FROM THE RECTOR: LENT BEGINS THIS WEEK

Until I became rector of Saint Mary’s on February 1, 1999, I didn’t give very much thought to Ash Wednesday other than it being the first day of the Lenten Season. Ash Wednesday in New York City, February 17, 1999, was overwhelming. In 2000, we were prepared for the onslaught. In the city, more people come through the doors of churches on the first day of Lent to receive the imposition of ashes than present themselves for Christmas or Easter—or any other day of the year.

The historic gospel for the first day of Lent, Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21, includes these words, “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven . . . And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

It turns out that the Roman Catholic Church’s Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy proposed to Pope Paul VI in 1965 that Lent begin with the “First Sunday of Lent” and that the imposition of ashes be moved to Monday after this first Sunday (A. Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy 1948–1975 [1983; English translation 1990], 307). Pope Paul VI, admitting that it might be questionable to introduce the imposition of ashes to the rite in his time, noted that this had become a universal tradition among Roman Catholics. He kept the imposition of ashes on the Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent (n. 15, page 310–11). The rest of us in the Christian West followed.

In the Episcopal Church, Lent begins on the Wednesday before the First Sunday in Lent. Holy Week begins on the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. The Easter Season begins on Easter Eve with the celebration of the Great Vigil of Easter.

That said, three days of the Epiphany Season remain when the week begins on Sunday: The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and Monday and Tuesday in the last week after the Epiphany. At the Solemn Mass on Sunday, the Mass ordinary will be Missa Aeterna Christi munera by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594), the motet, Morgengesang by Max Reger (1873–1916). Both organ voluntaries are also by Reger. The hymns are all great. I invite you to be here for the Last Sunday after or in a parish church near you on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and on the First Day of Lent: Ash Wednesday. —Stephen Gerth

A HAPPY ANNOUNCEMENT . . . The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, XXVII Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, will be the celebrant and preacher here at Saint Mary’s on Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2020, at 6:00 PM. We look forward to welcoming Bishop Curry for this, his first visit to Saint Mary’s as presiding bishop.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Renée, Naquann, Diana, Miriam, Melissa, Mia, Ronald, Pat, Martha, Leila, Chantal, Sharon, Marilouise, MaryHope, Stephanie, John, Luis, Margaret, Murray, Mel, Richard, Carlos, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Karen, Takeem, and Michael; for Simon, Nicholas, and Roy, religious; for Yamily, Gene, Gaylord, Louis, and Edgar, priests; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Edward; for all the benefactors and friends of this parish; and for the repose of the souls of Frank Pecquex, Richard Sanchez, and Horace Choate, priest . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: February 23: 1885 Sophia D. Clark; 1908 Kate Cecelia Brinkerhoff; 1922 Samuel Pratt; 1956 Marie Lawrence Hunting; 1996 Mary Virginia Denworth; 1999 George Everson Dix.

ASH WEDNESDAY AND GOOD FRIDAY are the two days of fasting in the church year. The other weekdays of Lent and of Holy Week, except for the feast of the Annunciation, are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial. Good Friday and all other Fridays of the year, except for Fridays in the Christmas and Easter seasons, and any Feasts of our Lord which occur on a Friday, are also observed as days of special devotion in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion. —See: The Book of Common Prayer, page 17.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . As we go to press, we learned that Renée Pecquex’s brother, Frank Pecquex, died on Saturday, April 15, 2020 . . . Richard Sanchez, the husband of Melissa Lopez-Sanchez, Bishop Andrew Dietsche’s executive assistant, died on Tuesday after a very brief illness. He was only forty-three years old. He is survived by Melissa and their daughter Mia . . . Father Horace Choate also died this past Tuesday after a long illness. Horace was a seminarian while a student at the General Theological Seminary. Upon graduation in 1998, he took a position at the Episcopal Church Center and served here as deacon and as an assisting priest until being called to serve as vicar of Saint Matthew’s Church, Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1999. He returned to the diocese of New York to be rector of Zion Church, Wappingers Falls, in 2005. The clergy here at the parish remember Horace for his kindness, his wit, his quick and easy smile, and his pastoral abilities. He was a fine priest. Horace was married to the Reverend Yamily Bass-Choate, liaison for global mission in the diocese of New York. He is survived by Yamily and their daughters, Diana and Miriam. Please keep Renée, Melissa, Mia, Diana, Miriam, Yamily, their family and friends, and all who mourn in your prayers.

