FROM FATHER JAY SMITH: THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

Fleishman Is In Trouble is a TV mini-series that premiered in 2022 and streamed on Hulu. It starred Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, and Libby Caplan. It was based on a novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner that was published by Random House in 2019.

Toby Fleishman is in trouble. He really is. His marriage is a mess, and he and his wife can’t seem to fix it. He’s a successful doctor, but he doesn’t get the promotion that he wants and thinks he deserves. He, his wife, and two kids lead comfortable lives here in New York. They hope to get even more comfortable. They have a summer place out in the Hamptons and a nice apartment on the Upper West Side. But things have fallen apart and their marriage shatters. Toby has to move out of the family home, and his new apartment is not nearly as nice as the old one. Soon, he discovers that his kids don’t seem to like him as much as they like their mother, especially since she got the good apartment. And then, one day, Toby’s wife Rachel doesn’t come to pick up the kids. She’s nowhere to be found. She’s disappeared. And then his sadness, fear, and hurt become acute. He’s lonely, angry, and lost. He’s in trouble.

In the middle of all this he takes himself and his two children off to an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History: a room painted in Vantablack, “the blackest, purest black, the darkest substance ever created by man, for use for aerospace purposes in satellite calibration systems . . . a pigment . . . capable of swallowing 99.96% of all the light it receives” (El Pais English, April 10, 2023). Toby and his kids stare at the entrance to this blackest of black rooms and then they walk in (Toby had tried to walk through that entrance in an earlier scene but couldn’t bring himself to do it). Only minutes after the three of them disappear into that deep darkness, Toby’s son runs out of the room and out of the museum. The absence of all light is unbearable.

You don’t have to be a Jungian to get the point.

We are in a season of light: There is the glory that surrounds the shepherds and sends them off to witness the glory’s source. There is the star that leads the Magi away from evil Herod and towards the predicted, promised Child. And the image of light never quite disappears throughout these forty days between Christmas and Candlemas: “Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth” (BCP, Collect for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany).

But the Light is never simply pretty, sweet, or passive. This Light shines on a world in trouble. This Light comes to save, redeem, and heal.

The essential prayer, the song at the heart of tonight’s liturgy on this the Feast of the Presentation goes like this, “Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see: A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”

We also pray this prayer at Evening Prayer and again at Compline, the Night Prayer. As night falls, the prayer seems essential. In those liturgies, the Nunc Dimittis does its work. It helps us to confront the possibility of failure, fear, temptation, sin, and even death. The prayer gets its power from the man who first prayed it, this old man, this Simeon. Rembrandt captures the weight of the old man’s waiting as well as the power of the long-awaited vision: God has kept his promises. Here is salvation. Here is my salvation, right here, in my arms. There are no easy hallelujahs here. Rembrandt’s Simeon has known trouble. What he has known and seen and done and endured weighs him down. And yet, and yet, here is Light, the Light and the Light is real, the vision is real, and so Simeon is ready to face whatever comes next, including death.

In his poem Nunc Dimittis, Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) imagines what Simeon does after he receives the vision. He prays the Nunc dimittis and “moves toward the temple’s great door.” And then, Brodsky writes:

He went forth to die. It was not the loud din
of streets that he faced when he flung the door wide,
but rather the deaf-and-dumb fields of death’s kingdom.
He strode through a space that was no longer solid.

The roaring of time ebbed away in his ears.
And Simeon’s soul held the form of the Child —
its feathery crown now enveloped in glory —
aloft, like a torch, pressing back the black shadows,

to light up the path that leads into death’s realm,
where never before until this point in time
had any man managed to lighten his pathway.
The old man’s torch glowed and the pathway grew wider.[1]

Seen with the eyes of faith, the still helpless child is the Light, bright and powerful. He shines on heart and soul revealing this great mystery: the presence of God and the divine image imprinted on the human soul have now taken on “the form of this Child.” Filled with this Light, Simeon moves forward into the world as it is, beautiful and terrible, prepared to confront the Vantablack power that is death. The unbearable darkness of despair, and the fear that life’s end is oblivion, are confronted and “pressed back” by the image of Christ, the Light of the World.

Tonight, at the beginning of the Solemn Mass, the church will be filled with small points of light, candles held in the hand. These are our torches. These are the symbols of our hope. We have come to ask God to be with us always. We have come to ask God to give us the wisdom and strength to be light and not darkness. We have come to proclaim our faith: our Savior is the Son of God, the Word made Flesh, Jesus the Christ, the Light of the World. “And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace (BCP, p. 135).

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

We pray for peace in the Middle East, in Ukraine, Russia, Mali, Iran, the Red Sea, and Myanmar. We pray for an end to violence and division in our neighborhood, city, and nation.

