St. Mary's Regina

The Fourth Sunday in Lent 

March 30, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

In the Sunday Eucharistic lections in The Book of Common Prayer, the season of Lent is understood as a pilgrimage of the soul. It is a hazardous journey through a spiritual wilderness of demonic trials and temptations that separate us from the true and living God, and hold us in bondage and captivity.  The first three Sundays of Lent have been all about how it is that Christ liberates us from the deceptions and power of the Evil One. On this the Fourth Sunday in Lent, the Church holds before us the goal and end of our journey. IN our Epistle reading from Galatians, St. Paul refers to “Jerusalem which is above is free and is the mother of us all.”  In symbolic terms, Jerusalem is our spiritual home, a place of freedom and peace where we  enjoy union and communion with God in  a fellowship of love.   Such also is the parish Church, the earthly counterpart of the heavenly city, which brings us to birth through the waters of baptism, and like a good mother, nourishes us through Word and Sacrament and guides us in our way. The Gospel lesson relates the story of Christ’s  feeding of the 5,000 in the  wilderness with 5 loaves and two fish, which is for us an image of the Eucharist, where our “bodies and souls are preserved unto eternal life”, and where we are refreshed and given the strength we need  to continue the journey home.

THE LESSON : Galatians 4:26-31

Continue reading “Lent 4 – March 30, 2025 – Bulletin”

The Third Sunday in Lent 
March 23, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

The spiritual life of a Christian has traditionally understood to consist of a process of purification and illumination leading to union and communion with God. Lent is a season given over to the work of purification and illumination. Today’s Gospel lesson continues the theme of the first two Sundays in Lent of Christ’s Divine power at work in us to cleanse and set us free from our bondage to the demonic power of sin. IN the parable which Jesus tells us we have a cautionary tale of the dangers of the spiritual life whereby the house of the soul, having been cleansed and put in order, is in a vulnerable  state, and needs to acquire and practice the virtues, lest it fall victim to a spiritually demonic “house invasion.” This is the work of illumination, and what that means and looks like is described for us by St. Paul in today’s Epistle.

THE LESSON : Ephesians 5:1-14

Continue reading “Lent 3 – March 23, 2025 – Bulletin”

The Second Sunday in Lent 

March 16, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

The Gospel lessons in the first three Sundays in Lent share a common theme: the confrontation with the devil and the demonic powers, where Jesus is shown to be the One who exposes and resists the deceptions of the devil ( Lent 1) and liberates and heals all who, in their thoughts, are tormented by and enslaved to the power of demons. (Lent 2)  But as we see in today’s Gospel lesson, the healing and liberating power of Christ works synergistically, which is to say that it requires humility and trust  on our part if we are to receive it.  In our Epistle lesson St. Paul highlights the manner in which demonic torment expresses itself in the sphere of sexuality, which leads people to depart from God’s design for sexuality in the marriage between man and woman, and the instrumentalization of sex for self-gratification. 

THE LESSON : 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Continue reading “Lent 2 – March 16, 2025 – Bulletin”

The First Sunday in Lent 

March 9, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

The Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in Lent tells the story of how it was that Jesus, following His baptism,  was drven into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Lent is for us a kind of desert. We too will face our temptations and must overcome them at the point of our temptations. But what are these temptations? And how shall  they be overcome? Today Christ shows us. In today’s Epistle lesson St. Paul provides us with a colour commentary for what that actually looks like in terms of day to day life.

THE LESSON : 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 

Continue reading “Lent 1 – March 9, 2025 – Bulletin”

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

March 2, 2025

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

Today is the  last Sunday in the season of pre-Lent, where in today’s Gospel lesson we are given an image of Lent  as  a spiritual journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. What is the character of this journey? It is fundamentally a journey of healing- the healing of the blindness of our hearts as illustrated by the healing of the blind man at Jericho. After he was healed, followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, and would see with his own eyes, physical and spiritual,  what would happen there. In our epistle lesson St. Paul describes for us what the goal of our journey is: maturity in Christ that is the perfection of love, both our love for God and God’s love for us.

THE LESSON : 1 Corinthians 13. 1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

THE GOSPEL: Luke 18.31-43

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him,  “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

PARISH LIFE NOTES

TODAY there will be a single service of Morning Prayer and Holy Baptism at 10.30 a.m. followed by lunch in the parish hall. Please bring sandwiches and finger food to share.Join us as Anthony, Nora, Rufus, and Williams are grafted into Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic  Church.  

2025 LENTEN MISSION  with Revd. Howard Thorton will take place March 21-23 with addresses on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10.30 a.m. Please mark your calendars! ( Link )

ASH WEDNESDAY is a major  fasting day in our liturgical calendar to be broken with a light meal after the Evening Service. Please note schedule of services below. 

RECTOR’S PRAYER RETREAT AND STUDY LEAVE: Revd. Claude will be away from the parish from March 7-19. For pastoral emergencies contact Deacon Susan Page at 306- 775-7584.

HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM SALE: March 29, 2-4pm. Please contact Katie or Alanna if you have educational materials or books to donate. We are also looking for a couple of volunteers to serve coffee and cake.

85^th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DON. For anyone who knew Don from his days at St. Mary’s with his wife Gail, or his parents Reg and Daisy (now that’s way back!) – this is your invitation! He would so appreciate catching up with a blast from the past. Come celebrate with us: Friday, March 7, 2025 at St. Mary’s from 2-4 PM

WORSHIP THIS WEEK

Tuesday to Friday

• Morning Prayer at 8.30 a.m.

Ash Wednesday

• Morning Prayer and Litany at 8.30 a.m.
• Penitential Service, Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion at 5.30 p.m.

with the

REV. HOWARD THORNTON

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 at 7:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, MARCH 22 at 7.00 p.m.
SUNDAY, MARCH 23 at 10.30 a.m.

In a chaotic, ever-changing, unstable, anxiety producing world, what are the fixed points by which to navigate life? St. Paul writes,

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor.13.13)

Howard Thornton grew up in the small town of Bowness, Alberta (now part of Calgary). He studied Broadcasting at SAIT and for more than 25 years was a news, weather and current affairs presenter for CBC Television in Saskatchewan. Howard did graduate studies at Canadian Theological Seminary in Regina, and the University of Oxford. He served as university chaplain, as well as vicar of two parishes in the UK, and is recently retired parish priest of St. Michael and All Angels, in Canmore, and St. George’s in the Pines, Banff Alberta. Howard and his wife Carol have five children and three grand-children.