24 April 2025
We have much to celebrate this coming Sunday. Not only do we have another Sunday of Eastertide, but this Sunday is also within the Octave of the Patronal Feast. On April 25 the church celebrates Saint Mark the Evangelist, and it was on April 25, 1885, that Queen Emma died and received true life in Christ. This Sunday the Solemn Mass will begin with a joyous procession celebrating both St. Mark and Queen Emma, and the Solemn Mass will end with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, highlighting our parish's catholic spirituality.
Speaking of catholic spirituality, beginning this Sunday the Holy Rosary will be prayed at 10:15 am, and Sung Lauds will move from 10:00 am to 9:00 am. For the past few Saturdays I have been meeting with a variety of our worship lay leaders, and we have been analyzing the whole host of our worship ministries. We have discussed Lent and Holy Week, parish funeral masses, the calendar and high holy days, our parish recitation of the Rosary, daily offices, and more.
There is a renewed desire among parishioners for two of the traditional Anglo-Catholic devotions - Marian Spirituality and Prayers for the Departed. Regarding the monthly requiem mass for the faithful departed, that mass will now be celebrated on a Wednesday evening each month, and it will be preceded by Vespers of the Dead and the Holy Rosary. Plans are also in the works for a regular gathering of our Mary Guild on various Saturday mornings. Stay tuned as these ministries continue to develop.
When Emma and Kamehameha IV founded the Church of Hawai‘i (1862-1893), originally called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church, they established an Anglican Church that was firmly rooted in communion with the catholic stream of the Church of England. So much of what St. Mark's does, is a continued outpouring of that vision of the Holy Sovereigns. This Sunday as we celebrate our parish patrons, Mark and Emma, we give thanks for the faith we have received through the endless ages of the church dating back to the Apostles, and we celebrate the new life nurturing us for growth in the Holy Spirit.
The first stanza of our parish hymn of the Holy Sovereigns declares:
Sing we of our blessed patron,
Holy Queen and Mother blest,
who with fervent adoration,
built the Church of ages past.
We adore thee, Blessed Emma,
pray for us, thy children blest.
May both Saint Mark and Queen Emma intercede for us as we celebrate the blessed heritage benefiting our beloved church on Kapahulu Avenue.
Blessings,
Father Paul Lillie +
