When we first decided to seek out a worship space for our parish, we contacted the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and asked them if they knew of any churches in the area that may be open to hosting another congregation. One of the churches recommended was St Peters in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Father Al contacted the then Rector of St. Peters, Reverend Anjel Scarborough and they decided to meet at the church. It was a great meeting as Anjel and Al really connected with each other. As they concluded Mother Anjel said there was one hitch: she will probably be leaving St. Peters and until a new priest is assigned, any decision will have to wait since it will be up to that Rector and not her.
Then Anjel said, "...by the way what is the name of your parish?" Al replied, "Our Lady Undoer of Knots." "Hmmm... “ Anjel said. “We are having a fundraiser for a member of our parish who is ill. It's an auction being hosted at the art gallery across the parking lot there. There is an icon being auctioned off you might like, among other things. You may want to check it out."
That weekend Al went to the auction and there before his eyes was a beautiful icon of Our Lady Undoer of Knots!! She has such penetrating yet loving eyes, with a small but confident smile, and is seated holding her Son. He immediately put in a bid and won! As he returned to the gallery to retrieve the painting, he talked with the dealer who was commenting on how stunningly beautiful this icon was. He said, "You know, it's an original." "I can see that." said Father Al. "Who is the painter?" "The dealer replied, "why …Mother Anjel Scarborough of course."
God and Mary work in marvelous ways indeed.
We eventually moved into our present host church, St. Marks on the Hill in Pikesville MD. But Reverend Scarborough's amazing icon of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, has her place of honor in our sanctuary at every liturgy. At the end of every Mass, we approach Mary through her icon and offer a hymn and prayer to her to ask her help in undoing the knots in our lives.
Thank you, Mother Anjel....