Which Way Is Up?

Things have been busy, as I mentioned in my last post. Looks like the weekend is going to be even busier...

Tonight, there is a Missa Cantata at St. Mary's, Chislehurst, for the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady. Then tomorrow, there are the usual Saturday morning devotions (Mass, Exposition, Benediction) at Blackfen, and then there is the Latin Mass Society Annual Requiem at Westminster Cathedral... with some of us retreating to the Buckingham Arms in Petty France afterwards. And Sunday brings the usual Missa Cantata.

Not that I'm complaining, you understand...

I just might not get around to doing much in the way of blogging...

Why is it that, just when I actually have some bloggable stuff to talk about, I don't actually have time to blog...

Blogging Lite...

Not only have I been extremely busy, but I've been getting home a little late each evening.  As part of my rule of life involves going to bed at a reasonable hour, I have found myself having to choose between making myself something to eat and blogging.  Alas, I haven't quite perfected the art of doing both at the same time, at least, not without quite a bit of my dinner ending up on the keyboard.  This is not conducive to good blogging experiences, as pasta in pesto sauce does tend to make the keys a little sticky...

So, this is just to assure you that I'm still alive.

I am also in need of a kitty-picture, just to brighten my evening.

Patron Saints For 2009...

2008 is drawing to a close, which means that it's time to find out who your Patron Saint for 2009 will be.  There's something rather appealing about the idea of getting a saint assigned to you by someone else, because it feels as if the saint is actually choosing you !

My patron this year was St. Peter Chrysologus.  I can't wait to find out who I get next year!

Angela Messenger is kindly undertaking this mammoth task... only, precisely because it is such a mammoth task, she is imposing a closing date, which is December 1st 2008.  By my reckoning, that leaves two weeks to put in a request.

Good luck.

Mantilla-twitch to Adrienne, who reminded me about the assignment of Patron Saints!

Oldies But Goodies...

These are two hoary old chestnuts of teaching lore.  They are, however, still very, very funny, and render me liable to fits of giggles whenever I stumble across this sort of question "for real" !

Twitch of the mantilla to Andrew at Unam Sanctam.

I Won... I Won!...

Well, ok, I was just one of several winners, but who's counting?  The Original-and-Best Catholic Neanderthal has chosen my blog to receive his "coolest blog" award.

Not entirely convinced that lilac butterflies are cool, but an award's an award, and I got mine.

Hah!

It was especially nice because I have been neglecting the blog a bit of late (I've been busy.  And tired.  And probably anaemic.  And ranting about stuff needs energy...) and I just happened to find it on Cavey's blog (he doesn't do "com-box announcements", it seems!)

The rules (which Cavey forgot to mention) are that you pick 10 blogs, tell them they have won an award and link back to the person who gave it to you first.

So, now to pass it on.  I think these blogs are pretty cool...

1.  Leutgeb's - Bara Brith

2.  Karen's - Gem of the Ocean

3.  Fr. Ray Blake's - St. Mary Magdalen

4.  Fr. Tim Finigan's - The Hermeneutic of Continuity

5.  Anna Arco's - Catholic Herald Diary

6.  Jackie Parkes' - Catholic Mom of 10

7.  Paulinus' - In Hoc Signo Vinces

8.  Ttony's - The Muniment Room

9.  Newhousenewjob's - Just Doing My Best

10. The Mother of This Lot's - Mother's Pride

Unfortunately, there are so many more blogs I wanted to mention...

Winter Warmer

This has become a parish tradition: a lunch, with a few stalls, run by our Union of Catholic Mothers.

The lunch is simple, but very good.  On the menu today was pumpkin soup (I understand that this was delicious, but having a severe aversion to anything remotely resembling a vegetable, I didn't partake... you'll just have to take Leutgeb's word for it, and, as she's an excellent cook herself, I think that's a pretty safe bet!) with fresh French bread, followed by sandwiches, tea and a mince pie.  Not at all bad for £4.

There was mulled wine available, and popcorn, a couple of raffles (I don't recall what the prizes were, and I rarely win anything anyway, but that's not the point, so I just bought some tickets...), a flower stall, and, my all-time favourite, the cakes' stall.  We have some seriously good bakers among our UCM members.  I made a bee-line for this stall and promptly snaffled a rather nice Christmas cake, (which will do well as a little offering on Christmas Day when I go down to visit my sister), a cake, iced in virulent green icing (but enticingly labelled "sultana-and-sherry") which will make an appearance in the Science Faculty office on Monday morning (it's going to be a tough week ahead, so we will need a little treat!) and a small jam-and-cream-filled Victoria sponge which is mine, all mine!

I also bought some little chocolate cup cakes, which will just have to be eaten quickly, lest they go stale.  It's such an onerous task, but I guess I'll have to try...

Food For Thought...

At the Union of Catholic Mothers' Winter Warmer event this lunchtime, I got into a conversation about narrow escapes...  The woman I was chatting to recounted how her son and his wife had been shoved along the motorway (for some distance) by a lorry and somehow had escaped injury.

