More Sea Views...

The subjects for my blogposts seem to fall into three categories of late: cats, the seaside and church activities. At the risk of boring you all to death, this is going to be yet another one of my seaside posts!

The weather has been pretty ghastly over Half Term. If I was visiting, I'd probably be pretty miffed - I guess that's why people go abroad for holidays, where the weather is more predictable. However, as I actually live here, I can enjoy the scenery in bad weather without feeling as if I've lost an opportunity to catch the sun.

It was so windy at the beginning of the week that even the majority of the gulls were hunkering down on the grass - one or two tried flying, but were rapidly blown back inland. I drove down to the car park on Westbrook promenade and took a few photos of the waves...

I could see from the remnants of surf on the walkway just how far the waves were reaching. I'm no lightweight, and there were two sets of railings between me and the water, so little chance of my being swept out to sea at that point, but I had no intention of getting soaked by a rogue wave! I decided to beat a fairly rapid retreat to the comfort of my own front room.

This evening the weather was considerably drier, and the wind had dropped - though a sea mist appeared to be building. I could barely make out where the sea ended and the sky began. The tide was out, which allowed me to see just how deep the water got at high tide - it's difficult to judge when the tide is actually in. Even so, I thought a few more photos, especially of the sunset, wouldn't go amiss. If the view was good enough for Turner to capture more than once, then who am I to disagree...?

I hope to get a few more photos once the Summer weather makes an appearance...

Corpus Christi...

We were very fortunate in Margate to be able to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi with a TLM on the proper day. On the Sunday, however, the Deanery held its Corpus Christi procession at the Shrine of St. Augustine in Ramsgate.

It was a huge success - over 350 people squeezed in to the church to adore Our Lord. Children who had made their First Holy Communion were invited to ring bells and scatter rose petals before the Blessed Sacrament as the procession walked along the seafront promenade.

A few years ago, someone rather dismissively told me that no-one bothered with silly things like processions any more...

Do have a look at the pictures of no-one bothering...!

St. Augustine's Feast Day...

Last Saturday was the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury (in the old calendar), and, as the National Shrine is in Ramsgate, we had the opportunity to venerate the only relic extant in England (I think that was what Fr. Holden said in his introduction... I shall have to try to pin him down on that one!) It was wonderful to see so many people making a pilgrimage to honour the saint.

After a procession with the relic along Ramsgate's Westcliff promenade, there was a High Mass, with Fr. Armand de Malleray FSSP as celebrant.

Fr. de Malleray's sermon gave plenty of food for thought, particularly when he contrasted the secular disbelief in the power of priests to change the bread and wine through the words of Consecration at Mass with the total acceptance that words spoken in Parliament can actually change physical realities. As Fr. de Malleray pointed out, through the words spoken by Black Rod, thousands of women found that they were no longer carrying a child in their womb, but merely a collection of tissues and cells!

Fr. Marcus Holden, the Rector of the Shrine (and Parish Priest of Ramsgate) has organised a whole series of events for Half Term celebrating the work of St. Augustine - you can find out more here.

There are also more photos to see on my Flickr album page.