SAINT AMBROSE OF MILAN ON THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD

In the fourth century, Saint Ambrose of Milan wrote the following reflection on Our Lord’s birth in his Exposition of the Gospel of Luke:

He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you may be in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich. Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord’s weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all . . . He is brought forth from the womb but flashes from heaven. He lies in an earthly inn but is alive with heavenly light. [1]

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

We pray for an end to war, division, violence, and injustice, especially in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Darfur.

We pray for an end to gun violence in our city and in our nation.

We pray for the safety and preservation of the Christian communities in the Middle East.

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, UK.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Aston, Jorge, Lexi, Grace, Steve, Jane, Martin, Murray, Claudia, Beverly, Molly, Gary, Renee, Ruth Ann, Michele, Vicki, Georgia, Janet, Zoë, Desarae, David, Rolf, Adair, Susanna, Margaret, Leroy, Josh, Maddie, Tony, Hattie, Paul, Nettie, Maureen, Chrissy, Tessa, Don, Robert, Duncan, Justin, Audy, Jan, Pat, Marjorie, Sharon, Quincy, June, Barbara, Carlos, Chris, José, Gene, Hardy, Giovanna, Gypsy, Bob, and Liduvina; James, Keith, Laura Katharine, Barbara-Jean and Eleanor-Francis, RELIGIOUS; Lind, DEACON; and Jay, Jean, Julie, Robby, and Stephen, PRIESTS.

We pray also for Andrew, Tilly, and Dax, who are to be baptized on January 12.

We pray for the repose of the souls of all those who died this week in places of violence, warfare, and natural disaster, and we pray also for the repose of the souls of those whose anniversary of death is on December 29: Josiah Millspaugh (1912) and John Joseph Gordon (1949).

Holy Hour on Wednesdays before the Blessed Sacrament
Wednesday Mornings at 11:00 AM in the Lady Chapel
Holy Hour will not be offered on New Year’s Day, January 1

Healing Mass on Thursdays
At Mass on Thursdays at 12:10 PM, we offer a service of anointing and prayers for healing.

Friday Abstinence
The ordinary Fridays of the year are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial
in commemoration of the crucifixion of Our Lord.
Friday abstinence is suspended during Christmastide.

Confessions on Saturdays
The priest on duty will be in a confessional near the 46th Street entrance at 11:00 AM.
On December 28 and January 4, confessions are heard only by appointment.

UPCOMING AT SAINT MARY’S

Sunday, December 29
The First Sunday after Christmas Day
Rite I Mass 9:00 AM
Solemn Mass 11:00 AM
Evening Prayer 4:00 PM

Tuesday, December 31
New Year’s Eve
Said Mass 10:00 AM
The church opens at 7:00 AM and closes immediately after Mass.

Wednesday, January 1
The Holy Name of Jesus
Said Mass 10:00 AM
The church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 PM.

Sunday, January 5
The Second Sunday after Christmas Day
Rite I Mass 9:00 AM
Solemn Mass 11:00 AM
Evensong & Benediction 4:00 PM

Monday, January 6
The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Sung Mass 12:10 PM
Organ Recital 5:30 PM
Procession and Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
Festive Reception follows the Mass.

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S

We are grateful to all those who worked so hard and with such enthusiasm to prepare for Christmas in recent weeks. The flowers and decorations are beautiful. The crèche is amazing. The liturgies were prayerful, reverent, and joyful. The music was transcendent. The preaching was inspiring. Our many visitors were welcomed with respect, efficiency, and kindness. The linens were spotless, and the brass was as shiny as could be. The wrinkles in the vestment were attacked with vigor. Problems with cranky copiers, ailing choristers and acolytes, and snowy sidewalks were addressed quickly and calmly. The many candles shone, reminding us of Christ, the Light of the World. The liturgies were recorded creatively for posterity and professionally streamed for our friends and members who could not be with us in person. New liturgical choreography was executed with barely an error. And God was praised, the Incarnation recalled, and the Eucharist celebrated with great joy. Hospitality was extended and the people were fed at the altar certainly, but also in Saint Joseph’s Hall on more than one occasion. We are grateful to those who made all this possible, to all those who allowed our members, friends, and visitors, near and far, to worship in a special way at Christmas and to experience the life and hospitality of our community as well.

