St. James Cathedral, Seattle

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.

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 17, 2024, the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Father Ryan offers brief remarks at the beginning of all Masses this weekend, reflecting on the election this past week.My friends, before we begin Mass, I feel the need to say something about the events of this past week.We have been through a long and bruising election season unlike any of us can remember. Some are elated about the outcome; others are heartbroken. And we bring all of that along with us to Mass this weekend. And even though our feelings about the outcome of the election may be very different, nevertheless, there is still so much that unites us. We wouldn't be here if that weren't case. We are sisters and brothers, part of the same Church, part of the Body of Christ, part of this wonderful community of faith. We need to keep that in mind going forward.And we need to pray, pray earnestly and honestly, pray for our President-elect and for all newly elected officials, pray from our joy, pray from our pain, pray with confidence to the God who loves each of us beyond measure; pray to the God for whom the differences that - to us – may seem insurmountable are really quite inconsequential when viewed against the great backdrop of God's plan for the human family. God's plan is for us to love one another; to build communities of love; to embrace the voiceless and the vulnerable; to work for a better world where all are valued, accepted, and loved. No matter how the future unfolds, we must never forget God's plan, never compromise those core beliefs.And, my friends, no matter what our politics may be, I believe that these are things we can all agree on as believers, things we can work together to bring about. It's what we have been doing for a long time at St. James Cathedral, and I am confident that we will continue that great work together!May our prayer today be a step in that direction. May it begin to bring about healing, mutual understanding, reconciliation, and peace. Let me conclude with words Abraham Lincoln spoke so long ago at his first inaugural, a moment in history when our nation was every bit as polarized as it is today:“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched…by the better angels of our nature.” May it be so!

Father Ryan preaches at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, November 10, 2024, the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time