Naughty Cat...

This is the sort of thing my two get up to, but never when I've got my camera handy. The expression on the cat's face is really priceless.

The Season Of Septuagesima...

One of the things that I love about the Traditional Latin Mass is that it adheres to the old liturgical calendar, with all the Vigils, Octaves and seasons. I particularly like the season of Septuagesima - the two and a half weeks before Lent. The idea is that we need to prepare for the great feast of Easter by observing Lent, but the forty days of Lent form such a pivotal part of our spiritual conversion that we actually need time to prepare for it as well, hence the gentle mournfulness of the season. The Alleluia is "buried" until Easter, the Gloria is not sung at Sunday Mass (nor the Te Deum at Matins), and purple vestments are worn.

I was fascinated to read the history of Septuagesima as written by Dom Guéranger, OSB, and the relationship to the forty days of Lent. Apparently, in the Greek Church, they didn't fast on Thursdays, Saturdays or Sundays, and so, to make up the forty days, Lent actually started on Septuagesima. In the Latin Church, however, Lent began on Quadragesima Sunday, but, since Sundays were not counted as fasting days, Lent was only 36 days long (as noted by St. Gregory the Great in one of his homilies, quoted by Dom Guéranger.)

Therefore, in order to make up the "shortfall", the Latin Church started her Lenten fast on Ash Wednesday...

If you want to read more about the liturgy for Septuagesima, Zephyrinus has posted the texts (and explanatory notes) from the Saint Andrew's Daily Missal, which form a wonderful resource for prayerful contemplation. He has posted each Sunday separately (Septuagesima Sunday, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima) - the latter is from last year, but will be changed when this year's post is up.

There's only a week to go before Lent (I'm a little late in posting this!) but at least, due to the old calendar, Ash Wednesday won't catch me unawares...

Competitive Cats...

Kitty-watching can be most entertaining at times.

Miaowrini has been using the cat bed on top of one of the wardrobes for quite some time, but suddenly it's being taken over by Furretti. On finding her spot occupied the other day, Miaowrini looked a little forlorn, so I fetched a second cat bed and placed it on a trolley at the foot of my bed (not quite such a good location as the first bed, it would seem). After a little while, Miaowrini made herself comfortable, with all the circling, paw-kneading and purring which she used to carry out in her previous spot. And then she appeared to go to sleep.

Five minutes later, Furretti got up to go to the kitchen and munch some cat biscuits.

Quick as a flash, Miaowrini jumped down from her bed, scooted across the room and jumped up to the wardrobe. In less than a minute, she had settled down again to sleep, this time in her favourite spot.

Furretti returned, found that she had been supplanted, and retired to the sitting room in a huff.

Possession, it would seem, is nine points of the law for cats as well as humans...