Fr Peter Helman
Dear beloved,
From antiquity, the Church has marked the passage of time each year with an observance of certain seasons. I’m sure you know many if not all of them already!
Advent – the Sunday nearest the feast of Saint Andrew (November 30) through Christmas Eve.
Christmas – Christmas Day through the Vigil of the Epiphany (January 6).
Epiphany – January 6 through Septuagesima (from the Latin for “Seventieth”), the ninth Sunday before Easter and the third Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
Septuagesima – the Sunday of that name through Ash Wednesday
Lent – Ash Wednesday through the eve of Easter, and includes Passiontide.
Passiontide – the two weeks before Easter
Eastertide –Easter Day through the Eve of the Whitsunday: the Feast of Pentecost, and includes Ascensiontide.
Ascensiontide –the fifth Thursday after Easter through the Saturday of the following week.
Whitsuntide – Whitsunday: the Feast of Pentecost and the six following days.
Trinity Season – Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Whitsunday) through Advent.
Within this calendar of seasons, every day of the Christian Year is designated either a feast, a fast, or a feria.
Feasts are days set apart as solemn commemorations of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Apostles; and of Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, and other Saints. Fasts are days and solemn seasons of prayer and preparation that occur on the eve of a handful of seasons and feasts. Feria (from the Latin for “holiday”) are days that are not a feast.
The observance of these seasons, as well as feasts, fasts, and ferias, help us embody temporally the rhythms of faith that make us who we are as the Body of Christ, the Church. And so we fashion our days according to the pattern of Christ’s life and after the faithfulness of his saints, who continue to intercede on our behalf to God that we may run the race set before us and not lose heart.
Searching the calendar of feasts, today is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene—may she pray for us to God!
Three women named Mary appear in the gospels: Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, is said to have anointed Jesus’s head with perfume. Another Mary, mentioned in the gospel of Luke, washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and with perfume of Nard, so traditional iconography often depicts her holding an alabaster jar of perfume. The third, Mary Magdalene, is one of Christ’s servants. Present at Golgotha, she was one of the spice bearing women who anointed the crucified body of Jesus before he is placed in the tomb. And it is she to whom Christ announces his resurrection, thus commending her to posterity as the "Apostle to the Apostles.
How might the life of Saint Mary edify our own faith in Christ? Perhaps the collect (prayer) appointed for the feast can help us:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and mind, and called her to be a witness to the resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may be healed of all our infirmities and know thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP p. 191).
Which word and phrases grip you?
I find first the word "grace," and the phrases “called her to be a witness to the resurrection” and “know thee in the power of his endless life.” Today I pray Mary, who stands near the throne of God, will pray for me to God that I may be a faithful witness to my Lord's endless life and keep my heart at peace in the knowledge of his power to conquer the death of sin that is at work in me.
How can you make this prayer your own?
Yours in Christ,
Peter+