FROM FATHER JACOBSON: EUCHARISTIC VISITORS AND THE BODY OF CHRIST

Saint Paul tells the community in Corinth that they “are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) He also explains to them how all the members of the body have been given gifts “for the common good” by the Holy Spirit and that “in the one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:7, 13) Paul goes on to paint an image of the Church as a living organism. No one part of the body can do it all on its own, but the members need to work together. If the body was just an eye, it would see, but how would it hear without ears.

Paul’s emphasis is on unity, rather than dissension, and he is focused on collectively caring for one another as a contrast to individualism. Presumably, this is a message that some in Corinth’s early Christian community needed to hear. In the prior chapter, Paul specifically addresses some issues surrounding the Eucharist. He describes a chaotic scene in Corinth of divisions and factions where, perhaps somewhat hyperbolically, “one goes hungry, and another becomes drunk” when the church gathers. (1 Corinthians 11:21) It is notable that Paul appears to be particularly concerned for the more vulnerable members of the community.

While I don’t see these exact issues during our celebrations of the Eucharist at Saint Mary’s, Paul’s words can be for us a reminder to make sure that those who are more vulnerable, who are unable to make it to our public celebrations of the Mass, are still nourished members of Christ’s body. Of course, the parish clergy bring the Body of Christ to our homebound or hospitalized parishioners—I did so just yesterday—but this isn’t a ministry limited to the ordained. In fact, there are only a few roles within the body that the Church has restricted to the clergy.

At Saint Mary’s, we currently have three lay members who have been led by the Holy Spirit to serve in this way. Ms. Marie Rosseels, Ms. Dorothy Rowan, and Ms. Jennifer Stevens have all been licensed by the Diocese of New York as Eucharistic Visitors. After receiving the appropriate training, licensed Eucharistic Visitors take the Body of Christ, consecrated during the Mass, to parishioners who are unable to come to church. We’re pleased that Marie, Dorothy, and Jennifer have discerned a call to serve in this way, and we will recognize them publicly this Sunday at Solemn Mass by commissioning them for this important ministry.

We hope that you will be able to join us for the commissioning, but we also hope that their example can be a reminder of Paul’s message that the Holy Spirit gives all of us gifts when we are baptized into Christ’s body. Let their ministry be an inspiration for us to continue to discern our roles within the body to serve the common good. — MDJ

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST:

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for all victims of violence, assault, and crime; for all refugees and migrants, especially those sheltering in our neighborhood; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; for those whom we serve in our outreach programs, for our neighbors in the Times Square neighborhood, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray for those for whom prayers have been asked: For Clark and David, who celebrate their wedding anniversary this week; for Marie, Jennifer, and Dorothy, who are to be commissioned as Eucharistic Visitors on Sunday; and for Tatiana, Tony, Mary, Eleanor, Eugene, Terry, Richard, Aston, Joe, Tristan, Mary Lou, Mary Barbara, Emily, Frank, Claudia, Joyce, June, Cooki, Sharon, Steven, Ingrid, Gigi, José, Brian, Carmen, Susan, Chris, Carlos, Charlotte, Jennifer, Harka, Suzanne, Quincy, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, Don, Andrew, Bruce, Robert, John Derek, and Margaret; for Jamie and Keith, religious; Lind, deacon; Carl, Robby, Bob, Allan, and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of Grace Robert (1958) whose year’s mind is on Sunday, October 8.

AND WE THANK YOU

We are grateful to Grace Mudd, who baked delicious pastries for Coffee Hour last Sunday.

We would like to thank the members of the Stewardship Committee, MaryJane Boland, Steven Heffner, Marie Rosseels, Father Powell, and Father Wood, who have been hard at work preparing this year’s campaign.

We are grateful to the anonymous donor who made it possible for us to purchase 250 new kneelers for use in both church and chapels.

We are also grateful to all those who have answered the call to serve as Eucharistic Visitors and officiants at Morning and Evening Prayer.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule: Monday through Friday, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 11:00 AM, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, A Low Mass (Rite One) is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 9:00 AM. Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction (E&B) is normally offered on the first Sunday of every month and will be offered on November 5 and December 3.

Sunday, October 8, 9:45–10:40 AM, Adult Formation Class: “Conversion, Transformation & Life in Christ.” This week: Father Jay Smith will begin a discussion of The Confessions of Saint Augustine of Hippo. We will consider the following: why “confessions”? What is going on in our lives before that moment—or that time—in which we experience an important, even a radical, change in our relationship with God? Is conversion always preceded by a state of dissatisfaction? Must conversion always be preceded by a crisis? When you think about your own spiritual narrative, how do you make sense of the ups and the downs, the confusion and the grace, the dissatisfaction, the choices, and the decisions? Can Augustine help us here? Can he help us to get at the desire beneath all of our other desires? We will read selected passages from The Confessions. Come and join us. Come and talk about your questions, what you think, about what matters to you. Read more about formation at Saint Mary’s here.