ASH WEDNESDAY IN TIMES SQUARE . . . More people enter Saint Mary’s on Ash Wednesday than on any other day of the year. When the doors open at 7:00 AM, some will be waiting to come in for the 7:00 AM Eucharist with the imposition of ashes, others just for ashes. A few people will still be coming in as the doors close at 8:00 PM. It’s a day when volunteers are needed to help people find their way to the place in the church where ashes are being distributed. Please let Mary Robison or Father Jay Smith know if you can be here and when.

The Right Reverend Allen K. Shin, bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, will be celebrant and preacher for the 12:10 Sung Mass. Father Jay Smith will be celebrant and preacher for the 6:00 PM Solemn Mass. At both Eucharists the parish choir will sing. The music will be Mass XVIII (plainsong), Miserere mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri (c. 1582–1652), and To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul by David Hurd (b.1950).

LENTEN QUIET DAY . . . There will be a Quiet Day here at Saint Mary’s on Saturday, March 14, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM. The day will be led by our resident Franciscan friars, Brother Damien Joseph SSF and Brother Thomas Steffensen SSF. The Brothers will lead the group in an exploration of ways to read and contemplate the Gospels and other scriptures, using an Ignatian “active imagination” method. Using lectionary readings, art, guided imagery, and the individual imagination, the brothers will encourage those attending the Quiet Day to seek and to find deeper connections to Christ in scripture as well as applications for their daily lives. A donation of $15.00 is encouraged, and scholarships are available. Please contact Father Smith, if you would like to attend. (All are welcome. We just need to know the approximate numbers in order to plan for lunch.)

AROUND THE PARISH . . .Father Matthew Jacobson celebrates an anniversary next week. He was ordained to the diaconate on March 4, 2017. We are very grateful for his ministry. Please keep him in your prayers . . . Brother Thomas Steffensen SSF will be away from the parish, attending a spiritual-direction training session, from Sunday afternoon, February 23. He returns to the parish on Friday evening, February 28 . . . Father Jay Smith will be out of the city and away from the parish from Tuesday, March 3 until Thursday, March 5 . . . Flowers are needed for the Sundays after Easter. We also welcome donations to help with the decoration of the church for Holy Week and Easter Day. Please be in touch with Chris Howatt in the parish office if you would like to make a donation . . . Attendance at all Offices and Masses: Last Sunday: 198.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Saturday, February 22, 10:00–11:50 AM, Acolyte Rehearsal and Refresher Session in the Church . . . Sunday, February 23, 2020, The Last Sunday after Epiphany, Sung Matins 8:30 AM; Mass 9:00 & 10:00 AM; Adult Education 10:00 AM; Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Solemn Evensong and Benediction 5:00 PM . . . Monday, February 24, Saint Matthias the Apostle, Mass 12:10 and 6:20 PM . . . February 26, Ash Wednesday, Mass 7:00 & 8:00 AM, Sung Mass 12:10 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM. Ashes are offered either in the church or in the Mercy Chapel from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM . . . The Wednesday Afternoon Grab-and-Go will take place from 2:00 to 3:00 PM on Ash Wednesday, February 26 . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class will not meet on Ash Wednesday, February 26 . . . Thursday, February 27, Mass with Healing Service 12:10 PM . . . Friday, February 28, Evening Prayer 6:00 PM, Stations of the Cross 6:30 PM.

A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS . . . The members of the Flower Guild are always happy to welcome those who wish to join their ranks, either on a regular basis, or during Advent and Holy Week, when preparations take place for Christmas and Easter. If you would like to help with Easter decorations this year, please contact Brendon Hunter. You don’t need to be a designer in order to volunteer!

