A SONNET FOR CANDLEMAS
by Malcolm Guite

They came, as called, according to the Law.
Though they were poor and had to keep things simple,
They moved in grace, in quietness, in awe,
For God was coming with them to His temple.
Amidst the outer court’s commercial bustle
They’d waited hours, enduring shouts and shoves,
Buyers and sellers, sensing one more hustle,
Had made a killing on the two young doves.
They come at last with us to Candlemas
And keep the day the prophecies came true
We glimpse with them, amidst our busyness,
The peace that Simeon and Anna knew.
For Candlemas still keeps His kindled light,
Against the dark our Saviour’s face is bright.

Malcolm Guite (b. 1957) is an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest, and academic. He is the author of five books of poetry, including two chapbooks and three full-length collections, as well as several books on Christian faith and theology.

Reprinted with gracious permission from Malcolm Guite’s blog. You may listen to Malcolm Guite read the poem here. You may read “Sonnet for Candlemas” and other poems by Malcolm Guite in Sounding the Seasons Poetry for the Christian Year (Canterbury Press, 2012). You may also support his work by “buying him a coffee” here.

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We pray for those who are sick and for those in any need or trouble. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those living with drought, storm, flood, fire, and earthquake; and we pray especially for, Bob, Penny, Steven, Sharon, Pat, Michele, Don, Lina, Harka, Charlotte, Ginny, Roger, Catherine, Tony, Gloria, Gladys, Luis, Liduvina, Joyce, José, Lauren, Eric, Carlos, Christopher, Shalim, Greta, Quincy, Ava Grace, Bruce, Barbara, Robert, Suzanne, Abe, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, Debbi, deacon, and Rob and Rick, priests.

For the Chemin Neuf Community and the Community at the Crossing;

For the people of Ukraine and for an end to the Russian invasion;

For coadjutor bishop-elect, Matthew Heyd;

For all those suffering from COVID-19 and for all those recovering from COVID-19;

For all refugees and those seeking asylum;

For the work of Neighbors in Need and for its guests;

For those without food, shelter, or work; and for those seeking work;

For those troubled by depression, anxiety, or addiction;

For all those visiting Saint Mary’s this week;

For the safety and welfare of our nation, city, and neighborhood.

NEWS FROM THE SEARCH COMMITTEE

The Congregational Survey is coming soon! Watch your email and mailbox next week for a survey from Saint Mary’s Rector Search Committee. You’ll be able to share your thoughts online or on paper with us. We’re having an informal conversation about the search for our new rector on Sunday, February 5 after Coffee Hour, so please join us!

THE COMMUNITY AT THE CROSSING

Applications are now open for the inaugural Community at the Crossing cohort, which will begin in September 2023! The CATC is an ecumenical program for spiritual formation of young adults and is based in NYC at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. It is open to young adults in the U.S. who are 21-30 years old and come from any Christian denomination. Members will spend a year in prayer and discernment, biblical and theological formation, intentional community, and service and mission. There is both a full-time residential tract as well as a part-time one, for locals who already live and work or study in NYC. If you are interested in learning more, you can download a flyer, explore the webpage, or speak with Father Matt.

If you know somebody who might be a good fit for this exciting new program, please encourage them to consider applying!

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Thursday, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, also known as Candlemas. On that day, Mass will be said in the Lady Chapel at 12:10 PM. Father Wood is the celebrant and preacher. Our own Dr. David Hurd will play the organ recital at 5:30 PM. At 6:00 PM, the Solemn Mass begins with the Blessing of Candles and a Procession. Father Wood will preach at the Solemn Mass. Father Smith will preside.

On February 3, we commemorate Saint Anskar, as well as Saint Blaise. Blaise was a popular and much venerated saint throughout the Middle Ages. He is the ear-nose-and-throat doctor among the saints and the blessing of throats has traditionally been offered on his feast day. This year the Blessing of Throats will be offered at the end of the 12:10 PM Said Mass on Friday, February 3, and after the Solemn Mass, following the postlude, on Sunday, February 5.