"Yes," she said, "I went and put some money in the poor box in church, because someone was definitely looking out for them..."

The way she said it, it seemed a perfectly natural connection to make between almsgiving and thanksgiving... but I'd never heard it made before (I'd always associated almsgiving with penance!) What a wonderful response... it definitely gave me food for thought!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Life has sort of taken over... It's been hectic at school, getting progress reports done, and having Parents' Evening, and this evening I just wanted to chill out away from the computer (there was a particularly good pistachio ice cream with my name on it!) and I'm now going to go to bed.

Normal blogging service will resume shortly...

Just In Case You Were Wondering...

... What to get me for Christmas...? Ok, ok, it's a long-shot, I know, but I quite liked this little arrangement!

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Z (and I want to know if he gets one!)

A Day Out...

I had one of those "Insect Days" today*.  It was a personal one, in that I was out on a training course, rather than a whole-school one (where the students are off, but the teachers are not!) Alas, it wasn't in Barcelona... however, Barcelona might have been a little easier to get to, and I believe that the journey is about the same length!

My INSET day was in Islington, at the Hilton Hotel, and it was a training day on how to teach the new GCE AS/A Level Biology specification.  The fact that we have been teaching the new specification since September is beside the point... it takes the Exam Boards a little bit of time to catch up... after all, they have to work out what's going to be in the exam first!

As the only road-route from my home to Islington would have involved driving through the centre of town (in the morning rush hour), thereby incurring the Congestion Charge and exorbitant parking fees, followed by the joys of driving back through the centre of town during the evening rush hour, I decided that it probably wasn't going to be practical. So, I was forced to use public transport.

The journey would have been pretty straightforward, if I hadn't had one of my blonde moments. I needed to get to the Angel, Islington, a tube station on the Northern Line.  I remembered that the Northern Line went through both London Bridge and Charing Cross... so a train going to either of those two London stations would be ok.  And I remembered that trains to these two stations left from Sidcup every 15 minutes or so, whereas trains from my nearest station only went to one of these stations, every half hour.

In a moment of what I thought was sheer inspiration I decided that, by driving to Sidcup, I would double my chances of getting a train, and it would make my evening easier too, as I had to go to Eltham afterwards.  I happily caught the first train to arrive at the platform, which happened to be the Charing Cross train, and congratulated myself on my inspired decision...

Unfortunately my inspired decision forgot to take into account the little fact that the Northern Line has two separate branches.

The Angel, Islington is on one branch.  Charing Cross is on the other.

I did arrive, eventually, albeit a little late...

Going home was much simpler.  I did have to run the gauntlet of several charity workers who were busy accosting passers-by in an attempt to drum up funding.  It was interesting to observe the different techniques they employed.  Avoiding eye contact with them, and walking briskly seemed to put most of them off, but one young man seemed to have this sussed: he waved his hands (and you can't help but look, as the human eye is automatically drawn to movement) and then smiled in a very engaging way (and you can't help responding to a smile) and then he started his little speech walking backwards in front of me...  Such persistence deserved a few minutes of my time, though, as the charity concerned has connections with the Brook, I didn't part with any money!

* "Insect Days" (the nickname is given because so many children mis-hear the phrase!) are actually "INSET days" (in-service training days) for teachers.  The individual training courses (usually subject specific) are often quite useful; the whole-school days are generally a waste of time!

And So It Begins...

... A snippet heard this morning on the radio.  Barack Obama's advisors are indicating that some of the first changes to be brought in include rescinding the ban on funding for organisations which promote reproductive "rights" (abortion) and allowing stem cell research.

We Shall Remember Them...

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, this morning's High Mass was a Requiem for Remembrance Sunday.  I really, really like the Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form... it really brings home the idea that one should pray for the souls of the deceased.  I particularly enjoyed the first reading, from the Book of Maccabees, where Judas Maccabeus makes an offering on behalf of those who have died... it's a real answer to anyone who doubts the existence of Purgatory, for if a person goes straight to heaven, they aren't in need of our prayers, and if a person goes straight to hell, our prayers will be pretty pointless, so, by praying for the dead, we indicate that there must be some place the dead go to be purified...

(And Jesus himself commends this practice of making an offering on behalf of the dead in his discourse with the Sadducees...)

There was an impressive catafalque, covered with a black pall, which apparently was the focus of much speculation by some of the younger members of the parish (and, as Leutgeb pointed out over at her blog, by some of the not-so-young parishioners also!)  Note the unbleached candles...

We had the sermon after the Mass (as is usual at a Requiem, though I am unsure why this is so) and absolutions at the catafalque at the end.

The choir have been singing the Rossini propers up until now, as the propers given in the Graduale are quite complicated, and I've been typing out the words with modern notation on Sibelius.  However, Rossini doesn't have a psalm tone for the Requiem propers, so, with a week's notice, the choir had to get to grips with the plainchant and square notes too.  They did amazingly well, and the music was so uplifting, especially the Dies irae.  

Requiem...

I've only just remembered that we're having a Requiem for the war dead at our High Mass tomorrow, as it's Remembrance Sunday, and there will be absolutions at the catafalque and all the trimmings...

