SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY
February 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 three Sundays before Lent, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sunday (from the Latin meaning “70 ”, “60” and “50”) are designed to help us prepare for the spiritual undertaking which lies before us during the 40 days of Lent. Lent, as the lessons on these Sundays show us, is understood to be both a spiritual labour, and a spiritual pilgrimage or journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, where, sharing in His death and resurrection, we are united to Christ in a communion of perfect love. In the Gospel lesson today Jesus tells the “Parable of the Sower” which is perhaps better titled, “The Parable of the Soils” which points us to the discipline of prayer and meditation which must accompany our fasting and self- discipline in Lent. In our Epistle lesson today St. Paul, speaking from personal experience, identifies the difficulties we will encounter enroute and which will detract us from our goal: both outwardly difficult circumstances and our own inner, personal weakness, teaching us that this not a journey of “success” , “self-improvement”, or “progress” but rather union with Christ in His Cross.