Laetare Sunday...

Today being Laetare Sunday, the famous rose vestments were out. Not only that, but, to make sure that the full set got a thorough airing, our regular 10:30am Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated as a Solemn High Mass.

Wonderful stuff.

Fr. Timothy Finigan, as Parish Priest, was celebrant, Rev. John Harrison was deacon ("on loan" from Chislehurst) and Fr. Bernard McNally was subdeacon.

This year, thanks to the kindness of various parishioners and some pretty nifty needlework by Maria and Hilda (and maybe some others in the team), we saw the debut of a new rose antependium.

In the past, I mistakenly understood the use of an antependium to be a way of covering up a visually unedifying altar, and I thought that it was unnecessary if one had a beautiful altar. Reading through various quotes (courtesy of that wonderful resource on all things liturgical, the New Liturgical Movement blog)on the use of the antependium shows how wrong this idea is - far from being a way of covering up an eyesore, it is because the altar represents Christ himself (indicated by the five crosses carved into the upper surface of the altar, for the five wounds) and it is therefore adorned "as with precious vestments." The stripping of the altar on Maundy Thursday, completely exposing the marble beneath the altar cloths, is made much more clearly symbolic of the stripping of Our Lord before his crucifixion.

I love how the Catholic faith pulls together the spiritual and the physical elements of worship - a reminder that we are both body and soul, and that Christ became incarnate for us, so the physical does matter.

As a further bit of symbolism, we had yellow roses on the altar and the sanctuary - it is traditional for golden roses to be given as a mark of the esteem and affection of the Roman Pontiff, and they are blessed on Laetare Sunday. Yellow ones (beautifully arranged by our sacristan, Hilda) were the best we could do, sadly, but it did make me wonder whether the vestiges of this tradition are seen in the preponderance of yellow flowers on sale in time for Mothering Sunday...

More photos can be seen over on my Flickr page.

Ordinary Of Ordinariate Has Extraordinary Meeting...

Sorry about the post title... I couldn't resist!

Monsignor Keith Newton, the Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, was granted an audience with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. This is, according to those in the know, a great privilege, and quite a rarity (compared to the number of audiences granted by Pope John Paul II) demonstrating that our Holy Father is taking a keen personal interest in the former Anglicans who are swimming the Tiber!

This is very positive news for them, and I'm sure that it must be encouraging for all those former Anglicans who might have wondered what sort of a reception they'd get from the rest of us. It must take an incredible amount of courage to leave the faith in which one has been brought up, perhaps having to face opposition from those nearest and dearest, especially if one is unsure how much of a welcome one will get.

Just over halfway through Lent, I would like to offer my encouragement to the members of the Ordinariate who are preparing to be received this Easter.

A mantilla-twitch in the direction of Fr. Tim.

Does God Exist...?

I spotted this video over on Facebook, courtesy of Christian Holden who runs St. Anthony Communications. It's a bit fuzzy, and I wouldn't completely agree with the definition of evil given, but the name of the speaker was certainly an eye-opener!

An Arachnophobe's Nightmare...

This report from Wired is seriously high in the "Yuck!" factor. I'm not an arachnophobe, but, in addition to preferring spiders to be outside of my living space, I also prefer spiders to be out of sight and out of mind.

The flooding in Pakistan last year led the country's spider population to take refuge in the trees. Millions of spiders. And, with the flood waters taking rather a long time to go down, the spiders made themselves at home. A while back, I posted a photo or two of a spider in the church here which had managed to build itself a web from the church roof down to the pew in just a few hours. Imagine what millions of the blighters can do over a few months...

Ok, don't imagine. Here's what they actually did...

There is a silver lining in this cloud: the number of malaria-spreading mosquitos is much lower than usual, especially given the larger amount of stagnant water around.

Latest Pro-Life Video...

I saw this over at Ecce Homo, and I agree with Clifford: it's too cool not to watch!

Starvation Diet...?

Anita Moore has summed up, perfectly, my reaction when I first discovered the Extraordinary Form of Mass - I felt as if I had been being fed dry bread and water when, all the time, there was a fabulous feast available, if only I'd known about it. I was pretty angry when I realised that the Mass had been stripped of all the little "extras" which made it Catholic - this was when I first understood my father's outraged comment after he'd attended a Novus Ordo Mass: "It's all turned Protestant!"

Anyway, go on over and read Anita's excellent post.

The Latest Cure At Lourdes...

Serge François has been reported as experiencing a "remarkable" healing of his herniated leg when he was praying at the Grotto at Lourdes in 2002. He said that he felt a warm glow in his leg, and all of his suffering suddenly disappeared. Now he has walked the pilgrimage route between France and Spain, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

I'm not quite sure why no-one has called it a miraculous cure. I thought that it might be something to do with the condition - a Google search of herniated legs brought up lots of references to sciatica and herniated discs leading to back and leg pain, but not much on what a herniated leg actually is.

Nevertheless, the 20 doctors who have examined his case have concluded that the healing was certainly remarkable - they haven't said "Oh, it just got better spontaneously!" or come up with any explanation. Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church doesn't go round calling just anything a miracle, and the Medical Bureau at Lourdes is particularly careful - of more than 7000 unexplained healings at Lourdes, only 67 have been recognised as miracles.

