FROM FATHER WOOD: ON SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

There are a few hinge events throughout my personal history to which I can trace significant life-change. 

Becoming a Christian in college. 
Marrying Renee. 
The births of my children. 
Discovering the Episcopal Church, Anglo-Catholicism, and beginning to follow a three-fold rule for the spiritual life: Praying the Daily Office, Eucharist, and personal devotion. 

Without those events, I’m not who I am today.

And the same holds true for the hours of intimate conversation I enjoyed with my first spiritual director many years ago. 

If you aren’t familiar with spiritual direction, you can find almost as many definitions for the practice as you can find practitioners. To some, it is more art than science, so it resists final definition. Margaret Gunther famously described it as “holy listening” by a seasoned guide who sprinkles in well-timed questions to help connect a pilgrim's story to the story and thereby help them “recognize and claim identity in Christ, discern the action of the Holy Spirit” in their life. My own guru-through-books, Father Martin Thornton, said it is “the application of theology to the life of prayer.” Richard Foster said direction is “simply a relationship through which one person assists another in attending to the presence and call of God in all of life.” And I love this from Henri Nouwen: “Spiritual direction provides an ‘address’ on the house of your life so that you can be ‘addressed’ by God in prayer. When this happens, your life begins to be transformed in ways you hadn’t planned or counted on, for God works in wonderful and surprising ways.”

The practice of spiritual direction goes back to the earliest centuries of Christianity, to the Desert Fathers and Mothers, even to Jesus himself. It’s not counseling or therapy; it’s not sacramental Confession (although direction may include this important tool in the Church’s toolbox for our healing and growth). Spiritual direction is sacred conversation about ultimate things, and every Christian is invited to explore it. Pope Benedict XVI said in a 2011 address:

As she has always done, today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction not only to those who desire to follow the Lord closely but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his or her Baptism, that is, new life in Christ. Everyone, in fact, especially those who have heeded the divine call to follow Christ closely, needs to be accompanied personally by a guide reliable in doctrine and expert in the things of God—this guide can help people to watch out for facile forms of subjectivism, making available their own knowledge and experience lived in the following of Jesus.

The relationship itself comprises a guide called a “director” (who may be ordained or not) and a “directee,” with the director often listening more than talking, asking leading and sometimes probing questions as needed and appropriate. The director should be wise, experienced in prayer, formed by the great Tradition of the Church, and conversant in insights of psychology. In their meetings, directee and director co-labor with God, exploring together what God might be doing in the areas being discussed. The focus is on intimacy with God, growth in the life of prayer, and pursuing Christian maturity. In fact, the Greek word for maturity, “telos” (τέλος), points to one’s ultimate end, the purpose for which we were created. If we are made to “love God and enjoy him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism), then becoming a mature Christian simply means we grow in our ability to love and enjoy God, our chief delight!

This month, we launch a new ministry of Spiritual Direction at Saint Mary’s, and you can learn more about it and explore it yourself through a new tab on our website. Ingrid Sletten, a parishioner and herself a spiritual director, or I would be delighted to buy you a cup of coffee and discuss the practice of spiritual direction and how you might find a director for yourself. 

My great dream for Saint Mary’s is that we become a place where all of us are continually being formed to follow Jesus ever more closely, molded into “Saints for the City,” if you will. And spiritual direction plays a pivotal role in forming saints, people set apart to love God, each other, and our neighbor for the life of the world. The Polish mystic Saint Faustina lauded the benefits of spiritual direction: “Oh, how great a grace it is to have a spiritual director! One makes more rapid progress in virtue, sees the will of God more clearly, fulfills it more faithfully, and follows a road that is sure and free of dangers.” May God bless this new ministry of ours with much fruit and usher in a new springtime of growth for all in our parish family. — SW+

PARISH PRAYERS

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Enrique, Nellie, Donald, Harris, Rick, Ronald, Ricardo, Jose, Karen, Kate, Behnam, Duke, Russell, Duncan, Robert, Sally, Sandy, Audy, Sheila, Orham, Ruth Ann, Henry, Lexi, Vicki, Georgia, Desarae, David, Steve, Beverly, Claudia, Maddie, Nettie, Chrissy, Molly, Tony, Sharon, Rick, Rolf, Adair, Jan, June, Carlos, Pat, Liduvina, Quincy, Leroy, Margaret, and Robert; Suzanne Elizabeth and Laura Katherine, religious; Lind, deacon; and Robby, Jay, and Stephen, priests.