Sunday, October 8, The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 22
The lessons are Isaiah 5:1–7; Psalm 80:7–14; Philippians 3:14–21; Matthew 21:33–46. Father Peter Powell is the preacher.

Sunday, October 8, 11:00 AM, At the Solemn Mass: Commissioning of Eucharistic Visitors

Sunday, October 8, 4:00 PM, Blessing of the Animals on the Steps of the Church at the Forty-sixth Street Entrance

Monday, October 9, Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, 1253

Monday, October 9, Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day, Federal Holiday Schedule
The church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 PM. Said Mass at 10:00 AM in the Lady Chapel.

Wednesday, October 11, Philip, Deacon and Evangelist

Wednesday, October 11, 12:45, Brown Bag Bible Study in Saint Benedict’s Study. This week we will try to read the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark closely as we begin to discover Mark’s aims and the gospel’s distinctive themes.

Saturday, October 14, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop of Shanghai, 1906

Saturday, October 14, 11:00 AM, Confessions are heard by the priest on duty.

Sunday, October 15, The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 23 (Teresa of Ávila, Nun and Mystic, 1582)

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S: NEWS & NOTICES

Stewardship Campaign 2023-2024
Stewardship packets are being mailed this week. We ask you to prayerfully consider how you might give of your time, talent, and treasure to Saint Mary’s during the coming year. If you have questions about stewardship or making a financial pledge, please speak to a member of the Stewardship Committee: MaryJane Boland, Steven Heffner, Father Peter Powell, Marie Rosseels, or Father Sammy Wood.

The Commissioning of Eucharistic Visitors
At the Solemn Mass on Sunday, three members of our parish community—Marie Rosseels, Dorothy Rowan, and Jennifer Stevens—will be commissioned to undertake the ministry of Eucharistic Visitor. We hope you will be able to be at Mass to support them and to take part in this blessing. See Father Jacobson’s article above for more information.

Oktoberfest 2023: Come join us on Saturday, October 28
For many years, each October, we celebrated the end of summer, the arrival of autumn, and the beginning of a new program year here at Saint Mary’s with a potluck supper, good conversation, plentiful beverages—including beer, that Oktoberfest staple—and the chance to sing some of our favorite hymns. Oktoberfest returns this year on Saturday, October 28, at 5:30 PM, following Evening Prayer in the church. All are invited.

This year we’ll try something new. Rather than a break post-dessert and a trip to the organ loft, we’ll stay in Saint Joseph’s Hall, where Dr. Hurd will lead the hymn sing. If you would like to join us—and we hope you will—please let Grace Mudd or Father Jay know so we can get a sense of how many folks will be joining us. Also, this is a potluck: so, please let us know what you would like to bring. If you could tell us whether you’re bringing a main dish, a side dish, an appetizer, or a dessert, that would be very helpful. Beverages will be provided.

New Kneelers for Church and Chapel
An anonymous donor recently made it possible for us to purchase 250 kneelers for use in the church and chapels. They were placed in the nave today in time for Mass on Sunday. We hope that this will make it easier and more comfortable for those who wish to kneel during the liturgy—the wood floor is rough on the knees. We are very grateful to the donor who made this purchase possible.

A Reception for Newcomers on October 15
Father Sammy Wood will be hosting a reception for newcomers on Sunday, October 15, at 1:00 PM. If you are new to Saint Mary’s and would like to learn more about the parish and get to know some folks, consider joining us for conversation and a bite to eat in the rectory after Solemn Mass. Please send Father Sammy an email at swood@stmvnyc.org if you plan on attending.

Remaining Dates to Donate the Altar Flowers in 2023 are Sundays, October 22 and 29; Sundays, November 12 and 19; and Advent 3 on Sunday, December 17. The suggested donation is $250. We are also always happy to receive donations for flowers at Christmas. To make a donation, please contact Chris Howatt. If you’d like to check about other dates available or have questions about the flowers or the Flower Guild, please speak with Brendon Hunter.

Some links with suggestions for aid and assistance:

• Global Citizen

• CBS News

• Charity Navigator

• Neighbors in Need at Saint Mary’s

• The Little Shop of Kindness (Pequeña Tienda de Bondad)

 ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, OCTOBER 8

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are portions of Sonate I for organ by German-born Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). Hindemith emigrated to the United States shortly before World War II. In his teaching career, primarily at Yale University, he mentored an impressive roster of future prize-winning composers. Hindemith’s remarkable cycle of sonatas for solo instruments, and various combinations, includes three sonatas for the organ which were composed between 1937 and 1940. These pieces came at a time when post-romantic and neo-classical impulses were in dialogue through much of the musical world. Historic music was being rediscovered while bracing new sounds were being imagined. Organ building, organ playing, and new compositions for the organ reflected the aesthetic reformulations of the time. The Aeolian-Skinner organ at Saint Mary’s dates from this period. Thus, Hindemith’s three organ sonatas are particularly important as they embody the values of pre-romantic idioms imbued with a fresh and modern sonority in a post-romantic period. Few composers who were not themselves organists have been as successful as Hindemith in producing works of great originality which live so comfortably within the essential nature of the organ as a musical instrument. Characteristic of his organ sonatas is a linear and polyphonic style with crisp melodic and rhythmic elements, a harmonic angularity, and clearly defined formal structure. The second and final movement of Hindemith’s Sonate I is a succession of three distinct sub-sections. The first of these, marked Sehr langsam (very slow), and played as the prelude today, is essentially a treble “song without words” accompanied by a countermelody and simple bass punctuation. The second section, played as today’s postlude, is marked Phantasie, frei (Fantasy, free). It is the most dramatic part of the entire sonata. This rhapsodic and craggy sub-section, which stands alone effectively, drives insistently to a decisive final arrival in D major.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is by Stefano Bernardi (c. 1577–1637). Bernardi, musician and priest, was maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Verona, the city of his birth, from 1611 to 1622. In 1624, he became director of court music for Paris von Lodron, Prince-Bishop of Salzburg, where he remained for the next ten years and was active in the musical life of Salzburg Cathedral. Notably Bernardi composed a Te Deum for twelve choirs, unfortunately now lost, for the Cathedral’s consecration in 1628. During his Salzburg years Bernardi was ordained to the priesthood and received a doctorate in canon and civil law. Bernardi was one of the significant Italian composers standing at the juncture of late Renaissance polyphonic and early Baroque concertato styles. His Missa Praeparate corda vestra takes its inspiration from a responsory which, translated, begins “Prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve Him only” (1 Samuel 7:3). The Mass is compact in its construction and is scored for four voices. Each movement begins with a recognizable common melodic phrase derived from the source motet.

The motet to be sung during the administration of Communion is the second of the Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence by the French pianist and composer Francis Poulenc (1899–1963). The text is the third of the traditional Good Friday responsories (Jeremiah 2:21). The dense textures and contrasting moments of consonant and dissonant harmonies richly illuminate the liturgical text. The set of four motets was composed in 1939, three years after the composer’s return to the Catholic faith following his pilgrimage to western France to visit the Black Virgin. Accordingly, Poulenc’s significant earlier sacred choral compositions begin with his Litanies á la Vierge Noire (1936) and his Mass in G (1937). His later important sacred works include Figure humaine (1943), Stabat Mater (1950), Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël (1952), Gloria (1960), and Sept répons des ténèbres (Seven Responsories for Tenebrae, 1962). — David Hurd

AT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
170 CENTRAL PARK WEST AT RICHARD GILDER WAY (77TH STREET)
Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West, September 22, 2023–February 25, 2024

From the museum website:

This is a new exhibition that explores the interplay between religion and US expansion in the nineteenth-century West in order to illuminate how religion became such a vital and contested part of American life. Acts of Faith takes visitors beyond the mythologized “Wild West” of popular culture to present a fuller and surprising picture: a West populated by preachers, pilgrims, and visionaries and home to sacred grounds and cathedrals that kindled spiritual feeling from the woodlands of New York all the way to the valleys of California. The narrative highlights the experiences and traditions of people who, voluntarily or involuntarily, took part in this chaotic and transformative era—including diverse Native peoples, Protestant missionaries, Mormon settlers, Catholic communities, African American migrants, Jewish traders, and Chinese immigrant workers.

Among the highlights of the exhibition, which comprises more than 60 objects and dozens of images and documents, are Robert Weir’s portrait of the famous Seneca chief Sagoyewatha, or “Red Jacket”; a bulto (wooden statue) of San Ysidro Labrador from 19th-century New Mexico on loan from the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe; and an emigrant trunk labeled “From Basel to Salt Lake City, Utah” that belonged to a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on loan from the Utah Historical Society.

These are accompanied by specially commissioned installations, multimedia elements, and immersive displays, including a dollhouse-sized diorama of St. Louis’s first Rosh Hashanah ceremony; a large mural depicting a San Ysidro Feast Day in Taos, New Mexico; an illustrated interactive journey to the California goldfields with 49er Sarah Royce; a life-size, lifelike figure of African American pioneer Clara Brown; and an evocation of a 19th-century classroom. Media elements include visualizations of the Mormon exodus to Utah and the saga of Indian boarding schools as well as an audio guide on the Bloomberg Connects app, offering readings, music, and expert commentary from a range of historical and contemporary voices.

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

Wednesday, November 1, All Saints’ Day
Mass 12:10 PM, Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM 

Thursday, November 2, All Souls’ Day
Mass 12:10 PM, Sung Mass 6:00 PM

Sunday, November 5, Daylight Saving Time Ends

Wednesday, November 22, 2023, The Eve of Thanksgiving Day
Sung Mass 6:00 PM

Thursday, November 23, 2023, Thanksgiving Day
Said Mass 10:00 AM

Saturday, December 2, 2023, Quiet Day

Sunday, December 3, 2023, The First Sunday of Advent

 We need your help to keep holding our services.
Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s.
We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

 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.