FROM THE RECTOR: EASTER GRACES

Our twice-daily worship in the Lady Chapel has brought new attention for the resident clergy and friars to the beauty of its design and rich decoration. Former parishioner Nicholas Krasno, in his A Guide to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin New York City (1999), wrote, “The most important single artistic feature of St. Mary’s is the Lady Chapel (to the right of the high altar), a sumptuous beaux-arts interior with excellent fittings . . . The Lady Chapel is one of the most complete and finest examples of the ‘American Renaissance’ in New York . . . It is complete, perhaps, because it was the conception, and almost entirely the gift, of one remarkable man, Haley Fiske” (page 37). Concerning its present condition, he wrote, “Nor have the years or the elements been too kind to [the muralist and parishioner Elliot Daingerfield’s (1859–1932]] work—The Epiphany is damaged by damp, but being painted on canvas can one day be restored. Fortunately, unlike so many other neglected works by his contemporaries, Daingerfield’s Lady Chapel has been preserved for our more appreciative age: damaged maybe, but intact” (pages 44–47).

It’s been many years since I’ve seen the chapel’s altar without a frontal. With the frontal removed, much in the same way the white marble of our high altar draws one’s eyes to it, the white marble of the Lady Chapel’s altar does the same thing. I had forgotten one of its features: its marble legs reflect Christian altars origins as tables where believers shared meals.

With every Eucharist where I am celebrant and preacher, I become more comfortable presiding in this very special place. I think it was in the summer of 2001 that we moved all of our regular services to the high altar. Our ministry is an urban one. Of course, there is a core congregation of pledging members and non-members, not all of whom live in the tri-state area. We have friends and visitors from all over, in addition to a real connection to many people who work in our immediate area and elsewhere in the city. No one will be happier than me when our doors are again open for public worship and for welcome for all who enter this house of worship.

A while back, a reference to a collection of short essays by the Reverend Monsignor Guido Marini, Liturgical Reflections of a Papal Master of Ceremonies (2011), caught my eye. Monsignor Marini has been papal master of ceremonies since 2007. This morning, at the Lady Chapel altar, I caught myself thinking of his essay, “The Crucifix at the Center of the Altar” (pages 67–69). A small altar cross, that does not seem entirely out of place, has found its way to this altar. Again, Krasno, “The Lady Chapel altar furnishings consist of a set of six candlesticks, plus an additional matching pair, in red bronze, in an elaborate art­nouveau style. Unfortunately, the original crucifix, of ivory with a corpus of silver, has been lost for many years” (pages 37–38). The set of six, I was told at some point in time, were affixed to the gradine behind the altar after the cross was “lost.” The matching pair is still with us.  

Marini’s essay does help explain the Roman Catholic practice, I think since some point in Pope John Paul II’s time, of moving altar crosses to the middle of the altar, even when the priest is facing the congregation. He quotes Pope Benedict XVI, “[The crucifix] should stand in the middle of the altar and be the common point of focus for both priest and praying community” (page 68). At some points in my journey, I might have thought that, but it’s now clear that an emphasis on the centrality of the cross was unknown in the early centuries of the Christian Era. Something else mattered.

I’ve quoted before these words from an essay by the Reverend Dr. Paul F. Bradshaw, “The Eucharistic Sayings of Jesus:” “The most important conclusion that seems to emerge from all this is that it appears that there were a significant number of first- and second-century Christians who did not think of themselves as reproducing the actions of Jesus at the Last Supper when they celebrated the eucharist together . . . or as recalling his death on the cross, but the focus of their ritual meal was instead on feeding on the life-giving Jesus” (Studia Liturgica 35 (2005), 11). The cross is occasionally a “common point of focus” for everyone gathered in worship. But the Altar is the Holy Table where Christians gather to pray and to share the Bread and the Cup, to feed “on the life-giving Jesus.” I hope all of us may again share this Eucharist in the very near future. Happy Easter. —Stephen Gerth

