Clergy Notes — March 2, 2025

The season of Christmastide concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The season that follows is called, rather unimaginatively, “Ordinary Time” and this ends with the beginning of Lent. The length of Ordinary Time varies according to the date on which Easter falls in any given year. It can be as few as five and as many as nine weeks. The liturgical colour is green. Over the past few years, more attention has been paid to today, the last Sunday of Ordinary Time. The readings are now taken from those for the Feast of the Transfiguration. They remind us of our true nature in Christ and they look forward to Easter. We are invited to see the hope of our salvation at Easter prefigured in the Transfiguration.

Looking further ahead, Ordinary Time continues after the close of Eastertide and continues right through until the end of the Christian year. The final Sunday of Ordinary Time is kept as the Feast of the Reign of Christ. It is understood as pointing forward through the season of Advent to the coming of Christ in His Incarnation at Christmas and in glory at the end of time.

But let’s stay with this morning’s Gospel. We hear how the magnificent glimpse of God’s glory on the mountain gave the disciples the energy and strength to continue their work down on the plane. Let it help us as, in Lent, we try to stand by Jesus in his temptation and fast. Also, later, in Passiontide, when we enter spiritually into his suffering and death.

Fr. Neil G.

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Clergy Notes — February 23, 2025

I wonder how many of us, faced with all the recent news from our neighbours to the south, are feeling a little like we are watching a cataclysmic train wreck. I am horrified and saddened at each new headline, and incredulous that these brazen efforts to undo democracy are happening in real time, before our eyes.

And yet, as Christians, we cannot simply give in – we have a responsibility to be the light of Christ in a darkened world, just like our spiritual ancestors were, in similarly dark times. Our faith, like theirs, is in the resurrected Christ, who has already conquered powers and principalities. But what can we do?

Jesus says to us, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” What a seemingly impossible task! And yet, it is so counter-intuitive; so radical; so unexpected that it has the power to disrupt evil in its tracks. Evil expects a fight; it does not expect love.

Sometimes the triumph of light over darkness starts out looking hopeless. Joseph is betrayed and left for dead by his brothers, taken into captivity and imprisoned. Yet, from this dark place, countless lives were saved from certain death by famine. Paul was tortured, imprisoned, and eventually executed. Yet, from his powerful witness, the church grew roots and flourished.

Jesus’ death on the cross was certainly perceived as defeat in that moment, by both his enemies and his friends. And yet, it was precisely this self-emptying that led to his triumph over death. As we are reminded at the Eucharist, “by his resurrection and ascension, he opened to us the way of everlasting life.”

Take heart, dear ones – the light of Christ is in you, and shines from you. Keep loving, keep praying, keep doing good. Never let the darkness convince you it is not enough. For God’s glory in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Mother Amanda

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