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for all victims of violence, assault, and crime; for all migrants and those seeking asylum, especially those sheltering in our neighborhood; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; for those whom we serve in our outreach programs, for our neighbors in the Times Square neighborhood, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray for those for whom prayers have been asked, for Murray, Frank, Jorge, Bill, Charles, Pat, Elizabeth, Ruth Ann, Barbara, Cindy, Brian, Justine, Tom, Avdi, Glen, Freia, Larry, Violet, Eleanor, Eugene, Quincy, Claudia, June, Joyce, Bruce, Christopher, Carlos, José, Susan, Carmen, Brian, Antony, Manuel, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, and Margaret; Lind, deacon, Robby, Allan, Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the souls of Margaret Reynolds, Jay Reynolds, Ann Howard DeLoach, Felicia Zaalberg, Neal Johnson, Allan Rowland, Silvio Trujillo, Margaret Sydnor, and those whose year’s mind is on Sunday, February 4—Maria Dixon (1913); Elizabeth Samurick (1936); John Leonard (1944); and Emily Stewart (1977).

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . Felicia Zaalberg, the daughter of Joyce Futcher, a close friend of parishioner Carl Grindley, died on February 1. She was thirty-four years old. Please keep Felicia, Joyce, Carl, their family and friends, and all who mourn in your prayers. 

COMING UP AT THE CATHEDRAL

Dialogues on Divinity: The Rev. Dr. Sarah Coakley
Monday, February 5, 6:30 PM
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

The Rev. Dr. Sarah Coakley will lead a discussion on how ‘desire’ in the Bible, and in classic theological and monastic Christian literature, cuts across and challenges the presumptions of the ‘sexualization’ of desire in contemporary Western culture. Professor Coakley is Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity emerita at the University of Cambridge. The suggested donation is $15 and tickets can be purchased on a “pay what you can” basis here.

You are invited to the installation of the
XVII Bishop of New York,
The Right Reverend Matthew Heyd
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 11:00 AM
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

The service will celebrate the life of the Diocese of New York and the church's mission to heal the world. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. A reception will follow the service. You can indicate that you plan to attend by clicking here.

Congregations will not be processing at this service. Instead outreach partners, including sites assisted by Episcopal Charities and others will process. The service will not be a Eucharist. The service will include with festive music, scripture, prayer, and a homily by the Reverend Winnie Varghese. All are welcome and are encouraged to attend.

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

Ash Wednesday
February 14, 2024
Mass 8:00 AM, Sung Mass 12:10 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
Ashes will also be imposed in the Mercy Chapel according to the following schedule:
8:30–9:30 AM, 12:45–1:30 PM, 5:00–5:45 PM, and 6:45–8:00 PM

Lenten Quiet Day
Saturday, February 24, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM

Saint Joseph
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Mass 12:10 PM

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
March 24, 2024

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule: Monday through Friday, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM. On Wednesdays, Holy Hour is also offered at 11:00 AM and an additional Mass is said at 6:00 PM. Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 11:00 AM, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is normally celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, a Low Mass (Rite One) is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 9:00 AM. Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction (E&B) is normally offered on the first Sunday of every month and will next be offered on February 4 and March 3.

Saturday Confessions at 11:00 AM . . . The priest-on-duty can be found in one of the confessionals at the back of the church, near the 46th Street entrance, at 11:00 AM on Saturdays to hear confessions. Once nobody is left waiting, if it is after 11:15 AM, the priest will return to his office. If you arrive later, the sexton will be able to call him if it is not too close to the midday Mass.

Sunday, January 28, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (Cornelius the Centurion), Mass (Rite One) in the Lady Chapel at 9:00 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Adult Formation 9:45–10:40, Confirmation Class in Saint Benedict’s Study 9:45–10:40 AM, Evensong & Benediction 5:00 PM.

NEWS & NOTICES

Bring your palms to church! If you still have palms at home from Palm Sunday 2023, including the palm cross you made during Holy Week, you are invited to bring them back to Saint Mary’s beginning on Sunday, February 4. They will be burned and prepared for use on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024. There will be a basket on the ushers’ table at the back of the church, near the Forty-sixth Street entrance, where you can leave them.

Evensong & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament . . . Our monthly Evensong & Benediction will be offered this Sunday, February 4, at 5:00 PM. E&B is a great way to conclude the Lord’s Day and prepare oneself for the start of the week. If you are unfamiliar with this service, please click here to learn more.

