Sacred Triduum Preview and Schedule

The Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper (4/18, 7PM) begins the Paschal Triduum, which is properly understood and experienced as one event. The Maundy Thursday institution of the Holy Eucharist, which is the sacrament of love, and the Lord's offering of himself in love on the Cross, and the triumph of that love in the Resurrection are one thing: the Lord's Passover, and so also ours, from death to life. We encourage you and your family to attend as many of the liturgies as possible. As Fr Allen said last week, "bring the children to Jesus, and let them feel absolutely at home in the Church's worship. And please, invite your friends and family, and share the announcements of these liturgies widely."

Maundy Thursday Mass at 7.00PM*
Good Friday Liturgy at 3.00PM
Easter Eve Mass at 8.00PM
Easter Day Mass at 9.00AM* & 11.00AM
St Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church, 89 Hasell Street

*Roman Missal


On Maundy Thursday (7PM) we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper and our Lord's abiding Presence with us in the Holy Eucharist, a Mass which ends with the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose, where we may take our place with the Apostles to watch and pray in the garden. The Altar is stripped, our Lord is betrayed and given into the hands of sinners.

This Mass will be celebrated from the Roman Missal. For reference at home as you prepare for Mass, in the Divine Worship Sunday Missal, the Propers and Lessons may be found on page 396, or you may read the Lessons online:

Exodus 12.1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11.23-26
John 13.1-15

The Collect: O God, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast left unto us a memorial of thy Passion: grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood; that we may ever know within ourselves the fruit of thy redemption; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.   Amen.


On Good Friday (3PM) we offer the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion and venerate his Cross, and then receive the precious fruit of that Cross in the Holy Communion: our Lord's own Body broken for us.

In the Divine Worship Sunday Missal, the Propers and Lessons may be found on page 412, or you may read the Lessons online:

Isaiah 52.13-53.12
Hebrews 4.14-16; 5.7-9
John 18.1-19.42

The Collect: Almighty God: we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the Cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.   Amen.


On Easter Eve (8PM) we light the new fire in church yard and process together with the Light of Christ into the darkened church, and keep the Solemn Vigil of Easter, hearing God's promises of old, and seeing them fulfilled in the Lord's Resurrection, our sacramental life - which is our participation in Jesus' Death and Resurrection - renewed again. 

In the Divine Worship Sunday Missal, the Propers and Lessons may be found on page 445, or you may read the Lessons online:

Genesis 1.1-2.2
Genesis 22.1-18
Exodus 14.15-15.1
Isaiah 54.5-14
Isaiah 55.1-11
Baruch 3.9-15, 32-4.4
Ezekiel 36.16-17a, 18-28
Romans 6.3-11
Luke 24.1-12

One of the Collects: O God who dost illumine this most holy night with the glory of the Resurrection of the Lord: stir up, we pray thee, in thy Church, the spirit of adoption which thou hast given; that we, being regenerate both in body and soul, may render unto thee a pure service; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.   Amen.

* Only three of the seven Old Testament readings will be proclaimed at our Easter Vigil Mass for pastoral reasons.


image: Resurrection of Jesus, Raphael, 1502

image: Resurrection of Jesus, Raphael, 1502

On Easter Day, Masses will be celebrated at 9AM (Roman Missal) & 11AM (Divine Worship).

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.  They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

In the Divine Worship Sunday Missal, the Propers and Lessons may be found on page 488, or you may read the Lessons online:

Acts 10.34a, 37-43
Colossians 3.1-4
John 20.1-9

The Collect: Almighty God, who through thine Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: we humbly beseech thee; that as by thy special grace thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.   Amen.

Letter from Fr. Allen: Palm Sunday 2019

adoration-clipart-chalice.jpg

+JMJ+

Dear Friends,

This Sunday we begin Holy Week and together walk again in the steps of our Lord's blessed Passion and precious Death, and thereby prepare ourselves for the joy of his mighty Resurrection and glorious Ascension. This all begins with Palm Sunday, when we recall Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem with our own procession of palms. We will gather in the churchyard for the Liturgy of the Palms, and then process singing "All glory, laud, and honor" to Christ our King. Please be on time (the liturgy will begin promptly at 11AM) so that you may participate in the procession and enter fully into this Holy Week's devotions. From that triumph, of course things quickly change. We will see our King whom we have hymned crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross as we hear St. Luke's Passion.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week, Holy Mass will be offered at 8AM.

