Readings

November 25: James Otis Sargent Huntington, Monastic and Priest, 1935

The Collect of the Day

James Otis Sargent Huntington

Preserve your people, O God, from discouragement in the face of adversity, as you did your servant James Huntington, knowing that when you have begun a good work you will bring it to completion. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

James Otis Sargent Huntington

Preserve thy people, O God, from discouragement in the face of adversity, as thou didst thy servant James Huntington, knowing that when thou hast begun a good work thou wilt bring it to completion. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

In the Rule for the Order of the Holy Cross, James Huntington wrote: “Holiness is the brightness of divine love, and love is never idle; it must accomplish great things.” Commitment to active ministry rooted in the spiritual life was the guiding principle for the founder of the first permanent Episcopal monastic community for men in the United States.

James Otis Sargent Huntington was born in Boston in 1854. After graduation from Harvard, he studied theology at St. Andrew’s Divinity School in Syracuse, New York, and was ordained as a deacon and as a priest by his father, the first Bishop of Central New York. In 1880 and 1881, he ministered in a working-class congregation at Calvary Mission, Syracuse.

While attending a retreat at St. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia, Huntington discerned a call to the religious life. He considered joining the Society of St. John the Evangelist, which had by that time established a province in the United States, but he perceived a need to found an indigenous American community.

Huntington and two other priests began their common life at Holy Cross Mission on New York’s Lower East Side, ministering with the Sisters of St. John Baptist among poor immigrants. The taxing daily regimen of Eucharist, prayer, and long hours of pastoral work soon forced one priest to leave for reason of health. The other discerned that this was not his vocation. Despite these setbacks, Huntington went on alone, and on November 25th, 1884, his life vow was received by Bishop Potter of New York.

As Huntington continued his work among the immigrants, with emphasis on helping young people, he became increasingly committed to the social witness of the church. His early involvements in the single-tax movement and the labor union movement were instrumental in the eventual commitment of the Episcopal Church to social ministries. The order gradually attracted vocations and, as it grew in the ensuing years, the community moved, first to Maryland, and, in 1902, to West Park, New York, where it established the monastery which is its mother house. Huntington served as Superior on several occasions, continuing his energetic round of preaching, teaching, and spiritual counsel until his death on June 28th, 1935. He is commemorated on November 25th in honor of his profession of life vows.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1I will bless the Lord at all times; *his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

2I will glory in the Lord; *let the humble hear and rejoice.

3Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *let us exalt his Name together.

4I sought the Lord, and he answered me *and delivered me out of all my terror.

5Look upon him and be radiant, *and let not your faces be ashamed.

6I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *and saved me from all my troubles.

7The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *and he will deliver them.

8Taste and see that the Lord is good; *happy are they who trust in him!

Gospel

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Galatians 6:14–18

14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! 16 As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. 18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

John 6:34–38

34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.