February 23rd , A.D. 2014Sexagesima Sunday

Meditation

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke; Chapter, 7 Verses 4 - 15.

( 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Pages 120 - 122 ) ( The People's Anglican Missal, Pages A 55 – A 56 )

( St. Joseph's Continuous Sunday Missal, Pages 308 - 309 )

French Artist – 1836 - 1902

2. Gospel Meditation Summary: Jesus teaches us that only seed that is sown in good ground can grow and bear fruit. The seed He sows is His Word...Himself.

“ O hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not : incline thine ear to me, and hearken unto my words : shew thy marvelous loving-kindness, O Lord, thou that art the Saviour of them which put their trust in thee.” - ( Psalm 17 )

Sowing the Seed

In the Gospel account appointed for today, we are presented a scene in which a large crowd has gathered around our Lord. His fame has now spread in the area and he has become known as a powerful speaker and a Man who is capable of miraculous acts. It's understandable that people would gather whenever he was in a public place … both the hearers and the seekers … as well as the skeptics.The hearers and seekers have come to Jesus because they think He has the Truth. They won't be disappointed.The skeptics … well, they are no different than the skeptics of all ages – they want solid proof that He is what people are claiming Him to be. They too, if they pay attention long and close enough will be surprised. Jesus, lately, has been speaking to the people using parables. What kind of teaching method is this? He begins this parable with, “ A sower goes out to sow his seed. The seed falls on the wayside, on rock, among thorns, on good ground.” We can excuse the listeners of the parable if they are a little puzzled. But Our Lord does not leave them perplexed for long. He tells them that “The seed is the Word of God.” Men are the soil. There are various kinds of soil just as there are various kinds of men. But there is only one kind of seed: Jesus – His Word, His Truth – He is the Seed. It should be obvious that our Lord wants to give Himself to all mankind. He came to earth to do just that – to give and to be life and truth. He first sowed Himself in Mary, His Mother. She was good soil. She brought forth fruit a hundredfold. So did St. Paul, who tells the story of his being “sown” by Christ and his own “sowing” of Christ and the many hardships he faced as a “sower of the Word” in today's epistle.

We know that we are far from being “the good soil” as Mary and Paul were. Our nature, as human beings, makes us so changeable. At various times in our lives we are like highways filled with the rush of traffic, too busy with tasks, thoughts, worries, and all the other human concerns to even think of Christ. We are like the rocks...we might accept Jesus for the moment, and He might sprout up a little, but He can't penetrate rock, so He withers and dies. We have also been the thorny soil of materialism, selfishness, and worldliness, perhaps more than any other kind and if that is so, than He has very little chance of growing in such ground. The world, the flesh, and the devil make themselves powerful allies which strive to squash, or limit any growth of the spirit in the field that composes the time in which we have to live.

Let Them Hear

We also know that soil can be changed and renewed. Christ can do that, too. By His inspiration and His Grace, Christ constantly works within us to fertilize us and then to water the seed which He planted. He does require some cooperation on our part however. The coming together of seed and soil is like marriage. Both the soil and the seed surrender themselves, one to the other. Then and only then

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will there be a hundredfold of new grain, new life.

Across the years, our Lord cries out to us: “ He who has ears to hear, let him hear ! “ There is, no doubt, a note of divine urgency in His tone. He knows far better than we how much we need Him … He also knows that for every one of us, time is of the essence. As sure that there is a time for sowing … there follows a time of reaping.

Renew us, Your soil, O Lord, in this approaching Lent. Do it by awakening us to our condition of spiritual erosion and to the dangers of being so self-absorbed, so spiritually inconsistent ,blowing now hot, now cold ...and of being so attached to worldly things and events and being caught up in the attractions of the many pleasures of life that can ensnare our souls. We beseech You, O Lord, as St. Paul did when he was troubled with his weaknesses. You answered him: “ My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness.” Lord Jesus, You who planted Yourself in Blessed Mary, in the Apostles, and in all the Saints down through time, You now wish to plant Yourself in us. The result of Your union with them was their own holiness and the spread of your church. Perhaps it will happen again if we can only say in our hearts, using St. Paul's words, “Gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the strength of Christ may dwell in me.” ( 2 Cor. Ch. 12, vs. 9).

Prayer for the Day: The seed is the Word of God.

The parable of the Sower - from an old illustration“Thou has moved the land O Lord, and divided it. Heal the sores thereof, for it shaketh. That they may triumph because of

the truth : that thy beloved may be delivered.” ( Tract Psalm for the day, Ps 60)

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A Prayer for the Week Let not Moses speak unto me, nor any of the Prophets, but rather do Thou speak, O Lord God, Inspirer and Enlightener of all the Prophets, lest perchance if I be only admonished externally, and not aroused within. I die and prove unprofitable – lest the word heard and not fulfilled, known and not loved, believed and not obeyed, turn to my redemption ! Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.

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Poem;“ Sexagesima “

byChristina Rosetti

Yet earth was very good in days of old, and earth is lovely still:Still for the sacred flock she spreads the fold,

For Sion rears the hill.Mother she is, and cradle of our race,

a depth where treasures lie,The broad foundation of a holy place,

Man's step-scale to the sky.She spreads the harvest-field which angels reap,

And lo ! The crop is white :She spreads God's Acre where the happy sleep,

All night that is not night.Earth may not pass till Heaven shall pass away

Nor Heaven be renewed,Except with Earth : and once more in that day,

Earth shall be very good.

Christina Georgina Rossetti – English Poetess

Portrait painted by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1866

Christina Georgina Rossetti; (1830 -1894) was born and raised in London, England of an Italian expatriate family. A prolific poetess, she was also deeply religious. A dedicated and devout Anglo-Catholic who herself did redemptive and

rehabilitation work amongst the “fallen women” in the London slums. Her most famous work is the Christmas hymn: “In the Bleak Mid -Winter” The Anglican Church honors her with a feast day of April 27th.