Preparing to ring in the New Year . . . Here at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Times Square, we face unique challenges on New Year’s Eve. Our friends at Times Square Alliance and the New York City Police Department have begun their preparations for the massive celebration in the Square earlier and earlier each year. For instance, this year, all deliveries to the places of business around the Square must be completed by 4:00 AM on the morning of New Year’s Eve, December 31. The police will not begin to restrict entry to 46th or 47th Street that early but this is our plan: the church will open at 7:00 AM, as usual. Mass will be celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 10:00 AM, and the church will close immediately after Mass. The parish offices will be closed. On Wednesday, January 1, the Holy Name of Jesus, the tight security procedures will be gone and the streets surrounding the Square and the Square itself will have been cleaned overnight—though longtime Saint Marians know that more than a few of those flimsy pieces of colorful confetti can be found around Saint Mary’s until the height of summer. There will be a Said Mass on the morning of January 1 at 10:00 AM. The church opens at 9:00 AM that day and closes at 12:00 PM.

Mark Your Calendar: Parish Retreat . . . We hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday, January 11, for a Parish Retreat. The theme of the retreat is “The Benedictine Promise”—Benedictine Spirituality and Practice. The retreat, which will take place here at Saint Mary’s, will be co-hosted with our friends from uptown at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Inwood, and will be led by Sister Michelle Heyne of the Order of the Ascension. For more information, click here for the flyer, or speak to Father Wood. We will offer a Sung Mass at the high altar at 12:10 PM as part of the retreat program. Please RSVP to Father Wood by January 7, so that we can accurately plan for the lunch.

Adult Formation . . . The Sunday morning Adult Formation class is on a brief Christmas break. Class resumes on Sunday, January 5, 2025, in Saint Joseph’s Hall at 9:45 AM, when Dr. Lauren Whitnah, Dean of Nashotah House, will teach about Christian formation in the Middle Ages. She holds a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies and Master of Medieval Studies, both from the University of Notre Dame; a Master of Studies in History from the University of Oxford; and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Gordon College. Her academic focus centers on devotion to saints and understandings of sacred place in the High Middle Ages, particularly in northern England and southern Scotland . . . On January 12, parishioner Allen Reddick will begin his two-part series (January 12 and 19), “The Catholic Imagination of Flannery O’Connor.” Allen received his B.A. from Sewanee: the University of the South (Allen spends part of each year in Sewanee), his M.A. from Cambridge University, and Ph.D. from Columbia University. From there, he became Assistant, then Associate Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University from 1985 until 1993. In 1993, he went to the University of Zurich in Switzerland as Full Professor of English Literature. Allen’s research interests are broad, but include book history, the distribution of republican books in England and North America, the Enlightenment encyclopedia and dictionary, and the works of Samuel Johnson. Allen will use his analytical and interpretive skills to discuss Flannery O’Connors’s short stories. On January 19, Allen will be joined by Father Sammy Wood, whose interests in O’Connor are theological. In that class, he will want to spend a few minutes talking about a certain connection between O’Connor and evangelism, drawing from her famous quote from Mystery & Manners:

When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock -- to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures.

Preparing for these classes: Allen writes, “The stories I will be discussing in the Flannery O'Connor classes are ‘Greenleaf’ and ‘Revelation.’ Both are contained in O’Connor’s short story collection, Everything that Rises Must Converge; texts of the stories can also be downloaded from the Internet (“Revelation”; “Greenleaf”). Please read the stories beforehand and bring the texts to class.

2025 Saint Mary’s Calendars are now available! . . . The suggested donation for each calendar is $20 in-person and $25 online (which includes shipping) and $40 for international shipping. Calendars are available in-person after Solemn Masses and Evensong & Benediction in Saint Joseph’s Hall during the month of December 2024. Click here to order your calendar online. Saint Mary’s Flower and Altar Guilds have produced the 2025 Saint Mary’s Calendar, and all proceeds will help fund critical guild supplies and restore antique furnishings. Please contact Brendon Hunter with any questions about the 2025 Saint Mary's Calendar. Click here for a preview of the calendar.

