‘Weekly Post. Anno Domini 2022 December 31

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Saturday, 31 December, in the year of our Lord 2022. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Saturday (today): NO SERVICES.
• Sunday: 8:30 & 10:00 AM, Mass, the Feast of the Circumcision.
• Monday: 10:00 AM, Mass, Octave Day of S. Stephen.
• Tuesday: 5:30 PM, Mass, Octave Day of S. John.
  6:30 'Rosary, Evensong.
• Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, Octave Day of the Holy Innocents.
• Thursday: 6:30 PM, Mass, Vigil of the Epiphany, followed by Soup & Study.
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, Feast of the Epiphany, with the Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 'til at-least 11:00 AM.
• Saturday: 5:00 PM, Mass, of the Octave of the Epiphany.
• Sunday: 8:30 & 10:00 PM, Mass, Epiphany I.
  

  Please note that there will be no services, this-evening. Otherwise, we are returned to our usual schedule. We are well-into the new Christian year; the secular will very-soon commence, as-well.

  This is the half of the year which focusses-upon the life of our Lord. We have have anticipated His arrival; we have experienced His birth. We have, and shall, walk His path, following Him, all the way.

  We've already sold half of our kalendars; please pray that we shall sell them all, the better to support S. Matthew's in all of our works. In the very near future, we'll have a new prayer-tool in our arsenal. Stay-tuned for further details.

  The Epiphany is amongst the most ancient of our Feasts, having been noted by S. Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 217). It was one of the three Great Feasts of the Church, alongside Easter and Pentecost. It originated in the Eastern Church, where it was, and remains, associated with the Baptism of our Lord. They still bless the baptismal waters on this day; there, the Feast also retains some connexion to the Nativity.

  In the West from at-least the Fourth century, it soon lost its baptismal reference, but came to be associated with the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, in the person of the Magi, as-is borne out by the Homilies of S. Leo the Great on the Theophania (an alternative name of the Feast). In the Mass and the Office of the Feast, the Magi were given chief place, though the original connexion with the Baptism was emphasised during the Octave. The blessing of the water became attached to the rites of Holy Saturday.

  One of the secondary associations is the miracle at Cana. 'Another is the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. In England, the sovereign makes offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in the Chapel Royal on the Feast.

  Thus, we, too, will come to recognise in the tiny babe the Saviour of the World. Now is the time, soon is the hour. Prepare the way of the Lord, and sing-forth His praises with joy! I remain

in His praise,

The Rev'd Fr. T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish