St. James Cathedral, Seattle

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass at St. James Cathedral on Sunday, January 11, 2026, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.Father Gary F. Lazzeroni | The Baptism of the Lord

“Praise to the holiest”From The Dream of Gerontius by St. John Henry NewmanPraise to the Holiest in the heightAnd in the depth be praise:In all His words most wonderful;Most sure in all His ways!O loving wisdom of our God!When all was sin and shame,A second Adam to the fightAnd to the rescue came.O wisest love! that flesh and bloodWhich did in Adam fail,Should strive afresh against the foe,Should strive and should prevail;And that a higher gift than graceShould flesh and blood refine,God's Presence and His very Self,And Essence all-divine.O generous love! that He who smoteIn man for man the foe,The double agony in manFor man should undergo;And in the garden secretly,And on the cross on high,Should teach His brethren and inspireTo suffer and to die.On November 1 of last year, All Saints Day, Pope Leo XIV declared Saint John Henry Newman – Cardinal Newman – as a Doctor of the Church. There are thousands of saints—but there are only 38 Doctors: saints who not only inspire us by their example and aid us by their intercession, but whose writing and teaching have had a profound impact on the Church. Cardinal Newman's writings have shaped the Church's understanding in many ways—especially his teaching on the development of doctrine and on Catholic education. Newman was more than a theologian: he was a preacher, a poet, even a novelist. The poem Scott read is taken from his long poem The Dream of Gerontius, which was published in 1865, when Newman was 64 years old. This poem is written in parts like a verse drama or an oratorio (it was later magnificently set to music by Elgar).Gerontius means “old man.” In the poem, Gerontius is an “everyman,” a “soul” who experiences death and what comes after death.The poem begins with Gerontius, the old man, on his deathbed, friends and priest gathered around, praying for him. But his death is only the beginning. Most of the poem takes the form of a dialogue with his guardian angel, who introduces him to the mysterious world of heaven and helps him prepare to meet God face to face.  At the end, he comes before God's throne, and then is led –joyfully - to Purgatory to be made ready for heaven.The poem Scott read is one of several choruses of angelical beings which the soul hears along the way. It's a song of praise, which marvels at the “loving wisdom” and “wisest love” of God in the redeeming work of Christ. The poem uses the Scriptural image of Christ as the “new Adam.” In Adam, our “flesh and blood” was vanquished; in Christ, that same flesh and blood prevails against the enemy. But there is more than a victory won here: there is “a higher gift than grace,” for in Christ our “flesh and blood” are “refined,” with God's Presence, Self, and Essence. Christ is truly human—and truly God.The last two stanzas speak of the suffering Christ underwent, for us, and as one of us. The “double agony” is interior and exterior: anguish of soul in Gethsemane, and physical torment on the cross. God's wise love is also “generous love”: for when Christ dies on the cross, he is still teaching, showing us how to suffer, and how to die.This song comes close to the end of The Dream of Gerontius. This great mystery of our redemption is what prepares the soul to enter the presence of God. And judgment is no longer terrifying. In life, says Gerontius, “the thought of death / And judgment was to me most terrible. / I had it aye before me, and I saw / The Judge severe e'en in the crucifix. / Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled.” In the face of Christ's generous, self-emptying love, fear is no longer possible.Newman's poem about the life that awaits us after death has the feeling of an adventure, a great journey, as the soul discovers that life is not over—it has only just begun. As with poems like The Divine Comedy of Dante and Paradise Lost of Milton, we come away from The Dream of Gerontius feeling that heaven and the afterlife are more real, more vivid, than this life and this world.Newman describes eternal life with urgency and eagerness, without ever dismissing this life as unimportant. Instead, the poem invites us to live life differently, and to look to death—and even judgment—with joy and hope. As Pope Leo XIV said of Cardinal Newman, “The lives of the saints teach us that it is possible to live passionately amidst the complexity of the present, without neglecting the apostolic mandate to shine like stars in the world” ( Pope Leo XIV).

Archbishop Paul D. Etienne preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, December 28, 2025, the Conclusion of the Jubilee Year of Hope.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 4:30pm Mass on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, December 21, 2025, the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

Father Michael G. Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, December 14, 2025, the Third Sunday of Advent.

T. S. EliotFour QuartetsFrom "Little Gidding"VWhat we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.The end is where we start from.…With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this CallingWe shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.Through the unknown, remembered gateWhen the last of earth left to discoverIs that which was the beginning;At the source of the longest riverThe voice of the hidden waterfallAnd the children in the apple-treeNot known, because not looked forBut heard, half-heard, in the stillnessBetween two waves of the sea.Quick now, here, now, always—A condition of complete simplicity(Costing not less than everything)And all shall be well andAll manner of thing shall be wellWhen the tongues of flame are in-foldedInto the crowned knot of fireAnd the fire and the rose are one.This poem is typical of T. S. Eliot in its combination of deceptively simple language – “the end is where we start from” – and intricate, densely allusive imagery.Each of the “Four Quartets” is named for a significant place. Burnt Norton, East Coker, and the Dry Salvages are places that were important in Eliot's own life. Little Gidding is a place that is significant not so much for Eliot's personal history, as for English history.Little Gidding is a village in Huntingdonshire where, in 1625, a man named Nicholas Ferrar purchased a manor house, restored a church, and, with a circle of family and friends, dedicated himself to living as a Christian community.  They had a schedule to ensure that perpetual prayer was being offered, night and day. They ran workshops, among them a bindery that published religious works—including The Temple of George Herbert. King Charles I visited Little Gidding several times, beginning in 1633, and in 1646, the defeated king took refuge at Little Gidding. Under Puritan rule, the community at Little Gidding was forcibly disbanded.For T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding represented the ideal form of Anglican Christianity. Given its history, the village also represented a place of refuge for embattled England in wartime (“Little Gidding” was written in 1942).  The portion that Lisa read is the very last part of the poem, which brings to a conclusion not only “Little Gidding” but the whole sequence of Four Quartets. And it's a wonderfully hopeful conclusion.Throughout the Four Quartets, Eliot has dwelt on themes of beginnings and endings, time and eternity. For Eliot, time, viewed in the light of the Incarnation of Christ, is paradox: “What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning. / The end is where we start from.” As he says elsewhere in Four Quartets, “all is always now.” Thus the gate we arrive at is “unknown” yet “remembered,” and the last “discovery” is of what has already been. We exist in time, but we are also in God's time: “now, here, now, always.”What does this talk of beginnings and endings mean for a world in crisis?  Eliot turns to the medieval English mystic Julian of Norwich, who experienced a series of extraordinary revelations in 1373. Troubled by the mystery of sin, Julian wrote:  “Often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted: for then, methought, all should have been well.” But this way of thinking, she realizes, was “folly.” Christ tells her: “It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”Sin exists; and yet “all shall be well.” This is not a simplistic acquiescence to evil in the world, doing nothing about it since “all will be well” in the end. Julian's faith, like Eliot's, is active, not passive. It is a “condition of complete simplicity,” but getting there is a journey, an adventure, a quest, which will cost us “not less than everything.”During this season of Advent and Christmas, “Little Gidding” has special resonance. At Christmas, Christ enters into time, and all time is changed—past, present, future. “The end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.” This is the adventure of Christmas: to see all things, past and present, in new ways, in the light of the Incarnation.Corinna Laughlin 

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, December 7, 2025, the Second Sunday of Advent.

Archbishop Etienne preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 16, 2025, the World Day of the Poor.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 9, 2025, the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 2, 2025, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, October 19, 2025, the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Mike Raschko preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, October 12, 2025, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Today at the 10:00am Mass, the communities of St. James Cathedral, Immaculate Conception, and Christ Our Hope gathered for the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the installation of Father Gary Lazzeroni as pastor.

Father Steve Sundborg, SJ, preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, September 7, 2025, the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, August 31, 2025, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Enjoy the last song of Choir Camp, from Kenya! The children sing at the conclusion of the 10:00am Mass.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, August 17, 2025, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 8:00am Mass on August 10, 2025, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on August 3, 2025, the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Gary Lazzeroni, pastor, preaches on Sunday, July 27, 2025, the Feast of St. James.

Father Gary Lazzeroni preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, July 13, 2025, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Welcome, Father Gary Lazzeroni, 9th Pastor of St. James Cathedral, 10:00am Mass, Sunday, July 6, 2025.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, June 29, 2025, the Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul, Apostles, his last weekend as pastor of St. James Cathedral.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, June 22, 2025, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi).

Father Ryan preaches at the 8:00am Mass on Trinity Sunday, June 15, 2025

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 2025.

On Pentecost Sunday, parishioners and friends offered words of thanks to Father Ryan at the conclusion of each Mass, sharing the ways his ministry over these past thirty-seven years has impacted them. The tributes are from: Tom Campion, Rev. Steve Thomason, Rachel Bungay, Mary Lee, Sister Sharon Casey, Rabbi Daniel Weiner, the Macaraeg Cueto Family, Susan Jones, and Rev. Bill Heric.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, June 1, 2025, the Ascension of the Lord.

Father Ryan preaches at the 8:00am Mass on Sunday, May 25, 2025, the 6th Sunday of Easter.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, May 18, 2025, the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, May 11, 2025, the Fourth Sunday of Easter.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on May 4, 2025, the 3rd Sunday of Easter. 

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, April 27, 2025, Divine Mercy Sunday.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass at St. James Cathedral on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. Happy Easter!

Father Ryan preaches at the 8:00am Mass on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, March 30, 2025, the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, March 23, 2025, the Third Sunday of Lent.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, March 2, 2025, the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, February 23, 2025, the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, February 9, 2025, the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, February 2, 2025, the Presentation of the Lord.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, January 19, 2025,the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, January 12, 2025, the Baptism of the Lord.Father Michael G. Ryan | The Baptism of the Lord

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, January 5, 2025, the Epiphany of the Lord. Father Michael G. Ryan | Epiphany

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass, Sunday, December 29, 2024, the Solemnity of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Christmas Day, December 25, 2024.Father Michael G. Ryan | The Nativity of the Lord

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, December 22, 2024, the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the 117th anniversary of the Dedication of St. James Cathedral.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 15, 2025.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 24, 2024, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.