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Feasts, Fasts, and Other ThingsSexagesima

We are now approaching the Second week in Septuagesima-Tide. Today, Sexagesima, marks the half-way point in this “mini-season” if you will permit me to call it that. Tempus fugit ! Time flys, and before we know it, we will be receiving the ashes of penance on Ash Wednesday, which falls on March 5 th . I would like to share with our dear readers an ancient hymn that comes to us from the Medieval Breviaries of the Churches of France : as I believe that this hymn will do much to help us keep up in our souls the sentiments that should be proper during this little season of Septuagesima:

The days of ease are about to close;the days of holy observance are returning ;

the time of temperance is at hand ;let us seek our Lord in purity of heart.

Our sovereign Judge will be appeasedby our hymns and praise.

He who would have us sue for grace,will not refuse us pardon.

The slavish yoke of Pharaoh,and the fetters of cruel Babylon,

have been borne too long :let man now claim his freedom,

and seek his heavenly country, Jerusalem.

Let us quit this place of exile :let us dwell with the Son of God.

Is it not the servant's glory,to be made co-heir with his Lord?

O Jesus! Be thou our guide through life.Remember that we are thy sheep,

for whom thou, the Shepherd, didst lay down thine own life.

All Glory be to the Father,and also to the Son,

honor too be to the Paraclete :as it was in the beginning,

now is,and with the ages run.

Amen.

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Feasts, Fasts, and Other Things; from “The Chipmunks Nutshell Library” presented by Br. A. Chip Monk, O.S.B. A munk of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Priory, in Raymond, Maine.

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Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Priory4 Shaw Road

Raymond, Maine 04071

PLEASE NOTE: PUBLIC SUNDAY MASSES WILL RESUME IN THE SPRING.CONVENTUAL MASSES ONLY FOR THE WINTER.

KALENDAR

Holy days and Saints days for the week of February 23rd to March 2nd , A.D. 2014 as observed at the Priory.

“ To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the others, in parables, said Jesus to His disciples.” - Antiphon upon Magnificat –Second Vespers of Sexagesima

Sexagesima aka: LXSunday, February 23rd --- Sexagessima ( LX ) … Comm. St. Peter Damian, Bp. Conf. & Doct. ( 11th cent.) Monday, February 24th …St. Matthias, Ap. ( 1st. Cent.)Tuesday, February 25th ….Blessed Simon, O.C.S.O. ( Laybrother – Liege, France 13th cent.)... gift of Consolation.Wednesday, February 26th ..St. Mechtildis – Recluse, O.S.B. ( 12th cent.)............gift of fortitude & perseverance.Thursday, February 27th …Abbot John of Loraine , O.S.B. (France - 10th cent.)....perseverance in discernment.Friday, February 28th….St. Oswald, Bp. Of York & O.S.B. ( 10th cent.)............. feast transferred – See note 1.Saturday, March 1st … St. David, of Wales Bp. ( 6th cent.) Sunday, March 2nd --- Quinquagesima ( L ) ….................................Comm. St. Chad, Bp. & Conf. ( 7th cent.)

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KEY: Ab. = Abbot, Ap. = Apostle, Bp. = Bishop, C. or Conf. = Confessor, Dcn. = Deacon, Doct. = Doctor of the Church, M. = Monk, Myr. = Martyr, P= Priest Po. = Pope, Vir. = Virgin, NOTE (s): St. Oswald of York (England) is one of the Saints the Priory Chapel is dedicated to. He was content to be a Benedictine monk, but his gifts of administration and humility were noticed by the Bishop of Winchester, and he was given the See of York to govern. He is also credited with being instrumental in the reformation of the Benedictine houses in England with those on the Continent, settling conflicts between the Anglo-Saxon and Roman elements that had been plaguing England since the council of Whitby in the 7th century. It would be unknown to Oswald and the Benedictines of his time that this act of unification allowed the Benedictine Order in England to withstand the great changes that came to England and the Church there following the Norman Conquest in 1066. Other orders did not fare so well. St. Oswald's feast day is actually February 29th, but because of his importance to this community, it is always “transferred” to the 28th on those years that don't “leap” .

Winter II – by Abel Grimer, Flemish, c. 1616.

Here's another Winter painting by our friend Abel Grimmer. Mr. Grimmer must have had an upbeat personality. He seems to find some whimsy during the longest, coldest, and darkest part of the year. Perhaps that was his way to try to take

the 'edge' off that toughest season of the year in Northern Europe. We New Englanders can appreciate his light-hearted look at winter too … especially this Winter of 2013 - 2014 ! - Fr. k.l.l. +

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Requiescant in pace

Leo John Maheu( June 3rd, 1955 – Feb. 17th, 2014 )

Dr. Leo John Maheu, of Andover MA. (58) Passed away at his home on February 17th, 2014. He was born and raised in Waterville, Maine, the son of Alfred and Gloria Maheu. He leaves behind his beloved wife Karen (Rubin) Maheu, also of Andover, MA. His Mother Gloria (Nardi) Maheu of Waterville, ME. And sister Maria ( Maheu) MacKellar and husband Duncan MacKellar, of Brunswick, ME. as well as many cousins and nieces and nephews. Leo was a very gifted man both intellectually and musically. His gifts were apparent at an early age and coupled with a lively, caring personality, along with a unique sense of humor, Leo impacted many people throughout his life. Dr. Maheu was cousin to Fr. Prior Kevin LaMarre.

Please pray for the peaceful repose of his soul, and for the loved ones he leaves behind.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine : Et lux perpetua luceat eis.

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