St. Agnes

Today the Church remembers St. Agnes.  It is also the anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood.

 

The Rev. Dr. Edward Ambrose writes this about St. Agnes:

 

Around the year 304, in front of the Roman prefect, stood thirteen-year-old Agnes, pale but calm; Agnes was accused of being a Christian.  Agnes' parents were pagan, but it was customary for rich parents to entrust the education of daughters to nurse-slaves. Apparently, the nurse-slaves who were educating Agnes were Christian.

 

“I am a Christian,” Agnes testifies to the prefect, “I have vowed my fidelity and my virginity to Christ.” With rage, the prefect explains: “Your blasphemy against the gods deserves death. But I will give you another chance. You choose: You can sacrifice to the goddess with the vestal virgins, or you will be dragged into the house of dishonor. Consider also the honor of your family.”

Counting on the help of God, she calmly answers: “Mr. Prefect, if you only knew who was my God, you would not dare speak this way. He will send an angel to protect me.” The prefect-judge then stands up: “May this young girl, Agnes, convinced of blasphemy and of sacrilege, be stripped of her clothing, and be exposed in the house of shame!”

 

As the guards unclothe Agnes, her hair starts to grow, coming down and covering her body like a veil, while they lead her away under the eyes of the crowd that had been set against her.

 

The prefect is overwhelmed — he willingly would have let Agnes go, if it was not for the protests of the people who demand the death of this witch, an enemy of the gods. (A scene similar to the one of Holy Thursday in front of Pilate's court.) He entrusts the case to his sub-prefect, who orders that Agnes be burnt alive on a stake, in the public square. But the flames do not touch her. She prays: “I bless You, Almighty God, that, by Your Divine Son, I escaped the threats of faithless men. And behold, now You free me from all harm and worry amidst the flames. But I cannot wait to go to You.”

 

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, who choose those whom the world deems powerless to put the powerful to shame: Grant us so to cherish the memory of your youthful martyr Agnes, that we may share her pure and steadfast faith in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Please pray for everyone on our Prayer List, and we especially remember all of those who are being ordained priests during this month, John, Katie, Pat, all of those victims of the attack in Pakistan, and for those who have no one to pray for them.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Wedding Feast of Cana

The appointed Gospel reading for this Friday in the Week of the First Sunday after Epiphany is the familiar story in John’s Gospel of the wedding feast at Cana where Jesus performs the first sign of the coming of the kingdom of God:

 

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days. (Jn. 2:1-12).

 

“On the third day” is a phrase we will hear again, especially at the end of the Gospel.  There is feasting on the third day; it is a day of rejoicing. It is the day of Resurrection.

 

The bride and groom have run out of wine for the celebration, and at that time and in that culture, it would have been humiliating. Here they are starting a life together, a merger of 2 families and they do not have enough to celebrate the event.  Mary asks Jesus to intercede for the young couple.  Jesus does.  He takes water that is used for the rituals of purification and turns it into wine for rejoicing, and there is plenty for everyone. The wine steward pulls the groom aside and asks him what all this is about, “serve the good stuff first, and after they can’t tell anymore, bring out the cheap stuff.”

 

This is what the Kingdom of God looks like: At the Resurrection, there will be great rejoicing and feasting, and there no one will be in need. All of us, all of creation, will be purified and restored, in perfect union with God and with each other.

 

Let us pray: Almighty God, whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence: renew your people with your heavenly grace, and in all our weakness sustain us by your mighty power; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Sunday, 17 January, Annual Parish Meeting in Sutton Hall following the service.

 

Monday, 18 January, MLK Prayer Service at St. Vincent’s Episcopal House at 12 noon.

 

Thursday, 21 January, Seaside Seniors meets in Sutton Hall at 11 AM.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Deloris, John, Pat, Peggy, Katie and all those who are alone.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Evil Route Is the Easy Way

On this Thursday after the Baptism of Our Lord, we hear from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews where he writes:

 

Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

 

Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 

We are easily deceived.  Evil is not stronger.  It is easier, more seductive.  Evil is the easier route. It is much harder to do that which is good.  It is easy for us to harden our hearts when we do so in order to fulfill our own agenda.  Paul warns us to be careful and not to disguise evil for good.

 

Let us pray: Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

St. Aelred

Today the Church remembers the life and ministry of St. Aelred who was born in 1109 in Durham and died on this day in 1167.  Aelred became master of the Household of the King of Scotland., but  he found success at court unsatisfying. At the age of 24, he entered the Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx in Yorkshire. Bernard of Clairvaux encouraged him to write his first work, The Mirror of Charity, which deals with seeking to follow the example of Christ in all things. In 1147 he became abbot of Rievaulx, a post which he held until his death of kidney disease twenty years later at the age of 57.  His most famous work is called Spiritual Friendship.

Let us pray: Almighty God, you endowed the abbot Aelred with the gift of Christian friendship and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness: Grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection, that, in loving one another, we may know the love of Christ and rejoice in the gift of your eternal goodness; through the same Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

In the Beginning Was the Word

On this Monday after the Baptism of Our Lord, the appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Office comes from the first chapter of John’s Gospel.  For me, these are some of the most powerful paragraphs in the New Testament:

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

 

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

 

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (Jn. 1:1-18).