We pray for the repose of the souls of those who have died, for Bentley, and for those whose year’s mind is on March 30: Henri Gordon Carey (1880), Francis Hoyt (1909), Renis Migasaki (1915), and Mabel Helen Arends (1968).

AROUND THE PARISH

Help us prepare for Holy Week and Easter . . . Volunteers are needed to help prepare the church for Holy Week and Easter! On Saturday, April 5, we will veil crosses, statues, and other images around the church, a tradition that dates back to the middle ages and deepens the penitential nature of Lent as we approach Holy Week. We will also begin polishing brass and silver vessels that will be used for palms, flowers, and candles. Many hands make light work and coffee and snacks are provided. We will begin around 10:00 AM, break for Mass and lunch, and finish by mid-afternoon. For more information or to volunteer, contact Grace Mudd.

Hospitality at Saint Mary’s . . . Are you willing to serve on a team to plan Coffee Hours and receptions? We need you! Please get in touch with Father Sammy Wood if you are able to help.

Adult Formation . . . This Sunday, Father Pete Powell continues his series on the Passion and the Resurrection narratives in the Gospel accounts as we approach Holy Week and Easter. Adult Formation meets on Sundays at 9:45 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall. These classes are also being streamed over Zoom here and recordings of prior classes are available for viewing online: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

The History of Holy Week over Supper . . . Why was the Last Supper originally commemorated on Tuesday of Holy Week? How did the official response to over-eager pilgrims to Jerusalem shape the way we still venerate the Cross on Good Friday? How did allowing Holy Communion in the evening completely reshape Western Christian experience of Holy Week in the 1950s? For the answer to these and other fascinating questions about the development of Holy Week, join us on Wednesday evenings in Lent for a study group led by Father Stephen Morris.

On Wednesdays in Lent, Father Stephen Morris will lead this study group over supper following the 6:00 PM Mass. Please RSVP to Father Sammy to help plan for supper. Upcoming dates: April 2 and 9.

The Shape of Lent 2025 . . . We have put together a booklet of the Shape of Lent at Saint Mary’s for us to travel through the season together. An electronic copy can be downloaded here and hard copies are available at the ushers table.

Stations of the Cross . . .  On Fridays in Lent, we offer Stations of the Cross at 6:00 PM. Join us for Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM and then stay to walk Stations of the Cross.

Confessions . . . There is never a bad time to make a confession, though Lent is a particularly appropriate season for sacramental confession. The priest on duty each Saturday hears confessions at 11:00 AM in a confessional near the 46th Street entrance. Confessions are also available by appointment and will be heard after the Good Friday liturgy.

Baptisms at Saint Mary’s . . . The Great Vigil of Easter is a liturgy in which baptism is especially traditional. The Day of Pentecost, which follows seven weeks later, is also a day that is particularly appropriate for baptisms. If you are interested in learning more about baptism for either yourself or for your child, please speak with a member of the clergy.

AIDS Walk 2025 . . . AIDS Walk this year will be on Sunday, May 18. Last year we finished fourth among all teams in terms of fundraising and raised $52,005. Our team is just beginning to form for 2025, but we hope to do even better this year! To join our team or contribute, please visit our team page. If you have any questions, please speak to one of the team captains: MaryJane Boland, Clark Mitchell, and Father Matt.

Neighbors in Need . . . Donations of casual pants, such as jeans or khakis, are needed, as are sweaters, tops, rain jackets, and other light jackets. Shoes are especially in demand (i.e., sneakers, sandals, and practical shoes, but not high heels). Large sizes, for both men and women, are also helpful. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Marie Rosseels for more information.

Would you like to donate the altar flowers? . . . During Lent, flowers on the altar are limited to the Feast of the Annunciation and the Fourth Sunday in Lent, but there any many opportunities coming up in Eastertide to donate flowers! Please call the Parish Office (212-869-5830) or email Chris Howatt for more information, available dates, and to reserve a Sunday or feast day. The customary donation is $250.

