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The weekly parish KneeMail to parishioners and friends of Saint James Church, Texarkana
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Kneemail from Saint James Church

April 1, AD 2020

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint James’ Church:
 
I have been thinking about you each and every day. I have been able to call so far, approximately eighty-five households. As I write this Kneemail, I probably have about eighty more calls to make. Please be patient with me. If you haven’t received a call from me it means I have gotten to your part of the alphabet or the parish office does not have your correct, updated  phone. (Remember to email Sandra, sandrak@stjamestxk.org, or me, rdaly@saintjamestxk.org with your most current phone number.)
 
With respect to those phone calls, thankfully, everyone I have spoke to is doing well. I am grateful to God for that! The next thing people tell me is how much they enjoy that we internet stream the celebration of the Mass, but they miss being in the church near the Altar. Of course, the Holy Eucharist, or the Mass is central to our catholic Christian spirituality. Why is that?
 
There are many reasons. First and foremost, at the Mass we participate in the one, true and only Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary’s Cross. This is a difficult thing for our linear minds to comprehend. How can we participate in Calvary when His passion and death happened two-thousand ago? Each time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist we remember (anamnesis – make present again) His death and resurrection until He comes again. We are present at Calvary and the Empty Tomb in the Mass, because our participation is measured by God’s time, kairos, and not measured in our chronological measuring of time, kronos.
 
To us it seems like every Sunday is simply a linear procession through time. However, as I told you in my class on the Eucharist this past Fall, when we come into the Liturgy, we enter into the Mystery of God’s time and sanctifying space. At the Mass, the salvific power of Christ on the Cross continues to plead to the Father on our behalf for all sorts of conditions we as humans find ourselves in.
 
In each Mass the priest as the icon of Christ, offers to the Father the One Sacrifice of Praise. In our Rite I liturgy we say that Christ suffered death “upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.”
 
So, though we at this time cannot take the physical comfort of the Sacrament for our spiritual nourishment due to the medical protocols surrounding COVID-19, we can make a Spiritual Act of Communion. Christ comes into us just as acutely as He does through the Sacrament. He also comes just as powerfully into the lives of those Christians who do not have the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.
 
The question can be raised, “Well, then why do I need to even go to church, if Christ can come to me without me having to receive the Sacrament?” The answer to that is found in Christ call for us to enter into the community of His Mystical Body. He calls us into the fellowship of the Church so that we can bring others into that same fellowship. He commands us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that He has command us.
 
In addition, because we are finite beings, we crave and long for touching and encountering others in a physical manner. All of us have had times of separation from loved ones and some of that time apart was lengthy. We did not stop longing for them. We held out for that day when we would be with them and they with us. It is difficult for me as a priest to see my spiritual family to be Sacramentally separated and apart from the object of their souls’ desire. I pray that this time where we are separated from that Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar will be shortened.
 
I encourage you to read more closely and pray most intently this Act of Spiritual Communion:
 
In union, O dear Lord, with the faithful at every Altar of Your Church, where Your blessed Body and Blood are being offered to the Father, I desire to offer You praise and thanksgiving. I present to You my soul and body, with the earnest wish that I may ever be united to You. And since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, I beseech You to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to You and embrace You with all the affections of my soul. O let nothing ever separate me from You. Let me live and die in Your love. Amen.
 
Grant, O gracious Lord, that we may make this Act of Spiritual Communion that He may evermore dwell in us and we in him.
 
May Almighty God bless and keep you safe. May He fill you with His knowledge and love. May He evermore be you strong tower of defense.
 
In our blessed Lord,

Rev. Richard Daly, SSC


P.S. I want to add that on our first day that we can resume the Mass at the church, it will be a festival Mass celebrating Easter. On that day, I intend to give out to the congregation their blessed palms from Palm Sunday. I will also hand out the candle tapers we use at the Easter Vigil. I will tell you in my sermon on that day, why I am distributing them on that day. I pray that such a Sunday will arrive sooner than later!
 
HOLY WEEK WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
 
The Holy Week Liturgies will be streamed live from within Saint James’ Church
 
The Sunday of the Passion: 
Palm Sunday Blessing of Palms & Mass
April 5th – 10:00 AM
 
Maundy Thursday Mass & Stripping of the Altar
April 9th – 6:00 PM
 
Good Friday Liturgy
April 10th – 6:00 PM
 
Easter Vigil & First Mass of Easter
April 11th – 6:00 PM
 
Easter Sunday Mass
April 12th – 10:00 AM
 
Find the live-streams online at:

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StJamesChurchTXK/
On Youtube at:  https://youtu.be/dCt2gtC1RN0
On the Parish website at http://saintjamestxk.org/live/
 
All of the Holy Week Liturgies will follow the ceremonial of a Said Mass.
Though there will some music, the fullness of our worship to Almighty God
Must come this year from within the fullness of Christ in our hearts.
 
We may not be able to celebrate these great days with the
Majesty of catholic worship,
But we will be keep these holy days with
The glory our Catholic faith and belief.
A Message from the Senior Warden

The clergy, staff and vestry have been working non-stop over the last few weeks to address many of the unique challenges we are facing due to the Corona virus and its effect on St James Church and our church family. While many of the challenges are operational, the most important challenges relate to staying connected as a church community. So much of what we do as a church involves gathering in one room, whether it is in a prayer group, a parish breakfast or in Sunday School. Obviously, we need to take some time off from those activities, but that does not mean we need to stop everything or that we cannot continue to thrive as a church community.

Sunday’s livestream service on Facebook and YouTube is one way we plan on staying connected during these difficult times. Please join in the chat feature during the livestream service to let us know you are watching. Let us know how many people are watching with you. I also want to encourage you to make an extra effort to stay connected with each other. You can do this through letters, phone calls, texts or emails.  Although we cannot gather physically, we can stay together and stay connected spiritually.

If you need anything during this time or have some suggestions for the vestry, do not hesitate to reach out to me.  My cell phone is 903-824-2300.

Peace be with you,

Brian Purtle
Senior Warden


A Brief Tech Request:

If possible, please visit our YouTube Channel (located at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW_8fQNuV8earxPBLz0R3w ) and click the red "Subscribe" button.  

Once we reach 100 subscribers, we can obtain a short, easier to remember custom name for our Youtube presence (Such as, www.youtube.com/SaintJamesTXK or similar). 

You will need to be logged into Youtube (or Google) for this to work.  

Thank you!
Phillip
Did you know that you can now pay your pledge or make a gift to Saint James' Church through our secure online payment system?  

See http://saintjamestxk.org/giving/ for details.
Copyright © 2020 Saint James' Church, All rights reserved.


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