CARNIVAL SUNDAY - FEBRUARY 14th
A final celebration before we begin our Lenten pilgrimage. Holy Eucharist at 10 AM
The Mardi Gras Carnival Tradition evolved as an explosive celebration prior to beginning the solemnity and abstinence of the Lenten season. The Cathedral adapts this theme liturgically in our own tradition. Click here for this Sunday’s service leaflet.
This festive liturgical celebration will include special music by the Cathedral Singers and guest instrumentalists.
The Missa Luba, a beautiful Mass setting in Congolese style with percussion will be sung during the Liturgy. The Rev. Andre Trevathan will be the Homilist. Dean Lloyd S. Casson will preside. A reception will take place featuring favorite Mardi Gras dishes. Laissez les bon temp roulée!
SCRIPTURE LESSONS FOR THIS SUNDAY
THE TRANSFIGURATION – February 14, 2010
Last Sunday After Epiphany
EXODUS 34:29-35.
This is an imaginative description of what might have happened after Moses came face to face with God. Moses had been in the very presence of God to receive the commandments. His brother Aaron and all the Israelites knew this because his face shone. This strange phenomenon symbolized that these commandments had come from God, not from Moses himself. The shining presence in God’s messenger represented the divine authority behind the commandments.
PSALM 99.
This is the last of a series of psalms used in the temple ritual, which some scholars believe celebrated the enthronement of God as Israel’s ruler at the new year festival. It focuses on God’s justice and praises God for providential and merciful guidance throughout Israel’s history from the time of Moses onward.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:12-4:2.
Because Paul had quite another purpose in mind, he reinterpreted the story of Moses covering his shining face with a veil. He declared that God’s authority comes not from the commandments Moses brought to the Israelites, but from the risen Christ who is now present with the church through the gift of the Spirit. So the church is able to speak truthfully and authoritatively for God as we proclaim the gospel.
LUKE 9:29-43.
Luke tells of the transfiguration of Jesus with the same Old Testament lesson in mind to make the same point Paul made: Jesus represents God and God’s authority along with Moses and Elijah. The healing of the epileptic child proves that this is no pious hope, but a spiritual reality breaking in upon the natural scheme of things in a distressed world. Our troubled time needs to hear this hopeful message.
1 Feb, 2010 — Daniel Tomko