Our regular daily liturgical schedule, Monday through Friday, is Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes a Healing Service. On Saturday, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM.

Saturday, January 28, Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274
Sunday, January 29, The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Wednesday, February 1, Brigid, Abbess at Kildare, 523
Thursday, February 2, The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
Friday, February 3, Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary, 865 & Blaise, Bishop of Sebastea, c. 316
Saturday, February 4, Cornelius the Centurion
Sunday, February 5, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (The Martyrs of Japan, 1597)

AROUND THE PARISH

On Sunday, February 12, Dr. David Hurd, organist and music director, will be away from the parish. He will be Boston that weekend. On Saturday, February 11, he will teach a masterclass at the Harvard Memorial Church for members of the Boston chapter of the Anglican Guild of Organists. The following day he will play and conduct at the morning service at Boston’s historic Old South Church. The service will largely consist of a Hymn and Choral Music Festival in which David’s music will be featured. Clark Anderson will play and conduct the choir here on February 12, in David’s absence. Clark is a member of the parish and is a member of the parish’s board of trustees.

The Reverend Alan Christopher Lee will be commissioned priest-in-charge of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Chappaqua, New York, on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at 4:00 PM. Chappaqua is located in northern Westchester County, east of Ossining, and about thirty miles north of New York City. The Reverend Hal Roark, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Granite Springs, New York, will officiate at the service. The Reverend Dr. Allen F. Robinson, rector of Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, will preach. Father Lee is a former member of this parish. Please keep Chris and his family in your prayers as he begins this new ministry.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED: ANSWERING THE CALL TO SERVE

We Need Volunteers! We need one or two people for several hours once a week to partner with Marie Rosseels and MaryJane Boland in sorting and hanging donated clothes.

We need a few bilingual volunteers—Spanish and English—to join us join us on a weekday afternoon once a month from 1:45 to 2:15 PM to work with our asylum-seeker visitors from South America.

We also need one or two strong people (with good knees!) for an hour or two twice a month to carry bags and clothing on hangers up the stairs from the undercroft and into Saint Joseph’s Hall for set-up in preparation for distribution of clothing the following day.

And we especially need donations of shoes, boots and men’s and women’s pants and tops as well as coats (in all seasons).

Please contact us at neighbors@stmvnyc.org for more information about volunteering or about the goals, work, and methods of Neighbors in Need.

LIVING LENT, PREPARING FOR EASTER

At Saint Mary’s. Saturday, March 25, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Quiet Day, led by Mother Deborah Lee. Mother Deborah will lead reflections and will be available for spiritual direction. Mass will be celebrated at 12:10 PM and lunch in Saint Joseph’s Hall will follow. There will be opportunities for prayer, quiet, journaling, and reading in the church and chapels and in Saint Joseph’s Hall between conferences.

Mother Deborah Lee is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and retreat leader. She graduated with a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from General Theological Seminary. She is an ecumenical spiritual director in private practice and also offers spiritual direction through the Annand Program for Spiritual Formation at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary. She served as associate rector at Saint Bartholomew’s, Manhattan; priest-in-charge at Saint Paul’s Church, Chester, New York; as assisting priest at Christ Church, New York; and was formerly the Program Manager for Pastoral Care and Community at Trinity Church, Wall Street. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Counseling and served as a mental health counselor and educator, both internationally and within the U.S. Deborah is a member of Spiritual Directors International (SDI) and subscribes to their ethical standards and practices.

At the Church of the Good Shepherd, 240 East 31st Street, Wednesday Evenings in Lent: “Who-What-When-Where-Why? The Old Testament Lessons of the Easter Vigil,” is the theme of the Lenten program on Wednesday evenings during Lent at the Church of the Good Shepherd, led by Father Stephen Morris. Good Shepherd is a member, along with Saint Mary’s, of the Midtown Manhattan Clericus. You are invited to join the people of Good Shepherd at 6:00 PM each Wednesday in Lent (beginning March 1) for Mass, vegetarian soup, and class/discussion led by Fr. Morris. Discover why we read what we read at the Easter Vigil and the impact these readings can still have in our lives today.