Confessions are available on Monday and Wednesday mornings, 8.30 - 9.00AM and Wednesday evening from 5.00 till 6.00PM

On Maundy Thursday (7PM, Roman Missal) we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper and our Lord's abiding Presence with us in the Holy Eucharist, a Mass which ends with the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose, where we may take our place with the Apostles to watch and pray in the garden. The Altar is stripped, our Lord is betrayed and given into the hands of sinners.

On Good Friday (3PM, Divine Worship) we offer the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion and venerate his Cross, and then receive the precious fruit of that Cross in the Holy Communion: our Lord's own Body broken for us.

On Easter Eve (8.00PM, Divine Worship) we light the new fire in church yard and process together with the Light of Christ into the darkened church, and keep the Solemn Vigil of Easter, hearing God's promises of old, and seeing them fulfilled in the Lord's Resurrection, our sacramental life - which is our participation in Jesus' Death and Resurrection - renewed again. I urge all of you to participate in the Vigil with us, and not to be afraid to bring children. When St Therese of Lisieux was novice mistress in her convent, she comforted novices who had fallen asleep at their evening prayers by telling them that to fall asleep in prayer was to fall asleep in the Father's arms. So bring the children to Jesus, and let them feel absolutely at home in the Church's worship. And please, invite your friends and family, and share the announcements of these liturgies widely.

On Easter Day, Masses will be celebrated at 9AM (Roman Missal) & 11AM(Divine Worship) (I will be the celebrant for both of those Masses).

Wednesday School will be enjoying Spring Break in Holy Week and Easter Week.

God bless you,
Fr. Allen

Letter from Fr. Allen: The First Sunday in Lent, March 7, 2019

adoration-clipart-chalice.jpg

+JMJ+

Dear Friends,

We are off again on our annual Lenten pilgrimage to the upper room, to Calvary, and to the empty Tomb - those "mighty works whereby our Lord God hast given us life and immortality." In the Gospel for today (the Thursday after Ash Wednesday) that agenda is set for us. Jesus announces to his disciples that “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” But then Jesus tells us that his disciples, if they - if we! - will truly be his disciples - cannot be mere spectators in the Lord's journey to Jerusalem, but must actually be participants: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it." Lent is a time in which we sharpen and intensify our participation in the Lord's Passion by taking up the little training crosses of our self-denial and disciplines, so that we may deepen our joyful participation in his mighty Resurrection, dying to ourselves so that Christ might live in us.

In addition to the Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, our Lenten pilgrimage is marked in our liturgy in ways that have become familiar to us: purple vestments, the absence of the Gloria and any "Alleluia" from Mass, the subdued use of the organ. We will also keep the old traditions of chanting the Litany in procession at the beginning of Mass on this the first Sunday of Lent, and of using unbleached candles, which denote sorrow and penitence, on the altar.

Another and more obtrusive alteration to the liturgy during Lent will be the use of the Merbecke setting of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei). John Merbecke (1510 - 1585) composed this simple setting for the first edition (1549) of the Book of Common Prayer on a one-note-per-syllable principle. The result is serviceable rather than beautiful, but appropriately stark for Lent and a way to mark the season with our singing. For some of you these settings will be immediately familiar as they used very commonly to be sung in Episcopal/Anglican churches (and often in Lutheran and Methodist churches as well). In any case, you may (re-)familiarize yourself with those tunes below.

We will also be singing the Merbecke setting of the Our Father. Because of the high percentage of tourists with us each Sunday (bless them), singing the Lord's Prayer has been something of a challenge - they know and default to the Roman Missal setting and concluding doxology, which is just close enough to our chant setting and text to cause deep confusion. The music director and I are hoping that a using the completely different Merbecke setting will put us all, literally, singing from the same page of music. We'll see.

Have a sober Lent!

God bless you,
Fr Allen

Click the above image to launch a recording of Merbecke's Mass setting, including the Kyrie, the Sanctus & Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei. 

A pdf of the sheet music is available here for those who are interested. The sheet music will be printed in the Sunday bulletin as well. 

Altar Rails

Of Altar Rails...

We are grateful to have found a home at St Mary's for many reasons, one which is that St Mary's is one of the few parishes in the area to have retained its altar rail following the liturgical reforms which came in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The removal of these rails was not mandated (nor even envisioned) in these reforms, and now there seems to be a growing movement to restore the rails. There was a piece about the movement this week in the National Catholic Register:

In many parishes, a once-standard sanctuary staple is making a comeback: the altar rail.

“Having an altar rail has really brought back a sense of reverence,” said Laurie Biszko, a parishioner at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Receiving Communion this way, she said, “You have a chance to focus, make an act of contrition, make an offering, and think about what’s going on. It contributes to making this a much more holy occasion.”

Continue reading.