Rogation Days
The illustration above is from the early twentieth century Anglican Sunday School text of "My Church Year" by Enid Chadwick. It illustrates the period of the Church's calendar that we have entered into. We will, by custom, observe next Sunday as Ascension Sunday. These days are the Rogation Days, and some of our prayers and hymns this Sunday will honor that observance and custom.
"Rogation" is connected to the Latin word for "asking," and refers to a traditional time of praying for agriculture. Traditionally celebrated on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the Sixth Sunday in Easter. Rogation Services have been a time to pray for planting and for those working with the land. The custom was to process outside, even to "beat the bounds" of the town or village, asking for God's blessings on the land and the life of the people.
In rural areas, many people bless the elements used in farming, the fields, the seeds and the animals. In urban areas a blessing of gardens, and local businesses can be done. It might also be a time to show gratitude for soil, water and growth, and to challenge ourselves to think carefully of the food we eat, of the farmworkers and others who provide it, and for our care of water, earth and all creation.
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The 8:00 AM Sunday Eucharist will be celebrated in-person in our Sanctuary.
The 10 AM Sunday Eucharist will be celebrated on Zoom and in-person in the Sanctuary this Sunday.. Music by Fr. Ron
The Taize' service takes place in the Sanctuary on Sunday at 5:00 PM
The Church building is open , from 9AM - 5PM, Monday - Friday, for anyone who would like to stop in for a prayer or time of quiet.
We Pray for the Healing & Support:
For those who have lost loved ones in the Pandemic, for those who are ill, for all those who serve, for all those who are anxious or fearful, and for...
Barbara Brigham, Sara Mundy, Jean Adams, Kathy Cogan, Jim Fancher, Diane & Nancy Fickett, Bob Fisher, Sharon Gibbs, Kathryn James, Gillian Johnson, Halle Kneeland, Toni Landry, Jesse Marshall, Ruth McAlonen, Elizabeth Mooney, Madeline Moran, Dick Petry, Virginia Springsteen, Vita Stellke, Linda VanArdale, Beth Wagner, Georgia and Rod Griffis, Betianne Morritt's great grandaughter Eliana, Jean Brechter , Susan Bopp daughter of Jean Brechter's friend Bob Edwards, for Louie Cicero, Barbara Allen Lieblein' s grandsons, Kristopher and Alexander, and Bill Lieblein's grand daughter's husband, Matt Grzesik, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, Hermance Canning, Dr. Barbara Phillips-Cole and her son Matthew Cole, who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer, all our parishioners living with cancer, known or undetected & for all those who participate in a 12 step group here at St. Mary’s
Call in any requests or corrections to the office. (631-749-0770)
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Sunday Scriptures May 9, 2021
Collect
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The First Lesson
Acts 10:44-48
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
The Epistle
1 John 5:1-6
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
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The Gospel
John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
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Some Quotes for Reflection
I can say that the eternal word is like the white light of the sun, in which all the colors of the rainbow are present and in which each retains its own distinctive character. Or I can say that it is like a symphony in which all the notes are heard in a single perfect harmony, but in which each has its own particular time and place. Or I can say that it is like a multitude of thoughts gathered together in a single mind which comprehends them in a single idea embracing all. Or going deeper, I can say that it is like a communion of persons in love, in which each understands the other and is one with the other. “I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one.” This is as far as human words can go.
-Bede Griffiths 1906-1993
Return to the Center
quoted from The Essential Mystics, Andrew Harvey
We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him at this very moment. But being happy with Him now means:
Loving as He loves,
Helping as He helps,
Giving as He gives,
Serving as He serves,
Rescuing as He rescues,
Being with Him twenty-four hours,
Touching Him in his distressing disguise.
-Mother Teresa of Calcutta 1910-1997
Quoted from Andrew Harvey, The Essential Mystics
Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ 1907-1991
If there is anything in which this life,
this way, can be expressed,
in which God has revealed Himself most clearly,
it is the reality of love.
You are someone
only in as far as you are love,
and only what has turned to love in your life
will be preserved.
-Rule for a New Brother, 1973
Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife, which may at any moment become for us all a time of terror, I think to myself, "What else is the world interested in?" What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships? God is love. Love casts out fear. Even the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world, to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying to make a world where it is easier for people to love, to stand in that relationship to each other. We want with all our hearts to love, to be loved. And not just in the family but to look upon all as our mothers, sisters, brothers, children. It is when we love the most intensely and most humanly that we can recognize how tepid is our love for others. The keenness and intensity of love brings with it suffering, of course, but joy too, because it is a foretaste of heaven.
Dorothy Day, The Reckless Way of Love
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P.O Box 1660, 26 St. Mary's Road , Shelter Island, NY 11964
(631) 749-0770
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