Anticipation... Fulfilled !

Today's celebration of Candlemas met all my expectations, and then some! It was really great. The weather was beautiful (despite forecasts of snow and/or gale-force winds) and we actually had some sunshine for the outdoor procession (though the wind did put out the majority of the candles!)

The music was uplifting, and slightly mournful (which totally made me think of Simeon's prophecy to Our Lady.) The servers were great.

Fr Z was present in choir - I suspect jet-lag was catching up with him, and he was due to say the evening Mass in the parish. Fr. Tim preached an excellent sermon on the meaning of "purification" and the comparison between Christ's silent and unnoticed arrival in the Temple with his silent and often unnoticed descent onto our altars during Mass.

I came with my dinky phone camera all charged up and ready to take photos. Fr. Tim is obviously unimpressed with the quality usually obtained: he handed over his snazzy digital camera. I look forward to seeing what he makes of the shots I took.

UPDATE: I see that Fr. Z has already posted on the events at Blackfen... and of course, he had his own camera. You can see an excellent shot of the Elevation here.