On Sunday, September 28th, 2025, the Congregation of St. Michael and All Angels in the Parish of Deer Lake celebrated its patronal festival. In the liturgical calendar of the church, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels is celebrated on September 29. For a number of years, prior to my arrival in the Parish of Deer Lake, they have celebrated their patronal festival on the last Sunday of September, being the closest to the feast day. Not only do we feast spiritually in word and sacrament but, after worship, there is always a feast in the church hall.
This year, in preparing to preach, I kept thinking about the patronage of St. Michael and All Angels in my life. I cannot think of a time in my life where I have not been influenced by St. Michael and All Angels. It goes back to the day of my baptism. I was baptized at St. Peter’s (Upper Gullies), Conception Bay South. Yet one of my godfathers was a parishioner of the former St. Michael and All Angels in St. John’s. For the benefit of the parishioners of that former parish in St. John’s; my godfather was the late Mr. Cecil Andrews, better known to me as Mr. Cec. He told me stories of how as a young boy he attended worship when the parish was located on Casey Street. He told me of how his mother, who being widowed at an early age and having to send some of her children to the “Church of England Orphanage,” did all she could do to provide for her young family. Mr. Cec’s mother would wash the surplices of the choir, servers, and clergy twice a year—Christmas and Easter—at the price paid to her by the parish, two cents per surplice. This, of course, was back in the day when washing was done in a galvanized wash tub, a bar of Sunlight soap, and a scrubbing board. I remember the stories of how Mr. Cec sang in the choir in the Casey Street location. When Mr. Cec passed from this life to the life everlasting, his requiem was held at St. Michael and All Angels, then on St. Claire Avenue, in 2008. The late Fr. Chris Snow gave me the privilege of being the Eucharistic Assistant at the funeral.
Fast forward to my own ordained ministry. In 2012, when I was appointed to the Parish of Southeast Labrador, one of the congregations under my care was the congregation in Charlottetown. The name of the congregation in Charlottetown was and still is St. Michael and All Angels. In 2014, I moved to the Parish of Rose Blanche. The congregation in Rose Blanche is St. Michael and All Angels. In coming to Deer Lake in 2021, the name of the congregation in Deer Lake is St. Michael and All Angels. It is certainly a lot to think about and, whether it was when I was writing my sermon for that day or writing this article, words cannot express the thoughts and feelings that I have in becoming aware of the fact that St. Michael and All Angels has had such an impact on my spiritual journey.
May we each think about the places and people that form us in our spiritual journey. I am certain that if we all think about such things, we will come to the realization that there are places and saints, in the past and in the present, which shape our spiritual journey. May St. Michael and All Angels protect each and every single one of us.