THE VISUAL ARTS PROGRAM . . . An exhibition of work by artist Alexandra Neblett is now on view in the Gallery in Saint Joseph’s Hall. The artist will be with us at Coffee Hour after the Solemn Mass on Sunday, February 23. Ms. Neblett writes, “After college, my departure from Detroit, and my arrival in New York, becoming a resident at The Barbizon Hotel for Women on Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street, proved to be life changing. I was a Kelly temp, working part-time at many different places, my favorite being at Fortuny Fabrics on Madison Avenue, but what was significant was seeing the new work of Philip Guston whose solo show was at the David McKee Gallery, right there on the mezzanine of the Barbizon where I lived! As an adolescent I went to classes at the Detroit Institute of Art and was enthralled with the work of Frida Kahlo, but it was Guston’s paintings that took my breath away and made me start taking classes at the Art Students League of New York, where over a period of six years I studied with Valclav Vytlacil, Theodoros Stamos, and Leo Manso, all of whom were very influential in my development. The atmosphere there and the student-teacher contacts there created an inspiring experience, as did visiting the many galleries on Fifty-seventh Street and in Soho. It was a wonderful life for a young artist! Later, I began teaching art to children at Cooper Hewitt Museum, The 92nd Street YMHA, and Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association until I established my own after-school art classes in my painting studio on East 84th Street. My artistic roots are in Abstract Expressionism. Large and small brush strokes with splashes of color are oil on canvas, primarily large in size. Additionally, a body of work less free-form but still spontaneous in feeling is reminiscent of mosaics within an Open-Color Field, some with Bands in the composition. From time to time, I work on my neo-expressionist paintings which portray the figure in a cartoon-like manner and represent various sociological situations, often depicting conflicts between the sexes and other cultural and political issues.” Ms. Neblett’s website is alexandraneblett.com.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Our monthly Drop-in Day took place on Wednesday, February 19. We served around 75 guests. Our Legal Aid volunteers joined us. It was a good day and a successful one. I am very grateful to our volunteers, patrons, friends, and donors. Your help makes this ministry possible. Our next Drop-in Day will take place on Wednesday, March 18, in the Mission House basement and in the Narthex of the church. Every Wednesday, we hold our Grab-and-Go, during which socks, underwear, toiletries, and seasonal items are available in the church lobby at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church . . . We continue to receive donations of canned goods and other nonperishable food items for the Saint Clement’s Food Pantry. Donations may be placed in the basket next to the Ushers’ Table at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church. —Br. Damien Joseph SSF

ABOUT THE CHORAL AND ORGAN MUSIC ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23 . . . The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Missa Aeterna Christi Munera by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594). Palestrina is often regarded today more as a source and inspiration for many of the composers who followed him than as a practitioner of already established musical practice. However, it may be said that Palestrina stood on foundations largely laid by the Netherlandish composers Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) and Josquin des Prez (c. 1440–1521). He is responsible for setting the canons for renaissance polyphony and the standards for Catholic liturgical music which pertain even in our time. Among his hundreds of compositions are 105 masses, most of which were published in thirteen volumes between 1554 and 1601. The Missa Aeterna Christi Munera is based upon the plainsong melody for the hymn for the commemoration of apostles and martyrs attributed to Saint Ambrose (339–397). A translation of this Ambrosian hymn appears at 233 and 234 in The Hymnal 1982, but with different music. At 132 in The Hymnal 1940 one finds both the translated Ambrosian hymn and the plainsong melody on which Palestrina based his four-voice Mass. As one often finds in renaissance polyphonic masses, an additional voice is added for the final Agnus Dei.