Pretty stirring stuff.  I better go and check that my mobile phone is fully charged!

Generosity...

You bloggers (and blog readers, naturally, are included here!) are a decidedly generous bunch when faced with a good cause... I remember being heartened by the response to the last appeal of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life for prams, buggies and baby-related items.

This time, the Good Counsel Network is in need of your generosity.  They help women in much the same sort of situation as do the Sisters, only south of the border!  They plan to have a Christmas party for young mothers, and are appealing for donations of small gifts (wrapped nicely) which can be given to the young women as presents (Joanna Bogle has suggested each gift should be worth around £2-3, more a morale-booster than anything else) items of household goods or baby-related items which could be added to a parcel given to each mother, and donations of money to help buy more such items would be even more helpful.

Send your donations to Good Counsel Network (Party Appeal), c/o 15 Maple Grove London NW9 8RD.

BTW, it sounds obvious, but I would discourage sending cash through the post, especially at this time of year!

Twitch of the mantilla to Auntie Joanna Writes.

A Little Surprise...

After yesterday's depression-inducing marking session, today proved to be quite trying.  Reports are due in tomorrow, and as some of the baseline data necessary for the completion of the reports (well, more a detailed grade card, really!) wasn't available until yesterday, I (and several other teachers) have been playing catch-up.  So, after a full teaching day, I needed to stay behind for a few more hours to complete the reports.  Tomorrow is another full day, and I won't have time before the deadline.

I made my way home, feeling more than a little weary, and, trying to avoid treading on the cat, I promptly trod on a piece of mail.  Luckily, it was a small, squarish piece of mail, and it didn't make a crunching sound, from which I deduced that it was either a packet of charity Christmas cards (though it was a very small packet, which worried me a little) or it was a book.

The latter proved to be the case.  There wasn't a note, and I didn't recognise the handwriting on the envelope, or the address on the back (which was smudged by rain) but a quick postcode search revealed that the book was from a friend in Cambourne!

A Primer on the Absolute Primacy of Christ, by Fr. Maximilian Mary Dean is a little book about some of the work of Blessed John Duns Scotus.  Fr. Dean is a Fransiscan of the Immaculate, the order which is, in the south of England, very involved in the wonderful Day with Mary apostolate.  And the Scotist position on the Incarnation is one which is dear to the Faith Movement, so I am really looking forward to reading this.

You can find out more about the book HERE.

Frustration...

I'm marking end of half-term exam papers for my A Level Biology students.  I had to come and play with the computer for a few minutes to vent my feelings... I am finding it extremely frustrating to note that so few of the students concerned have bothered to listen to anything I told them...

(Little things like "Now, you need to know the general structure of an amino acid, so make sure you learn it by heart, because you may be asked to draw it in the exam..." and "You must be able to identify the R-group on an amino acid, because that often comes up in exams...")

My one consolation?  They obviously haven't listened to the Head of Biology either, because they got his questions wrong too...

Did I Mention That I Like Coffee...?

... and chocolate!  I adore both coffee and chocolate... separately, or together.  I seem to recall that I've mentioned it before...

... And yet, it's Fr. Tim who get's the packet of Mystic Monk Coffee in the post!

Check Your Charities...

This point came up in the combox of my post about charity Christmas cards.  How does one know if the charity of one's choice actually supports anti-life policies such as stem cell research, euthanasia, prenatal genetic testing, abortion and so on?

SPUC have produced a helpful guide: the Charities Bulletin 2006.  It doesn't claim to be exhaustive, and charities do change their policies (especially when potential donors contact them to explain why they no longer can support the charity concerned) but it's a pretty good starting point. You can find the document HERE.  Twitch of the mantilla to Marita for reminding me!

Mildly Amusing...

While looking up Fr. Aidan Nicholls' odds for next Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster for the last item, I spotted another little bet which made me smile.

It seems that, given all the publicity by atheists on the buses for the non-existence of God, someone decided to place a bet on it...

However, the folk at Paddy Power aren't very patient, it seems.  If no scientific proof for the omnipresence of God is forthcoming by 31st December 2008, all bets are off.

They're also not feeling too generous, either.  Odds that there is a God are currently at 4-1.

Advent Approaches...

I was asked to mention the following by Joanna Bogle (of Aunty Joanna Writes fame.) There is a festival of Catholic culture next Saturday, November 8th at Westminster Cathedral Hall.  Kick off is at 10am.

Fr. Aidan Nicholls is speaking at 11am.  In case anyone's interested, Paddy Power have him at 20-1 for next Archbishop of Westminster...  Fr. Nicholas Schofield (Roman Miscellany) is down to speak at 12:30pm.

There is also a workshop on Gregorian chant (sorry, I don't know what time... wish I did!) and lots of bookstalls and displays from various Catholic organisations.  There will also be lots of Christmas cards on sale, just in case you didn't follow the advice in one of my recent posts...

I understand that tours of Westminster Cathedral will be going on, and plenty of refreshments. Sounds like an excellent day out!