NYRO Concert on April 5. . . New York Repertory Orchestra, our orchestra-in-residence at Saint Mary’s, will have their next concert on Saturday, April 5, at 8:00 PM. Admission is free. A $15 donation is suggested.
The program:

Frank Martin: Violin Concerto
  Tosca Opdam, violin
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4

THE DIOCESE AND WIDER CHURCH

Dante at the Cathedral . . . Please join us for the 31st annual reading of selections from the Inferno. This year's reading will take place in the Cathedral's Crossing and will have some additional multimedia elements. Selected cantos will be read by a wide variety of individuals. We are transitioning this event and look forward to sharing with everyone our new, creative endeavor. Part of the joy of Dante’s Inferno is its ever-changing adaptations, while remaining true to the heart of this epic presentation. Friday, April 11, 2025, 7:00 – 10:00 PM at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Click here for more details and to RSVP.

Diocesan Day Trip to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture . . . The Anti-Racism Committee (ARC) is planning a Diocesan visit to the Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, DC. You can sign up on this form to be on the Interested List. Please note: this is not a commitment to go on the trip, it is a registration of interest to help organizers plan the trip. We will travel on tour buses leaving NYC and Hudson Valley between 4:00 AM and 6:00 AM, returning between 10:00 PM and midnight, with about 6 hours to see the museum and for meals. Entrance tickets will be reserved at no cost. The fee for bus transportation is likely to be $150. Middle school and high school youth must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For any questions, contact Zoe Moffitt (917.670.6392, zoemoffitt123@gmail.com).

FROM DR. HURD: ABOUT THE MUSIC AT SOLEMN MASS ON THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

The organ voluntaries on Sunday are movements from Sonate II for organ by Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). Paul Hindemith’s impressive cycle of sonatas for solo instruments and various combinations includes three sonatas for the organ. They were composed at a time of transition in the world of organ building and organ playing, when the aesthetic of the early twentieth century orchestral organ was being challenged by a sweeping re-assertion of the virtues of historic instruments and the music composed for them. Characteristic of Hindemith’s organ sonatas is a linear and polyphonic style with crisp melodic and rhythmic elements, a harmonic angularity, and clearly defined formal structure. Sonate II, composed in 1937, is a relatively concise three-movement work. Its second movement, Sunday’s prelude, has the graceful lilting feeling of a Siciliano. The third movement, played as the postlude, is a fugue with a quirky subject, distinctive both in melodic shape and in rhythm.

The setting of the Mass is Missa Iste Confessor by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525–1594). Palestrina is often regarded today more as a source and inspiration for many of the composers who followed him than as a practitioner of already established musical practice. However, it may be said that Palestrina stood on foundations largely laid by the Netherlandish composers Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) and Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521). He is responsible for setting the canons for renaissance polyphony and the standards for Catholic liturgical music which pertain even to our time. Among his hundreds of compositions are over one hundred Masses, most of which were published in thirteen volumes between 1554 and 1601. Missa Iste Confessor is from the fifth book of Masses published in 1590. It is based upon a plainsong melody for the eighth-century hymn for the commemoration of Confessors, originally understood as those who had suffered persecution short of martyrdom for their faith. Eventually the category of Confessor came to include bishops and others who lived a holy life and died in peace and did not fit into other saintly classifications. The Mode 8 chant melody which Palestrina utilized in his four-voice Mass setting was found at 228 in The Hymnal 1940 with the text “Only begotten, Word of God eternal,” intended for the Consecration of a Church. (That text appears in The Hymnal 1982 but with different music.) Palestrina’s Mass is mostly for four voices. As is often the case in Masses of this time, the Benedictus has reduced voicing and the final Agnus Dei calls for an additional voice.

Palestrina’s works include more than three hundred motets. His setting of Ego sum panis vivus will be sung during the administration of Communion. The text is from the Gospel according to Saint John, Chapter 6:48-51. This text has been chanted as a Eucharistic Song for Corpus Christi as well as a canticle antiphon for Lauds on Corpus Christi and for Ember Wednesday. Palestrina’s setting of this text for four voices is particularly suitable for Eucharistic devotion in Lent.

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Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Matt Jacobson, except as noted. Father Matt is also responsible for formatting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to publish in an upcoming issue of The Angelus, Father Matt would be happy to discuss it with you.