Weekly Update from Fr. van Dooren 11.6.26

Dear members and friends of our parish family,
 
Greetings on this rainy but mild Friday.  
 
I’m looking forward to this upcoming Sunday as we near the end of the Christian liturgical year in what we call “Ordinary Time.”  Soon we’ll be greening the altar for Advent and making ready for the feasts that follow.
 
But for this Sunday, we’ll enjoy the beautiful hymns and prayers for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our Gospel passage and sermon text is the famous parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13).  It is a parable unique to Matthew, and, though wedding customs and culture have changed seismically in 2000 years, the point of the parable is as palpable and relevant to day as in any day in Christian history.  I am honored to be the preacher, and Fr. Patrick will be the celebrant of the mass.   
 
And related to the Gospel text,  the Seraphim Choir will present a short special medieval mystery play at the time of the offertory, based on the parable of the 10 foolish and wise virgins. Sponsus (The Bridegroom) is an 11th century (c. 1050-1060) medieval liturgical drama composed in Gascony. It was written to be performed during the Easter Vigil. The play opens with an introduction by an unnamed character, which might be interpreted as The Church or Gabriel, the angel.  This character tells the story of Christ, and then admonishes the characters to stay awake for the bridegroom’s appearing. The choir will perform the drama in English, although it was originally performed in Latin and Occitan, a language spoken by the people of Gascony. The drama was originally performed by the monks. 
 
The Episcopal Actors' Guild Annual Memorial Service will be held this Sunday, November 8 at 3 pm. Since 1925, members of NYC's performing arts community have gathered together to honor and celebrate those colleagues we lost in the previous year. Join us for a traditional Evensong service led by Fr. Patrick Cheng. With a memorial address by EAG Council member, Peter Von Berg. Our Choir of Men and Boys and Girls will offer the music, and we will repeat some of the wonderful music we sang for All Saints Day, including the hymn, For all the Saints, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Pie Jesu, and a beautiful evening service setting, with the prayers sung by Fr. Patrick and the choir. This Memorial Evensong is a century old tradition here at little church. Please consider joining us and bringing a friend at 3 PM.
 
We are continuing our annual Pledge/Stewardship campaign for the upcoming fiscal year, 2027.  Thank you all who have already make your pledge commitment!  Click here for more details.  We hope to end the campaign by Christ the King Sunday, November 22nd.  
 
The Bishop of New York, The Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd, will make his first visitation to Transfiguration on Sunday November 15th. Please save the date and plan to attend and to support those being Confirmed and Received and Reaffirmed.   

Thank you so dearly for your generosity and response to our restoration of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel.   How privileged we are to have stewardship of this treasured and historical space!  Scaffolding is up, and the large Transfiguration window will soon be removed for restoration.  So we’ll look a little ragged for the winter months before the dazzling completion.  Click here to read more about this current project. 

The Holy Rosary will be prayed in the Family chapel at 9:30am this Sunday.  We will pray the Luminous mysteries.      

We continue to live-stream each Sunday’s mass at 11:00am, and a link is sent out each Sunday morning at 8:00am.  We live-stream on Facebook and YouTube. Please email the parish office (parishoffice@littlechurch.org) if you would like to pray the morning and evening offices with us by Zoom. 

Thank you for your continued faith, support, and love for the parish.  

Fides Opera

With loving wishes,
Fr. van Dooren