Max Reger (1873–1916) was an extremely prolific composer both in terms of the volume of music he composed in relatively few years, and in the density and intensity of that music from the standpoint of harmony, counterpoint, and sheer number of notes and accidentals to the page. His music paid a great debt to the counterpoint of Bach, yet stretched forward to a powerful post-romantic expressiveness. Composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic, Reger was a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig and a music director both at the Leipzig University Church and at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen. Catholic from birth, Reger married his wife Elsa, a divorced Protestant, in 1902 and was subsequently excommunicated. His choral and organ works reflect both the Catholic and Protestant musical cultures of late nineteenth-century Germany. The Communion motet today is from Max Reger’s Acht Geistliche Gesänge, Opus 138. This collection of eight motets, ranging in voicing from four to eight parts, was composed in 1914. Reger died before completing the corrections of their publication proofs. Morgengesang, sung this morning, is the second of the eight in Reger’s Opus 138. It is an harmonically rich six-voice setting of a text by the German Reformer and hymn writer Johannes Zwick (c. 1496–1542). Zwick’s text characterizes Christ as the highest and redemptive Light.

The organ voluntaries on Sunday are also compositions of Max Reger taken from his Op. 59, a collection of twelve pieces, several of which have titles reflecting musical parts of the Mass. Toccata, however, is a free work. It is the fifth piece of the collection.  Reger’s Toccata is a brash and dramatic piece with fiery episodes alternating sharply with reflective interludes. Fugue, today’s postlude, is another free work and is the sixth piece of the collection. It is unambiguously in the key of D Major and moves from a gently stated upward-rising subject, in a constant crescendo through rich chromatic harmony, to a powerful finish. These two pieces are well able to stand alone, but they are also very effective when paired and are often performed together in concert. —David Hurd

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . On Sunday, February 23, at 10:00 AM, in Saint Benedict’s Study, Father Jay Smith will lead the final part of a four-part series in the Adult Forum on the various meanings of Jesus’ death on the cross. Using images of the Crucifixion, the class will study how Jesus’ death was understood, from very early on, as having been “for us,” and how that understanding both evolved and changed over time . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class meets next on March 4 at 6:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study. This term the class is reading Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. The class is led by Father Jay Smith. Father Smith will be away on March 4, and the class will be led by Brother Damien Joseph SSF. Newcomers are always welcome. The class will not meet on February 26, Ash Wednesday . . . Coming Up . . . Beginning on March 1, Father Peter Powell will resume his series on the prophets in the Adult Forum on Sundays at 10:00 AM. The series will take place on all the Sundays in Lent and on Palm Sunday.

COMING UP . . . Sunday, March 8, Daylight Saving Time begins. Clocks should be set ahead one hour . . . Thursday, March 19, Saint Joseph . . . Wednesday, March 25, The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

AT THE GALLERIES . . . Coming up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and Eighty-second Street: On March 2, 2020, The Re-Opening of the Met’s British Galleries . . . June 2–September 7, 2020, Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle will feature the little-seen series of paintings—“Struggle . . . From the History of the American People” (1954–56)—by the iconic American modernist. The exhibition will reunite the multi-paneled work for the first time in more than half a century . . . October 12, 2020–January 10, 2021, Art at the Tudor Courts. The sixteenth century was a tumultuous time in the British Isles. The reformed Church of England emerged in the 1500s during a period of profound political and social change. This will be reflected in the exhibition opening in Fall 2020. From the museum’s website, “England under the Tudors was a thriving and sophisticated home for the arts. Against the backdrop of England’s shifting political relationship with mainland Europe, Tudor artistic patronage legitimized and glorified a series of tumultuous reigns, from Henry VII’s seizure of the throne in 1485 to the death of his granddaughter Elizabeth I in 1603. The Tudor courts were truly cosmopolitan, on par with any continental rivals, and boasted the work of Florentine sculptors, German painters, Flemish weavers, and the best European armorers, goldsmiths, and printers. At the same time, they nurtured local talent and gave rise, by the end of the century, to a distinctly English style. While the extreme politics and personalities of the Tudor dynasty continue to grip the popular imagination, Art at the Tudor Courts will introduce new audiences to its astonishing legacy in the visual arts.”

The Calendar of the Week

The Complete Service Schedule for 2020