SOME WORDS OF THANKS . . . I want to thank again my colleagues, Fr. Jay Smith and Fr. Jim Pace, and the resident friars, Br. Damien Joseph SSF and Br. Thomas SSF, for making our worship possible. The service register shows a total attendance of 15 for the three services held on for Easter Eve and Easter Day. I do not know how to interpret Facebook numbers. As I write on Friday afternoon, April 17, there have been 536 views of the Easter Vigil, 707 of the Easter Morning Mass, and 469 of Easter Day Evening Prayer & Benediction—and many appreciative words of thanks for the live-streamed services. The five of us really enjoyed Said Evening Prayer & Sung Benediction on Easter Day. We plan to continue to live-stream this thirty-minute service weekly.  

Thanks again to Br. Thomas, a member of Saint Mary’s Flower Guild, and to Board Member Thomas Jayne, who on his own initiative delivered flowers and plants from the Greenmarket by bicycle—and to Br. Thomas for serving as cantor. Thanks to Br. Damien for his knowledge of video, photography, and for singing the Exsultet—and to Board Member Mark Risinger who helped Br. Damien prepare it over the internet. Father Pace took on the Liturgy of Good Friday and served as thurifer at the Easter Vigil and for Easter Day Benediction. Father Jay Smith managed to keep our worship organized by bulletin, and he set-up the great majority of things needed for our worship. —S.G.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Jorgé, Margarita, Richard, Maria, Maritza, Luis, Gladys, Carmen, Lauren, Matthew, Shalim, Diana, Nam, John, Marilouise, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Takeem, Michael, and Abraham; for Richard John, Randy, and Jim, religious; for John and Santos, deacons; for Ryan, John, Gene, Gaylord, Louis, and Edgar, priests; for Charles, bishop; for the members of the Twelve-Step Groups that meet at Saint Mary’s; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty; and for all the members, benefactors and friends of this parish.

GRANT THEM PEACE: April 19: 1881 Wilbur Fisk Kirby; 1904 Louise Myers; Hannah Robertson; 1906 Pauline Rescousie; 1908 John Robert Mearns; 19414 Henry Clay Glover; 1950 Grace M. W. Fanning; 1965 Gertrude Yorke; 1997 Gudrun Lagergren.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . The website of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) reports with sadness and regret that a number of nurses working here in the city have fallen victim to COVID-19: Yaw Asante, RN; Susan Sisgundo, RN; Aleyamma John, RN: Freda Ocran, RN; Theresa Lococo, RN; and Kious Kelly, RN. Mr. Kelly was an alumnus of the Nursing College at NYU and a former student of Father Pace’s. Please keep them and their families in your prayers . . . Brother Anthony-Francis, an Episcopal solitary, or hermit, who lived here in New York, and who had previously ministered in several hospitals here in New York, died in a health-care facility in the Bronx on Sunday, March 29, after a long illness. Brother Anthony-Francis often worshipped with us in the mid-2000s. Please keep him in your prayers.

PREPARING FOR WORSHIP ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER . . . The readings for Mass on the Second Sunday of Easter are 1 Peter 1:3–9; Psalm 111; John 20:19–31. At Evening Prayer, we will hear Isaiah 43:8–13 and 1 John 1: 1–7. The Benediction reading is John 21:1–14 These readings can be accessed on the parish website.

PROGRESS REPORT: WORK ON OUR BUILDING . . . On Wednesday, April 15, our contractors from Milan Restoration finished their work for the day and ceased operations for the foreseeable future, in order to comply with New York City regulations. We admire them for their persistence, but recognize the city’s insistence that they, too, work to mitigate the spread of the virus. It is also important that representatives from our architects, Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, Inc., have the opportunity to inspect the contractor’s work. We look forward to the time when work can resume. We will keep you posted.

