Anniversary Of The Dedication Of The Church...

As promised, I had my proper camera with me at Mass today.

The weather was more like November than October, which messed up the lighting conditions, and, in retrospect, I would probably have been better off using the monopod. However, my knee is really painful in the cold, damp weather - I also think I strained it when carrying Sylvester to and from my car on his numerous visits to the vet last weekend - and I couldn't be bothered with a monopod as well as the crutches.

There was a wedding booked for the afternoon. The bride had been asked by the Sacristan to honour the floral colour scheme already chosen to decorate the church this weekend (yellow and white for the Holy Father and blue for Our Lady) and so the pews were adorned with yellow roses (and some white flowers) and some tree-like constructions were in evidence. This caused me some amusement, as I reflected what Sylvester would have done with them...

The schola was in good voice, and the Mass was wonderful - but then, it always is. Today was the anniversary of the consecration of the church of Our Lady of the Rosary. As a result, Fr. Tim's sermon touched on the need to keep churches as a sacred space, dedicated for the worship of God.

It was also the Feast of the Guardian Angels today. In the Ordinary Form this would have been completely superseded by the anniversary of the dedication of the parish church, but, in the Extraordinary Form, the Guardian Angels got commemorated as well, which is something I love... (I hasten to point out that the Guardian Angels were commemorated at Vespers, and not at Mass...)

We then went in to the Parish Club for a burger - the bar was also open for anyone who fancied a little liquid refreshment... I wasn't in the mood, so stuck to tea and coca cola... not at the same time, you understand...

The main wedding party arrived in a couple of rather nice cars - and I couldn't resist popping out to catch them on camera... One of the chauffeurs offered to take a picture of me beside the cars... I quickly explained that I loathe having my photo taken, and that his photographic skills would therefore not be required...

And then it was time for Vespers... I think I'm getting better at singing psalm tones: I was able to join in with most of them.

After Vespers, we went straight on to Benediction...

I love the way everyone bows at the line "veneremur cernui" in the Tantum ergo...

And then the Benediction itself...

A wonderful start to the month of October. Tomorrow we have a Marian Procession in the afternoon (3pm). I just hope that the weather is a bit drier than today...