I spent Saturday in Manhattan and had planned to attend Mass at The Church of Our Saviour for the Feast of Christ the King. Father George William Rutler, an influence on my life since my college days at Villanova University, is pastor there and the subtle brilliance and reverent beauty of his preaching is a blessing.



I'd gone north to New York for an exhibit of Spanish art at the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, The Ages of Mankind: Time to Hope, which was even more engrossing and moving than I'd expected and I lingered there, staying long enough that I needed to modify my plans and attend a later Mass. I made my way south to 50th Street and went with hundreds of others, native and visitor, through the bronze doors of Saint Patrick's Cathedral and felt, like them and as always, at home in that cavernous space that is never cold, but alive with humanity and faith, luminous with His Presence.



The Feast of Christ the King, but the director of music chose also one of the great hymns of Isaac Watts, a blessed reminder that our King is also our Good Shepherd. We sang to the anonymous tune Resignation. And a fitting memorial. The gifted and devoted Isaac Watts died on this date in 1748.



My Shepherd Will Supply My Need