12th and Massachusetts Ave, NW  - Washington, DC 20005 - 202.347.8161

For your calendar -- Summer breaks

  • ​Childcare - Maya Little, Nursery Coordinator, will be in the nursery at 9:30 am. 
  • Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) - CGS is on Summer Vacation until September.
  • Youth Group - The Youth Group is also on Summer Vacation until September.
  • Thursday Services Discontinued -  Beginning June 22, Thursday services will be discontinued. The Wednesday evening services will remain as scheduled. 
  • "Light and Peace" Service  will return in October -- There will be no "Light and Peace" service (our monthly Sunday contemplative evening prayer), during the months of July and August. We will resume the second Sunday in October -- as the second Sunday in September will be the Installation of Fr. Dominique as the 18th Rector of the parish.

Looking ahead

Sunday, September 10
  • 10:00 am Choir returns. Youth Group returns from summer break. CGS (Sunday School) resumes.
  • 4:00 pm The Installation of Fr. Dominique as the 18th Rector of Ascension and Saint Agnes.  The Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Bishop of Washington, will officiate.
​Sunday, September 17
  • Holy Cross Sunday, 8 am & 10 am.
Sunday, October 8
  • 10:00 am Baptism of Carter Anthony Harris, born earlier this year.

From the Desk of the Rector (#12thandMass):

PictureFather Dominique Peridans
Like infants...
We have the blessing of babies in our midst (most recently, Daniel Vish and Carter Harris) and of little children who play and giggle during our time of fellowship following our main service (the 10:00 AM Mass). Jesus has more than an eye on them. And, Jesus makes wonderful use of them to speak to us-in many ways. Indeed, Jesus presents them as models for our relationship with Him. But, what is it about them that it behooves us to imitate? They are a living metaphor for what exactly regarding the spiritual life? There is something about them that disposes them-and us, when we imitate them-to receiving the secrets of God.

In this Sunday's gospel, we read
 
At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will".
 
Saint Augustine (+430) asks, "Who are 'infants" but the humble?" Oh, humility.
 
Saint Hilary (+368) speaks along similar lines in commenting on this passage: "the hidden things of heavenly words and their power are...hid from the wise because of their presumption of their own wisdom, not because of their wisdom".
 
Humility of heart is the key to intimacy with God, to being friends of Jesus. A humble heart is a heart that is open and receptive, and thus a heart into which Jesus can deposit the secrets of divine love. "I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father".(John 15:15)
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