Father Stephen Morris has degrees in medieval history, theology, and special education from Yale, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, and CUNY (Hunter). He has written books about church history and theology, as well as novels; all his books are available on Amazon. He has lived in New York since 1980 and is the priest-in-charge at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kips Bay (Manhattan).

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY: JANUARY 29, 2023

The organ voluntaries on Sunday are both works of the Danish composer Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707) who is widely recognized as the most significant composer for the organ in the generation before J. S. Bach. For the prelude on Sunday, Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in d is one of his many compositions which are built on recurring bass themes. Typically, in baroque Passacaglias the recurring bass theme undergirds several variations built above it, all remaining in the same key. Buxtehude’s Passacaglia, however, consists of four sections in different keys, separated by brief transitions. The second and third sections transpose the bass melody to F Major and A minor respectively, and the final section returns to D minor. Sunday’s postlude is Buxtehude’s Fugue in C Major, often referred to as the “Gigue” Fugue due to its dance-like 12/8 meter and joyful character.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Missa Tu es Petrus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594). Palestrina, a giant among composers of church music in renaissance Italy, stood on foundations largely laid by the Netherlandish composers Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) and Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521). That said, Palestrina is largely credited with setting the canons for Renaissance polyphony and the standards for Catholic liturgical music that remain in place even to this day. Among his hundreds of compositions are over one hundred Masses, most of which were published in thirteen volumes between 1554 and 1601. Missa Tu es Petrus is based upon a motet of the same name and intended for the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, celebrated traditionally on June 29. It was published in Palestrina’s motet collection of 1572. Both the motet and the Mass that evolved from it are set for six voices (SSATBB) and convey a bright energy. With the Confession of Peter (January 18) and the Conversion of Paul (January 25) having been commemorated within the past two weeks, the singing of this Mass setting, and the motet upon which it was based, recognizes the individual commemorations of these two saints and the octave between their feast days, which is recognized ecumenically as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. — David Hurd

ADULT EDUCATION 2023

The Eucharist: the Gifts of God for the People of God
January 29; February 5, 12, 19; April 23, 30; and May 7, 14, at 9:30–10:30 AM

This Sunday in Saint Joseph’s Hall: Father Sammy’s contribution to our year-long adult formation series on the Eucharist is a move from the theoretical to the practical, a chance to unpack some of the theology of our “central act of worship” and to ask how it affects our everyday lives at St. Mary’s. Week One (January 15) laid some groundwork with a session on the Meaning of the Mass. Week Two (January 22) built on that foundation by looking at the Movement of the Mass, our ceremonies and rituals; and the final installment—Week Three (January 29)—follows the path we’ve been on to its logical conclusion—that we’re Moving from Mass to Mission. Please join us in Saint Joseph’s Hall at 9.30 AM on Sunday for coffee and conversation.

On the Sundays in February, Father Jay Smith will teach a series of three classes in which he will continue last fall’s conversation about Eucharist as Presence, contrasting Catholic and Protestant conceptions of the Eucharist, discussing theology and doctrine, as well as poetry and hymn. Two weeks after Easter Sunday, and following Father Powell’s Bible Study during Lent, Father Matthew Jacobson will bring us back to the Holy Eucharist as he discusses the Mystagogical Catecheses of Ambrose of Milan and Cyril of Jerusalem, who wrote during a golden age of patristic thought in the fourth century.

Lent Comes and Bible Study Returns

On Sundays in Lent, Father Peter Powell will lead a Bible Study on Sunday mornings, also at 9:30 AM. This year he and the class are studying some of the New Testament’s later epistles in the Pauline tradition.

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

On Saturday, February 11, 2023, Saint Mary’s resident orchestra, the New York Repertory Orchestra will present a concert in the church at 8:00 PM. Admission is free. A $15.00 donation is most welcome. The concert includes the following music: Rautavaara: Adagio Celeste; Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4, Sheryl Staples, violin; Tubin: Symphony No. 5.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.