Dear Friends in Christ, On Wednesday of this week the Church will keep the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle, and on Thursday we will celebrate the Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops. These twin liturgical observances bring into bright relief two essential truths of the Gospel: friendship with the Lord…

Dear Friends in Christ, The glories of Christmastide are now behind us, and the rigors of the 40 Days don’t arrive until Ash Wednesday which falls this year on 1 March. That gives us six weeks before Lent to live in the Thirty-Four Weeks of the Year, so-called Ordinary Time, when the Church is clothed…

Dear Friends in Christ, The Solemnity of the Epiphany is one of the richest feasts in the Christian liturgy, and for this reason, it is also among the most misunderstood. The Greek word which we translate epiphany simply means “appearance” or “manifestation”, and in the Western liturgical tradition the Epiphany is linked most strongly to…

Dear Friends in Christ, Eight days ago we celebrated the Birth of Jesus Christ, and we read in the Gospel of St Luke that “When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2.21) Today is, therefore,…

Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is not just one day on the calendar; Christmas is an entire season of the Church’s liturgical year. The season of Christmas Time or Christmastide begins with Vespers on Christmas Eve and ends with Vespers on the Feast of the Baptism the Lord, this year on Monday 9 January. And…