April 6, 2020
I have been overcome with grief at times , and felt my heart like a stone in my breast, it was so heavy, and always I have heard, too, that voice, “Pray.”

What can we do? We can pray. We can pray without ceasing, as Saint Paul said. We can say with the apostles, “Lord, teach me to pray.” We can say with Saint Paul, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). Will our Father give us a stone when we ask for bread?

So I resolved then to be more careful not to omit certain devotions that I let myself off from on account of my irregular life and fatigue. I can realize all the more these words, “Can you not watch with me one hour?” (Matt 26:40). That, I have resolved, is to be my motto for the coming year, in order to foster recollection.

“Can you not watch with me one hour?”

I shall remember this whenever I am tired and want to omit prayer, the extra prayers I shall set myself. Because after all I am going to try to pray the simplest, humblest way, with no spiritual ambition.

The thing to remember is not to read so much or talk so much about God, but to talk to God.

To practice the presence of God.
This week might be the apex of the Coronavirus in New York. What we can do at this moment?

Yesterday’s 9:30 am forum focused on twentieth century spiritual leader Dorothy Day.  Her practice of faith can offer us support.

At the forum parishioner Blythe Randolph discussed her book Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century . ( The Corner Bookstore can help you get the book — and you can help the Corner Bookstore.)

Dorothy Day founded the Catholic Worker Community on the Lower East Side during the Great Depression and spent the remainder of her life serving with the most vulnerable. She grew up in an agnostic family and found her Christian faith as an adult. Her spirituality focused on our connections with each other.

Day didn’t hold a romantic view of faith. She was always direct about the difficulty of the work and the people whom she served. She wasn’t cloistered. Her faith engaged with the troubles of the world she experienced every day.

And every day she prayed and tried to serve as best she could.

In this Holy Week Dorothy Day’s example helps me. Prayer and service are ways that we can connect, even when we’re separated. I believe that connection is how we’ll come through the pandemic.

This week— exactly this time — is the moment to practice the presence of God by praying together, wherever we are, and by spotting small ways we can be of service with each other.

You are invited to walk Holy Week together with our community . We are here to support you, this week and always.
Grace and Peace,
‌
Matthew Heyd+
Rector
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