Neighbors in Need . . . This month’s Drop-by took place on Friday, December 13. The January Drop-by will take place on Friday, January 17. We have an urgent need for donations of COATS in all sizes for both men and women. The temperatures are dropping, and we anticipate that there will be a great demand for coats at this month’s Drop-by. Please look in your closets and see if there are some things you are willing to part with. And we thank you for your generosity!

Bidding Father Jay Smith & José Vidal Farewell . . . Father Jay Smith’s last Mass at Saint Mary’s will be on January 12, 2025, the Baptism of Our Lord. Father Smith will be the celebrant and preacher at both Masses that day. A festive reception following Solemn Mass is planned to celebrate his retirement, at which time we will also present him with gifts from the parish. We invite all the members of the Saint Mary’s community to join us on January 12 to say goodbye to Father Jay and to José; to recall the joys, challenges, and graces we have experienced together during the past seventeen years; and to celebrate our common ministry during that time. We are sure there will be something to eat and to drink, and suspect that there will be some laughter. Come join us.

Seeking Help! . . . We are looking for help in support of our Hospitality Ministry. The costs associated with Coffee Hour, Feast Day Receptions and other events are high and are a constant strain on the budget. You may make a donation online or by mailing a check to the parish office. Remember to write “Hospitality” in the memo line. And, as always, we welcome donations to support the work of the Saint Mary’s Flower Guild. There are many opportunities in the New Year and before Lent to give flowers for the altar and in other parts of the church. For more information, please contact the parish office. We are grateful to all those who continue to support these ministries.

The Saint Mary’s Library . . . We have started a parish library in Saint Benedict’s Study and have put together an initial wish list on Amazon to help build our collection. Please click click here to view our wish list and donate a book. Check back from time to time to see what we have added to our list. If you have books to donate from your personal collection, please be in touch with Father Sammy before bringing them to the parish as space in our small library is limited.

News from Zach Roesemann, Saint Mary’s Resident Iconographer . . . We were very excited to learn that Zach has been invited to be a Guest Artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in January 2025. He will be doing three different events in conjunction with the Met’s current exhibition, Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350. The first will take place on January 5 at the Met Cloisters, uptown, in Fort Tryon Park, 99 Margaret Corbin Dr, New York, NY 10040: “How Did They Do That?”, a demonstration and discussion of the painting and gilding techniques used by the fourteenth-century artists—the very same ones Zachary uses to create his icons.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 29, 2024, THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is the Mass for three voices, by William Byrd. Byrd composed settings of the Latin Mass for three, four and five voices. The Mass for three voices was the second of the three to be composed, probably about 1593. It is scored modestly for alto, tenor, and bass voices, but its movements are relatively expansive. The whole business of Latin Masses in post-Reformation England needed to be a somewhat clandestine matter to protect those involved from the possibility of arrest. This being the case, Byrd’s part books were undated and without title page or preface, and the books’ printer, Thomas East, was not identified. Fortunately, Byrd’s settings survived the period in which their performance—if not their very existence—was illegal, and they are now recognized for what they are, great treasures of the Western musical tradition. Composed with the Continental Tridentine liturgy in mind, Byrd’s Masses were also influenced by pre-Reformation works of English masters John Taverner (c. 1490–1545), Christopher Tye (c. 1505–c. 1573), John Sheppard (c. 1515–1558), and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585). The several movements of Byrd’s Mass for three voices are linked by recurring freely composed themes.

The Communion motet on Sunday is an anonymous fourteenth-century carol of which six stanzas are extant with some slight variations. The Italian editor Francesco Lorenzo Luciani has provided an edition with three-voice renderings of stanzas 1, 3, 2, and 5 of the medieval text. The 1906 collection Cantus Mariales provides a chant melody for stanzas 1, 3, 5, and 6 of the carol text. Luciani’s four stanzas for three voices will be sung today, followed by stanza 6, which will be sung to the chant melody.

The postlude at the end of the Solemn Mass on Sunday is the setting from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (“Little Organ Book”) of the Christmas chorale, In dir ist Freude (“In you is joy”), BWV 615. The chorale melody is stated in the midst of energetic accompanying scales and passage work on the keyboard which the pedals punctuate with a distinctive recurring motive and, occasionally, bits of the melody. — David Hurd

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.

Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

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.

[1] Arthur A. Just, Jr., ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Sacred Scripture, vol. 3 (InterVarsity Press, 2003), 38-39.