The Observance of a Holy Lent . . . As you think about the shape of your Lenten practices this year, we hope that you will consider joining us for a Lenten Quiet Day on Saturday, February 24, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (coffee served beginning at 9:30 AM). The day will be led by Sister Monica Clare Powell, CSJB, the superior of the Community of Saint John Baptist in Mendham, New Jersey. Sister Monica Clare is well known to many Saint Marians—she lived and worked here for several years not too long ago. She is an experienced spiritual director and retreat leader and is known for her kindness and compassionate pastoral care. Sister Monica is preparing for ordination to the priesthood in the Diocese of Newark and recently completed her coursework at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. If you would like to attend the Quiet Day, please send an e-mail to Father Jay Smith—this is to keep track of numbers for set up in Saint Joseph’s Chapel and for lunch. We hope you will join us!

Adult Formation . . . On Sunday, February 4, Father Jay will welcome Brother Ephrem Arcement, OHC, to Saint Mary’s. Brother Ephrem will lead the class at 9:45 AM that morning—along with Father Smith—and he will preach at both the 9:00 AM and the 11:00 AM Masses. Brother Ephrem entered monastic life in 2010. He was for a time a monk of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D. in spirituality from The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, and has taught courses in Scripture and spirituality at Saint Joseph Seminary College in Saint Benedict, Louisiana. He came to the Order of the Holy Cross, and to the Episcopal Church, several years ago and is now the Guestmaster at the monastery in West Park. He was recently received as a priest of the Episcopal Church by the Bishop of New York. His first book, Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux, was published in 2013. A second book, In the School of Prophets: The Formation of Thomas Merton’s Prophetic Spirituality, was published in 2015. Then, on Sunday, February 11, Father Jay will lead the class in a summary discussion of this ancient way of life that has done so much to shape Western Christian spirituality, Anglican prayer and worship, and Western European culture.

Classes at Saint Mary’s: Confirmation Preparation for Young People 13-18 . . . Father Sammy is leading a confirmation class for young people on Sunday mornings. The class will meet on Sunday mornings, January 14 to May 5, except on the Last Sunday after Epiphany (February 11), Palm Sunday (March 24), and Easter Day (March 31). If you are interested in the class, please speak to Father Sammy . . . Brown Bag Bible Study will take place on Wednesday, February 7, at 12:45 PM following the noonday Mass. The plan for the day is to read and discuss Mark 3:1–12 . . . Catechumenate: Anglicanism 101 . . . The class continues on Wednesday, February 7, at 6:30 PM, following Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM and the evening Mass at 6:00 PM. The class this week will be taught by Father Matt Jacobson. If you are an adult and are interested in being confirmed this spring, you are most welcome to join the class as we begin the second semester. No prior preparation is required.

Father Jay Smith attended a meeting of the New York Diocese’s Asylum Seeker Support Network via Zoom last Wednesday. Clergy and lay leaders from around the diocese attended the meeting. One of the presenters was Mother Chloe Breyer from the Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY). You can read more about ICNY’s work here. Because of the growing need to address the arrival of asylum seekers—especially from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and West Africa—regular meetings of the support network are planned. We will try to keep you informed as plans for the network develop.

Donating Flowers for Altar and Shrines . . . We are looking for donations for flowers for the following dates: February 11, The Last Sunday after the Epiphany; March 24, Palm Sunday; April 8, The Annunciation (transferred); and many Sundays in Eastertide, In order to make a donation and reserve a date, please contact the parish office. In addition, we always welcome donations to support the ministry of the Flower Guild during Holy Week and at Easter.

Neighbors in Need . . . Our next Drop-by will take place on Friday, February 16, 1:30 to 3:00 PM. Please speak to Father Jay Smith or MaryJane Boland, if you are interested in volunteering. Warm-weather clothing is a particular need at the moment. In addition, we have been providing food support to a number of folks in our neighborhood in recent months, including many recent immigrants. We do this through a voucher system. We welcome financial donations so that we may continue this work. You may donate online or with a check—when making the donation please be sure to indicate that your gift is for “Neighbors in Need.”

Father Sammy Wood will be away on retreat, Wednesday, February 21, until Friday, February 23.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY:
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2024, 11:00 AM

