Seeing Out The Old...

I love the fact that, at Blackfen, we are blessed with a Parish Priest who likes to help his parishioners clock up as many plenary indulgences as possible! To help us in this endeavour, we get to see out each old year with a final Holy Hour where we pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament and sing the Te Deum in thanksgiving for all the blessings we received during the previous year, and finishing with Benediction at midnight.

If Fr. Finigan gets the timing just right, the fireworks are exploding outside just as we receive the Benediction. This year we were slightly off, as the absence of organ accompaniment for the hymn Of the Father's Love Begotten meant that we sang it at a brisker pace than usual - very necessary if you don't want the hymn to become a dirge. In addition, the rain was really tipping it down, which resulted in a rather muted firework effect just as we began the Divine Praises...

I have loaded a few photos up on Flickr - do go and have a look!