THE EASTER APPEAL . . . The collection taken up at the Maundy Thursday liturgy is normally directed to those who are in need. Since the members of the parish community will not be able to gather physically in the church this year, the members of the board of trustees have decided to divide the Easter Appeal donations that we hope will be coming to us by mail in the following way: half of the donations will be used to assist with the parish’s budget shortfall, the other half will be donated to Breaking Ground, one of our outreach partners, that works to find housing for those without shelter. The Appeal packets were mailed on Friday, April 3. We ask you to be as generous as you are able in these hard times. We are very grateful to the many members and friends of the parish, who have already responded so generously to our Easter Appeal.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . For the foreseeable future, the resident clergy and the friars will continue to celebrate the Eucharist every day at 10:00 AM. On Saturdays and Sundays, we gather for Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM, and on weekdays at 6:00 PM. The 10:00 AM Mass is live-streamed on the parish’s Facebook page . . . Friday, April 24, Genocide Remembrance Day, Mass 10:00 AM in the Lady Chapel.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Our parish administrator, Chris Howatt, was in touch with our sexton, Jorge Trujillo, this week, and Fr Jay Smith spoke with Jorge’s wife, Margarita Arango Velasquez. We learned that they are both recuperating at home and feel stronger each day. A family member with a car is purchasing food supplies for them. Please keep them in your prayers . . . We have learned that two friends of our parish, Maria Burgos and Maritza Muniz, were recently infected with COVID-19. They were not hospitalized and have been recuperating at home. They tell us that recuperation has not been easy, but that they are feeling stronger all the time. Father Jay Smith officiated at Maria and Maritza’s wedding on May 4, 2019. Please keep them in your prayers . . . José Vidal has been joining our neighbors in Midtown each night at 7:00 PM in an expression of gratitude to New York’s health workers, who are putting their lives on the line in order to care for the people of this city. He rings the church bell twenty-five times to show our community’s gratitude. Please keep all health workers, and all those who work for the common good, in your prayers . . . Parish volunteer, Gypsy da Silva, was incommunicado for some days after the church shut down. We heard from her this week. She is healthy and well, and is at home in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. She is eager to be back at Saint Mary’s . . . The Board of Trustees of the parish held a virtual meeting on Zoom on Thursday, April 16 . . . We urge all those who are able to continue to make their pledge payments during this time. Our parish administrator is working from home, but is connected to the parish office remotely. He may be reached either by e-mail or by phone. He would be happy to discuss payment arrangements with you . . . We are grateful to our friends at the Times Square Alliance, who have been doing what they can to keep the Forty-sixth side of the church complex swept and clean. It is good to have such good neighbors . . .  Father John Merz, vicar of the Church of the Ascension in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was an assisting priest here at Saint Mary’s in the mid-2000s. He is a kind, pastoral, and thoughtful priest, with a very practical side to him. He was active in relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy. He and the members of his parish have been developing a feeding program which has been expanded in some very interesting and practical ways during the pandemic. His work was featured on Friday in the New York Times. The title of the article is “How to Help in a Pandemic: Ask Before You Donate 1,000 Pizzas. A Brooklyn priest learned to cut through the red tape after Hurricane Sandy.” He has lessons for us. For more information about Father Merz’s work, please visit the website of North Brooklyn Angels . . . how much we rely on you and how much we enjoy working with you. May this crisis end soon!

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Organist and Music Director, Dr. David Hurd, has posted some reflections on the music of the Easter Vigil and of Easter Day on the parish website. We commend it to you. Dr. Hurd is well and is at home in Yonkers, New York.

FROM THE FRIARY . . . Brother Damien Joseph SSF and Brother Thomas SSF, along with some of their brothers in California, have been posting meditations and reflections on the current crisis on the website of the Society of Saint Francis in recent weeks. Brother Damien posted a new reflection this work on the life and work of Saint Damien of Molokai and his relevance to our present situation. The essay is entitled “No Greater Love.” We commend it to you.

LIFE IN TIMES SQUARE . . . Though the performing-arts community is reeling from the closure of theaters here in Midtown and throughout the city, the community is finding new ways to perform for and reach out to their sequestered fellow New Yorkers. The website of the Times Square Alliance has links to a variety of resources: online performances, classes, interviews and panel discussions.

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