 

One could easily spend a whole book unpacking these words. The Word of God is the very ground of creation who then becomes a creature in creation; God fully with us as one with us to take us out of the darkness humanity was dwelling in to be brought into God’s living light bathed in grace so that we ascend to the very throne of God.  One could read these words over and over again, and still find such depth in them to last, literally, an eternity.

 

Let us pray: Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth, in whom we live, and move, and have our being; may your light shine in our hearts that we may grow in grace upon grace. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

 

Annual Parish Meeting Sunday, 17 January 2016.

 

Seaside Seniors, 21 January 2016 at 11 AM in Sutton Hall.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

A Light in the Darkness

On this Thursday after Epiphany, we hear from Paul’s letter to the Church is Colossae:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:1-14).

A new survey by Yahoo! Finance shows Americans have a disturbing lack of hope. Among the highlights of the poll: (1) 41% of Americans say the “American Dream’” has been lost; 63% of Americans believe the economy is getting worse, including 72% of those over the age of 55. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll,  fears of terrorism in the United States are at a level not seen since September 11, 2001. Americans were surveyed in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. The survey found that about 79% of respondents believe a terrorist attack is somewhat likely or very likely in the next few months. 

How many of us can relate to these findings?  How many of us feel a sense of hopelessness?  How many of us feel a sense of anxiety?

It is the season of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the world; it is a season of light in darkness.  Paul tells us that God “has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  We need to be reminded of that daily.  God is bigger than our fears. God conquers of anxiety.  God has, through Jesus Christ, brought light into the darkness, a light that the darkness cannot overcome.

Let us pray: O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Annual Parish Meeting on Sunday, 17 January 2016 after the Eucharist.

Seaside Seniors meet Thursday, 21 January 2016.

We resume our Adult Christian Education series on C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity this Sunday at 11 AM.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Put on Truth, Righteousness, Readiness, Faith, Salvation, and the Holy Spirit

The Epistle reading for this Tuesday in the Second Week of Christmas comes from Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus where he writes:

 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak. (Ephesians 6:10-20).

 

Paul speaks about being strong in Christ, strong against the evils which try to tear down what which is good.  Paul speaks of putting on truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit.  Not only must we proclaim the good news boldly to the world, but we must also be bold to hear the good news.  It is not an “either/or” thing, but a “both/and” thing.  While we are called to boldly proclaim the good news, you and I must be willing to hear the good news spoken to us.  We can only put on truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit if we experience them ourselves.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, make us more and more like your Son, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we might make the good news part of who we are so that we may proclaim it boldly to the world.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

 

Annual Parish Meeting after the 9 AM Rite II service on 17 January.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet the third Thursday of January in Sutton Hall at 11 AM.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, and please make it a point to visit those who are unable to come to see us at Church.  Jesus calls us to visit those who are alone.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Elizabeth Ann Seton: An American Saint

Today the Episcopal Church remembers Elizabeth Ann Seton who lived from 28 August 1774 to 4 January 1821.

 

James Kiefer writes:

 

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized in the Roman Catholic Church, on September 14, 1975.

 

Seton was born on August 28, 1774 to Richard Bayley of New York City. She was raised in the Episcopal Church. Her mother, daughter of an Episcopal priest, died when Elizabeth was three. At the age of nineteen, she married William Magee Seton, a wealthy businessman. Five children were born to the marriage.

 

Her husband's business lost several ships at sea and the family ended up bankrupt. Soon after, her husband became ill and his doctors sent him to Italy for the warmer climate, with Elizabeth Seton accompanying him. In Italy, they were held in quarantine, during which time her husband died. She spent time with a wealthy family where she was exposed to Catholicism. Two years later she converted to Roman Catholicism, on March 14, 1805 and was received into the Church by the first bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll.

 

To support her children, she started a school in Baltimore, but it failed due to the anti-Catholic bigotry of the day. In 1809, after some trying and difficult years, Elizabeth moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where a year later she established Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, a school dedicated to the education of Catholic girls, at the invitation of Samuel Sutherland Cooper.

 

Eventually, Elizabeth was able to establish a religious community in Emmitsburg, Maryland dedicated to the care of the children of the poor. It was the first religious community of apostolic women founded in the United States. The order was called the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.

 

The remainder of Elizabeth's life was spent in leading and developing the new order, which expanded to include the Sulpician priests of Baltimore. Today, six independent religious communities trace their roots to the humble beginnings of the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

 

Let us pray: Holy God, you blessed Elizabeth Seton with your grace as wife, mother, educator and founder, that she might spend her life in service to your people: Help us, by her example, to express our love for you in love of others; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Annual Parish Meeting, January 17, 2016 after the 9:00 a.m. service! Breakfast included! Be there to hear about the financial status of the church and planned events for 2016. Be a part of it!

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550