‘Weekly Post. Anno Domini 2023 November 28

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Tuesday, 28 November, in the year of our Lord 2023. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Tuesday (today): 6:30 PM, Mass, monthly Parish Requiem.
• Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, Vigil of S. Andrew.
• Thursday: 6:30 PM, Mass, the Feast of S. Andrew, Apostle & Martyr. followed by Soup & Study.
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, Blessed Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon & Confessor, with the Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
• Saturday: 5:00 PM, Mass, Feria.
• Sunday: 8:30 & 10:00 AM, Mass, Advent I.

Please note the monthly Requiem on the Kalendar for tonight. If you've a name, or names, which you'd like to add to those already on our list of intentions for this service, please send them to me, asap. We will then pray for the holy progress of their immortal soul(s).

With the first Sunday in Advent comes the dawning of a new year in the life of the Christ's one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. A beginning is a very important time. Sitting here, and now, it seems rather odd that we expend so much time and energy concerning pledges for Great Lent, which is also a beginning, even if only that of the end, and yet we give so little thought to doing so upon what is, for Christians, the beginning of all that truly matters, the Advent ~ coming, or arrival ~ of our Lord.

As with any spiritual endeavour, begin slowly. Seek His will, and then do it, in the form of a single change in your life for the coming year. Yes, just one. Initiate the change, and then work on perfecting, and maintaining it. Build slowly, but well.

A beginning can be many things; anything from a fresh stat to a complete reinvention. In this spirit of openness, of joy, let us consider a change in the coming, new year. It lays before us, a blank slate, awaiting the imprint of our lives upon it. Seize this moment, not for ourselves, but for Him, and what we, through prayer and fasting, will hopefully discern is His will for this dawning time, and all that will follow. I remain

in His praise,

The Rev'd Canon. T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish