Remarks at Fifth Anniversary Celebration of

St. Mary of Grace Parish

My warmest congratulations to St. Mary of Grace Independent Catholic Church.  I have had the privilege of being associated with the parish for four years, beginning with the first public Mass in June, 2005, and it became part of the Independent Catholic Christian Church in September of that year.

When I think back over the history of the parish, the key quality I see is that of faithfulness.  Faithfulness to Augustinian values, as a parish that started and has continued as a ministry of the Order of Augustinians of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Faithfulness to the Augustinian value of fostering a spirituality of serving Christ with all of one’s heart and all of one’s mind, and faithfulness to the Augustinian value of community, as is taught in the Rule of St. Augustine.  The parish has also shown faithfulness to the values of the Independent Catholic Christian Church – adhering to the Christian faith as taught in the historic creeds, proclaiming that the world was created by the Triune God, that God became incarnate in a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ has won victory for us over sin and death through the Atonement made by his death and Resurrection.  Faithfulness to the values of being deeply prayerful and joyfully sacramental, fostering the life of prayer in its members by offering a number of opportunities to pray together, with the Eucharist at the center of its life.  Faithfulness to the value of being radically inclusive, opening its doors to all who seek God or a deeper knowledge of God regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The parish has been faithful in good times and in bad.  There were times when we did not have a home for our Sunday Mass and had to meet in each other’s homes.  In the beginning, it was often just Fr. Joseph and I.  But we didn’t give up.  We continued to be faithful to the vision, knowing that God could do through  us greater things than we could ask or imagine.  There have also been times of great joy and celebration – but we did not use those as an excuse to coast, but continued to focus on the values and vision that we hold dear, believing it to be the mission that God has given us.

And so, here we are today, celebrating this wonderful anniversary, and rejoicing in the many great things God has done in our midst.  It is my prayer that the parish may continue serving God faithfully in the coming years, decades, and centuries!  Ad multos annos!

+Tim

Dear Friends,

We are about to embark on a period of forty days of preparation for Easter. There are a number of periods of forty days mentioned in the Bible (and a number of other periods of forty years). The first is, of course, the forty days and forty nights of the great flood in which Noah and his family and a pair of each species (seven of the kosher species) were the only ones spared. (Of course, many Sunday school children have asked why Noah, when given the opportunity, didn’t swat the two houseflies!) Christians have always read this as a precursor of baptism, in which the earth (as representative of each of us) is cleansed of all that keeps us from God, and only that which is essential remains. Lent is, of course, a period of final preparation for those baptized as adults at the Easter Vigil, and those of us who are baptized are encouraged to use it as a period of renewal, looking at those areas of our lives that still need to be swept away by the flood of grace, and those essential aspects which God will preserve to establish a new creation within us.

Another mention of forty days in the Hebrew Scriptures is the period that the twelve spies from the Israelites use to spy out the Promised Land. Ten bring back negative, fearful reports, while only two, Joshua and Caleb, bring back positive reports. The people side with the ten, and as a result, the Children of Israel are condemned to wander in the desert forty years until the generation has died out, leaving only Joshua and Caleb to enter in along with the next generation. We are reminded by this story that we can place our trust in God’s promises, and save ourselves much grief and needless wandering in our spiritual lives.

Of course, our Lord and Savior went into the desert for forty days and forty nights to fast and pray, and was tempted by Satan. It is the account of this fasting that is traditionally read on the First Sunday in Lent. The early desert mothers and fathers cited this example of Jesus in going to the desert to confront demons and spend their time in prayer. We, too, are called to fast and pray, and to confront those parts of our lives that are still unredeemed, and to ask Christ’s help in turning away the temptations with which we are faced, and to which we have given in.

The church gives us three tools to use in drawing closer to God during these forty days. First is prayer. If you do not have a prayer discipline, consider establishing one. Derek Olsen, an Anglican blogger who always has interesting things to say, has offered simple morning and evening offices for use in families with small children, which may be found here: http://haligweorc.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/episcopal-family-brief-breviary-lent.pdf.  For those wanting something more robust, may I recommend taking up the Divine Office, or Liturgy of Hours, in which the church prays the Psalms, listens to God’s word in Scripture, and offers our praises and prayers to God. Different forms of the Office can be found on the Spiritual Development page of our website: http://www.forministry.com/USPAINDPTICCCI/SpiritualDevelopment.dsp.

We are also called to fast. The modern tradition in the West is to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, extending the latter to the Easter Vigil if possible, eating only one full meal with two collations, or small snacks, making up less than an additional full meal, and abstaining from meat, and also abstain from meat on the Fridays during Lent.  Certainly, this is a commendable for all adults who are not ill or elderly. More traditionally, fasting was observed on all the weekdays of Lent, with abstention from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays and the Ember Saturday in Lent (the Saturday following the First Sunday in Lent).  Some may wish to add elements of this to the more modern practice. Another practice that some find helpful is to give up something enjoyable for the duration of Lent. We fast both to express solidarity with the poor (and the money saved should be given in alms) and to discipline ourselves not to be so caught up in material things that we neglect the spiritual.

Finally, there is almsgiving. There is a lot of need in our world, and I urge everyone to find ways that they can give to alleviate that need. But almsgiving is not only for those being helped – it is also there to remind us of our ultimate neediness, even we who are prosperous – for everything we have we have as a gift of God. It also helps to broaden our horizon of concern beyond ourselves – for we are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ, who gave himself up for the life of the world. We, too, are called to offer ourselves sacrificially for others in imitation of Christ.

It is my prayer that all of you may have a holy Lent and a blessed Easter.

In Christ,

+Tim