The voluntaries on Sunday are two of the four organ Praeludien in the key of G minor by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). Danish-born Dieterich Buxtehude has long been recognized as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the generation before Johann Sebastian Bach. Musicological studies in the past several decades have contributed greatly to the increasing general knowledge and appreciation of his musical contribution. Most of Buxtehude’s organ works are thought to date from his earlier years at the Marienkirche in Lübeck where he served as organist from 1668 until his death. There is very little surviving manuscript material, and currently available printed editions vary significantly in their presentation of many of these pieces. This increases the challenge to the performer and the possibility of surprise for the listener. Buxtehude’s Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 148, played as the prelude, well exemplifies the high-Baroque “fantastic style” of keyboard writing. Its opening section establishes the G-minor tonality in free fantasia interrupted briefly by a patch of tight chromatic imitation. Three contrasting fugal sections follow. Buxtehude finishes this Praeludium with a set of variations on a repeating ground bass. Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 150, played for the postlude, follows a typical pattern with its free fantasia opening section, this time played above a G pedal point, followed by several sections of fugal counterpoint. The final fugue of this Praeludium has a strong and angular theme with syncopated counter countermelodies.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday, February 4, is Communion Service by Leonard Raver (1927–1993). Dr. Raver’s musical life in New York City included serving on the faculties of the General Theological Seminary and The Juilliard School, and at various times as parish musician at All Saints Episcopal Church and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s East Side. He was organist of the New York Philharmonic from 1977 until 1990. A native of Wenatchee, Washington, his undergraduate studies were at the University of Puget Sound. Graduate studies brought him first to Syracuse University and finally to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Dr. Raver was an avid champion of contemporary music and especially of new music which incorporated the organ. In his career as a recitalist, he commissioned or premiered major works by distinguished American composers including Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Vincent Persichetti, William Albright, Gardiner Reed, and David Diamond. The source of Dr. Raver’s unpublished Communion Service is an undated manuscript which probably originated in the late 1960s while he concurrently taught at General Seminary and directed music at All Saints Church. The text is essentially the Order of Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer 1928, and the scoring is for unaccompanied voices in four parts. The performing edition of this setting sung this morning was prepared by David Hurd. Notations were made in this newly created edition to reconcile the music with the customary liturgical texts as we know them. As such, the choir will omit the ritually irregular Amens with which Dr. Raver had ended both his Sanctus and Benedictus. (It is interesting to note that the text of The Book of Common Prayer 1928 did not include Benedictus qui venit but did end Sanctus with Amen.) Also, the text underlay at the end of Agnus Dei has been altered to resolve another Amen which the standard liturgical text does not include.

The beloved English priest and poet George Herbert (1593–1633) offered his reflection and prayer to Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and Life (John 14) in “The Call” (The Temple, 1633). While the setting of Herbert’s prayer-poem for solo voice from Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)—distilled into many modern hymnals, including our own—is probably best known, Herbert’s poem has also inspired a great many fine choral settings. British organist and composer, Richard Lloyd was a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral, organ scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, assistant organist at Salisbury Cathedral, and organist and choirmaster at Hereford and later Durham Cathedral. His setting of George Herbert’s famous poem was composed in 1994 in honor of Philip Moore and the Choir of York Minster. It is an attractive strophic setting in four voices, but in which the second stanza is topped with an additional soprano part. — David Hurd

A SERIES OF FIVE EDUCATIONAL FORUMS ON FACING CHRISTIAN ANTI-JUDAISM

Guest Speakers: Dr. Ellen Charry & Prof. Matthew Glandorf
Visit the diocesan website for more information: https://dioceseny.org/24forums

Session 2, Thursday February 15th, 2024: The Lectionary (register)
Session 3, Thursday March 14, 2024: Sacred Music and Hymnody (register)
Session 4, Thursday March 21, 2024: Preaching: John’s Passion Gospel (register)
Session 5, Thursday April 18, 2024: A Peace Proposal for Jews and Christians (register)

Sponsored by the Episcopal-Jewish Dialogue Committee of the Ecumenical & Interreligious Commission of the Diocese of New York 

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

New York Repertory Orchestra (Saint Mary’s Resident Orchestra)
Saturday, February 10, 2024, at 8:00 PM

Michael Griffith, guest conductor
Radamés Gnattali: Sinfonia Popular
J.S. Bach/Stokowski: “Little” Fugue in G minor
César Franck: Symphony in D minor

Admission is free. A freewill offering of $15.00 is encouraged.

The Miller Theatre at Columbia University presents the Gesualdo Six in their concert “Lux Aeterna”
Saturday, February 17, 2024, at 8:00 PM

From Miller’s website, where tickets may be purchased, “Renowned as ‘weavers of rich and plangent aural tapestries’ (BBC Music Magazine), The Gesualdo Six returns with a program of poignant and uplifting music commemorating the departed. Through a thoughtfully curated selection of works spanning from the Renaissance to the present day, the a cappella ensemble explores the rich variety of musical responses to the themes of mourning, loss, and hope over centuries. The repertoire features compositions by Tavener, Byrd, Tallis, and de Morales alongside contemporary works, including Joanna Marsh’s I take thee, which was composed for The Gesualdo Six in 2020.

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Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s.
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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 Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting 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.

[1] https://blowingajug.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/nunc-dimittis-joseph-brodsky/ It’s well worth taking the time to read the poem in its entirety.