Sunday after Ascension - Rector's Rambling for May 17, 2026

     As you’ve noticed by now I am away this week with some of the family and extended family, and God willing will be back on Saturday.  Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make sure worship is happening today here at St. John’s while I am away.

Eastertide has now come and gone, and in a few weeks we will be back in the “green” of ordinary time, also known as Trinitytide.

Easter is certainly the primary feast of the Church calendar.  It is by Jesus’ death and resurrection that we have the price of our sins paid, and death conquered by Jesus himself.

Ascension Day, which was last Thursday, is the culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Jesus takes his human body, resurrected, with Him back into the Godhead to intercede for us.

Today we are between times.  Like the disciples, we are preparing for the promise of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.  We have been praying since Friday a novena for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, just as the disciples spent those nine days between Ascension and Pentecost in prayer.  You are most welcome to join this novena – there are forms for it at the back of the church, and it is being sent daily to the St. John’s email list.

Sunday, May 24, is Whitsunday, also known as Pentecost.  On this day we celebrate the birthday of the Church, by the coming of the Holy Ghost to empower the followers of Jesus to continue His work and propagate the Gospel.

The following week we have Trinity Sunday, when the Rector feebly tries to explain this vital dogma about God being one God in three persons.

The following Thursday, June 7, we have our celebration of Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ – at our 10:30 AM Mass.  We rejoice and give thanks that Jesus feeds us with his own body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  We will also keep the Feast of Corpus Christi as the external Solemnity on Sunday, June 6.

After that we are in green vestments, with the exception of two Sundays in October and one in November, for the remainer of the liturgical year known as Trinitytide.  The liturgical new year resets and begins again with the First Sunday in Advent on November 29th