27 DECember 2022
Dear Friends of St. Mark's,
I must begin by thanking everyone who worked so hard to make our Christmas celebrations so beautiful. Midnight Mass and the Christmas Day Mass were both extremely well-attended, and I was overjoyed to see almost every single one of our parishioners at one or both of the masses. We were also privileged to welcome several visitors to St. Mark's, and we were fortunate to have some old friends return to us after a long pandemic absence.
This year, after all the social media consternation about no one wanting to attend church on Christmas Day, as well as Midnight Masses being much less popular, I was reminded that social media rarely predicts the behavior of true discipleship. Christians are counter-cultural people, and we are guided by Christ and our love for him.
Special gratitude must be given to the musicians, altar servers, ushers, altar guild, candle guild, and everyone else who worked quietly behind the scenes. Mike Dupre and Tom Soplinski, our choirmaster and our organist, deserve accolades from all of us. It was especially wonderful to have a choral Gloria on Christmas Eve and Day when the Song of the Angels has prominence. Thank you to those volunteers who also did last minute gardening and property fixes, including the cleaning of the bathrooms between services - not a glorious job, but you kept the baby Jesus from crying!
Christmas continues until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. This Sunday is the Octave of Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Name and Circumcision of Jesus, and there will be one mass with carols sung by the congregation at 10:30 am. Lauds will be sung at 9:45 am. On Friday, January 6, Solemn Mass for the Epiphany will be celebrated at 6:15 pm. St. Mark's is known for our Epiphany High Mass, and there will be a great party after the service. Bring your favorite dish to share as we end these festive Twelve Days of Christmas.
Finally, I want to highlight a little gem of our Christmas celebrations at St. Mark's. On Christmas Eve the congregation sang Lauds prior to the Midnight Mass. The choir was in the Parish Hall warming up for the mass, and thus, the service, as is the case on Sunday mornings, was sung entirely by volunteers in the pews. Lauds is not an easy service to sing. There are five psalms sung to plainsong, an unaccompanied hymn, a canticle (the Benedictus), and a Marian anthem. None of it would be considered toe-tapping material by popular culture, and yet the service seems to have incredible relevance. Even more interesting is the fact that the congregation has mastered singing plainsong extremely well. When I realized on Christmas Eve how beautifully the congregation was singing Lauds, I was grateful for our prayer rising to Christ as we prepared ourselves for the First Mass of Christmas Night.
Blessings to you and your loved ones this Christmas,
Father Paul Lillie +
