Anno Domini 2025 November 4

Beloved of the Lord:

Today is Tuesday, 4 November, in the year of our Lord 2025. GET OUT AND VOTE, as your right as an American. The scheduled services are as-follows:

• Tuesday (today): 5:30 PM, Mass, S. Charles Borromeo, Bishop & Confessor.
  6:30 PM, 'Rosary & Evensong.
• Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, S. Elizabeth, Mother of S. John Baptist.
• Thursday: 6:30 PM, Evensong, Of the Octave of All Saint's Day, Holy Communion, with Soup and Study.
• Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, S. Willibrord, Bishop & Confessor, with Gregorian Canon.
  Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
• Saturday: 10:00 AM, Holy Communion, All Anglican Martyrs and Saints.
• Sunday: 8:30 &10:00 AM, Mass, Trinity XXI, Comm. S. Theodore, Martyr.

Vote today! Though not as important as the Mass, it is a duty incumbent upon all Americans to vote their consciences, whenever elections are held. If you don't vote, don't say anything about the results of the election.

Our Thursday sessions are very popular, and I encourage everyone to clear that evening on their calendars. All of us learn from our studies, probably every week! We are in the early chapters of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, so please join us as we learn from the great work of our parochial name-sake.

Believe it or not, Trinitytide will have come to a close, before the end of THIS month! Sunday, 30 November, will be the first Sunday in Advent. Thence will begin our new Christian Year.

Advent , from the Latin Adventus, 'coming', i.e. of Christ. In the West, it is always the Sunday nearest the Feast of S. Andrew, 30 November. There are always four Sundays in Advent, which bring us to the Feast of the Nativity (Christ Mass). In the East, the Season is much longer; along with Great Lent and Easter, it forms one of their three primary Seasons.

The first clear mention of the Season in West comes in the latter half of the Sixth century. Mass Propers for it appear in the Gelasian Sacramentary. Inasmuch as Wednesdays and Fridays in the Early Church were always days of fasting, in Adventide these days also had Propers specific to the Season. These weekday Propers remained in use in England until the BCP of 1549, when many things were lost from the Services of the Church, ostensibly to fit them into one book.

In the Ancient Church, Advent was kept as Lent, but with less strictness. This practice maintains in the East, where Advent is generally called the Little Lent. The colour is Violet, which, signifying Penance, prevents any Weddings from being solemnised during the Season. The exception to Violet is the third Sunday, 'Gaudete', when Rose-coloured vestments are worn. The Gloria in Excelsis is not said throughout the Season, nor are the other, minor Glorias, such as the doxology at the end of the Lord's Prayer.

Advent is regarded as a Season of preparation, not only for the Coming of our Lord, but also for His great and final Coming Again. This latter is the primary focus of the Season in the East. Let us all prepare ... in these dark times, we all have perhaps more that needs repenting than in other, previous, better days.

The World is unsteady; infidels, and their Father in Hell, are on the rise. Let us in no way surrender hope, for ours is the only, true God. War is coming. We will fight. We will win ~ in life or in death, the victory shall be ours. I remain

in His praise,

The Rt. Rev'd T. L. Crowder

Pastor, Saint Matthew's Parish