us is at the Second Coming.  We know He will appear to us at that Last Day.  He will appear to us in all His Majesty and All His Glory!  The Holy Season of Advent reminds us to be on the look-out.  Advent reminds us to prepare.  Advent reminds us to make our hearts ready. 

Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday.  St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am.  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.

Second Sunday in Advent, December 7th, 2025

 

Second Sunday in Advent, December 7th, 2025

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."  (Romans 15)

Did you ever order something or send away for an item, and the item finally arrived, and you open it with great anticipation.  And when you finally open the package and see what you ordered, you soon discover that the item does not match up whatsoever with what you were anticipating?  You were "under-whelmed," so to speak.  "This is it?!?"   "This is what I've been waiting for?!?"   As we have spoken in the past, the faithful Jews were indeed praying for a Messiah to save them.  They were anticipating the arrival of the Messiah.  They knew that God would save them and they were waiting.  But they had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would look like.  They expected the Messiah to arrive as a great warrior riding in on a powerful horse, surrounded by a mighty army in support with flags waving and banners raised.  They expected this messiah and his army to wipe out their foes and save them from their misery.    And yet the Lord Himself has said not to base our opinions on outward appearances:  " . . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  (I Samuel :7)  So often we judge solely on "outward appearances," don't we?  And so often we are sorely disappointed, aren't we?  The product we see advertised on television doesn't really match up when we see it in person. 

And yet we know that the Messiah did indeed arrive as promised but Our Saviour arrived as an innocent little baby, born to a common family, born in a lowly manger on a cold winter night  because nobody would take them in otherwise.  In fact, the actual arrival itself was so "low-key" that hardly anyone knew about it at all except for the angels and a few shepherds.  I mean let's be honest here.  In regards to anticipating the arrival of the Messiah, I am sure that none of us would picture the Saviour of the world arriving as a small baby, born to an impoverished family, with nowhere else to stay other than in a place for animals.  But, then again, if we look at a dying man hanging on a cross, if we didn't know any better, we wouldn't picture that as "victory," either.  It would seem more like "defeat" than "victory."  And yet we know through our faith that hope was born in that little manger at Bethlehem and we know that victory truly was earned on that Cross at Calvary.  Sometimes, hope is deceiving to our physical eyes.  Faith is something that we find with the heart and not solely what we see with our eyes.   The important thing for us to always remember as people of faith that we have to look at hope through the eyes of faith if we really want to see how God is working in our lives.  So, use this holy Season of Advent to look at things in a brand new way.  Look at the world with the eyes of faith.

Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday.  St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am.  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.