From Deacon Ron Reno:
Top of day as they would say in “Merry Old England.” They may be eating strawberries and cream, drinking a Pimm’s Cup cocktail at Wimbledon; we are enjoying the beauty that God has blessed us with in Nebraska. I hope everyone can get out of the city and maybe enjoy someplace like the Mahoney State Park, our amazing world class Zoo or enjoy a drive to one of our local wineries. Check out the beauty that surrounds you. They say to stop and smell the roses. God would agree. We did the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts with the Litany last weekend, The Merbecke Gloria and Agnus Dei by the choir were exceptional. We are blessed to have so many God loving people around us.
The following is part of a homily given by Archbishop Robert Sherwood Morse several years ago. It is very poignant.
“The Church is the mystical Body of Christ. In its essence it is not a building, nor a society organized to do good. It is rather a communion, a mysterious Body in which we are all together in union with Christ. The Holy Spirit is everywhere. A teacher in a ghetto in New York City described to the children who had never seen a rainbow what it looked like. One little boy came to class and raised his hand and said, ‘I saw a rainbow today.’ The teacher said, ‘Where did you see it? I didn’t see one.’ The little boy said, ‘I saw it in the gutter.’ He had seen an oil slick, and to him it was a rainbow. The beauty, the love, and the truth of God the Holy Spirit are everywhere.” God bless
weather although we could use more rain. We had a sung morning prayer service that included the “Communion of the Presanctifed Gifts.” Nick leads MP and is our organist too. I loved the Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel as the organ prelude. It is always a blessing to chant the Venite, the Psalms and the Te Deum. We are a work in progress in learning to chant these historic, Godly, and venerated canticles. The choir sung the Agnus Dei.
We had another blessed service last Saturday. Our epistle reading focused on humility and on being humble under the hand of God. It said to be sober and vigilant and I think it was another lesson to understand the truth of Jesus. His good news asks us to be afraid of the devil, but to remain steadfast in the faith and share His good news in a humble fashion. We are witnesses as it says in Acts 1:8 but we pray for humility in our heart as we do His work on this earth.
Latin intercessory prayer including its petitions going back to the fifth century in Rome. The prayer book litany was the first English rite prepared by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and first published in English in 1544. It is the perfect gateway to the mysteries of the Eucharist. It is a noble gateway to our presanctified gifts. Through this litany is the preparation and humble intercession for the human race and leads unto the Gospel of Christ.
Thank God for another wonderful spring day. After the long winter we endured, we are ready for this. We had a wonderful Rogation service with wonderful music. It was a blessing to have Nick sing the Litany, the choir and our people for the chanted responses. That was a very appropriate way start out that service. We are blessed to have our services at the Our Lady of Mercy Chapel on the campus of the the College of Saint Mary. This Saturday is the graduation ceremony for the college and our service will be moved to 11:00 am on Sunday. We need to give thanks to Lynda and CSM for working with us for our time of worship.
have you and Anneliese for this service. I don’t have Fathers homily to post but I do have one from Father Ponec from 2017 and it is attached. We were blessed with great music from our 1940 Hymnal. We also had a presentation from Deacon Reno about our annual Diocese of the Western States Synod gathering. It was a blessing to attend, mingle with other clergy, meet Priests that I did not know and the Bishops were exceedingly kind to all of us. May God continue to bless His mission church.
progress. We need to look at how well we are praying, fasting, and almsgiving. We need to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter and not get lost to distraction in our daily lives. To Jesus, His 40 days meant the birth of a new Israel liberated from sin, reconciliation to God and a new governance by the law of the spirit. Always remember that this mission church is His and we are His humble servants. Something we rarely do is a confession to a priest. When Father Andrew’s is back, please consider doing a confession. That would be a triumph for us during this Lent. Father Andrew’s homily is attached, God bless, Deacon