I'm sure that Serge François isn't too worried about whether his healing is officially recognised as a miracle... and it sounds pretty miraculous to me too!

The New Missal...

The Catholic Truth Society is well on track to have the new Missal ready for Advent 2011. The new Missal is needed simply because the previous English translation of the Latin was pretty dire, there is no change to the Mass itself.

To allow us all to get used to the corrected translation, there will be interim Altar Missals available to cover the period from September to Advent. In addition, the current publications produced by the CTS which have the order of Mass, such as The Simple Prayer Book will have the corrected translation from June.

I'm delighted to hear that the CTS are planning to bid for the rights to publish  the hand Missals in time for Advent as well - the previous hand Missals had horrible artwork and the paper was so thin you could see the type on the other side as well. The bindings were terrible as well, and fell apart at the drop of a hat.

The CTS has a wonderful attitude towards liturgical books:

Since the new Missal is to have a more accurate and beautiful translation of the sacred texts, CTS felt that the volume ought also to reflect that beauty in its design and materials. We felt it important that this book of the altar be more than functional. The nature of the liturgy requires that it have a beauty and a presence which assists priests and faithful to worship within a sacred environment. The Congregation for Divine Worship’s own instruction on the Missal states that it “should be marked by such a dignity that the exterior appearance of the book itself will lead the faithful to a greater reverence for the word of God and for sacred realities” [Liturgiam Authenticam, 120]

It's incredibly encouraging. I realise that many people are of the opinion that, if the Mass would just be said in Latin there wouldn't be the need for the arguments over a "corrected" translation, but, since Mass is available in the vernacular, and the majority of people attend the Novus Ordo in the vernacular, it is important that the translation is accurate... as well as not sounding like a conversation one might hear anywhere on the street - Liturgy is supposed to be sacred!

Details about the timetable for producing the Altar Missals and People's Missals can be read on the CTS website.

Relics & Reliquaries...

Fr. Tim was given some reliquaries a while back...

Stephen (in the middle) then got some dark blue felt to act as backing, and we just have to wait for the relics to be mounted and labelled. I'm hoping that the reliquaries will make an appearance on the High Altar for Laetare Sunday, when we have a new antependium (I hope I spelled that correctly) to match the rose High Mass set of vestments. I shall, of course, bring my camera...

Kittens & Catflaps...

As the title of the post suggests, this is going to be another post about the exploits of my two kittens. If you're uninterested in kittens, and usually read this blog for the Catholic bits or the blonde jokes, then try again another day - this post will not interest you in the slightest.

Since Wednesday, I have been trying to encourage my kittens to use the catflap. It's more complicated than you'd think, mostly because the catflap is actually in the kitchen window, and so there's a bit more involved than just sticking a bowl of food one side of the flap and letting nature take its course...

My next door neighbour (the one who cat-sits for me) has been helping me, shoving the kittens out one way and acting as "fielder" to prevent straying kittens from discovering the hole in the fence.

Yesterday's weather was horrible - very cold and windy - so I didn't go out with the kittens.

Today my neighbour was unavailable, but it was sunny this afternoon, so, using a chopstick as a prop, I wedged the catflap open and proceeded to walk round the garden to the kitchen window. By the time I got there, Furretti was looking out at me...

Without my neighbour to prod her in the behind, Furretti took her time to study the outside world from the safety of the window sill. I stood outside in the cold (this section is in shadow, and there was quite a breeze blowing!), calling her name and trying to encourage her to step over the threshold. In retrospect, I think that the cat had more sense than me...

Of course, the younger kitten, being far more inquisitive than Furretti, (so far, Miaowrini's fallen in the toilet, the bath and the swing bin because of her general nosiness) just had to have a look to see what was going on...

Eventually, Furretti made it through the flap. She knocked the chopstick over, but was far enough out for it not to matter...

I waited for Furretti to jump down on her own, and let her explore the bushes...

Meanwhile, I propped open the catflap again, and allowed Miaowrini to have a look through. At one point I thought she was going to take the plunge...

...but she decided against it, and shot back inside.

After a short while, I called Furretti and she ran back to me, allowing me to pick her up and put her back on the ledge below the window. She seemed pretty happy to be going back inside, though I had to open the catflap for her. On Friday afternoon I'd started to walk away, thinking I could return to the flat and call her in from inside the kitchen, but she got very anxious and ran after me, so I guess she's not quite ready to be alone outside.

A week or so more, and I think the two kittens will be able to go out, at least during the day (they're a bit small to be let out at night, as we have lots of foxes in the area) and I'm definitely looking forward to them using the garden rather than the litter box!

Happy Lady Day!

Today being a major feast day, I thought I'd celebrate by taking a few photos, as a way of marking it on my blog - I'm still on a go-slow as far as blogging inspiration goes...

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of my favourite feasts, as it happens. And there is something incredibly moving about Mass on this feast day - for today we celebrate the Word made flesh, God entering into his creation at a specific time in history, and, on the altar, the Word again consents to humble himself, and become flesh for us under the appearance of bread and wine...

The genuflection of the priest and servers during the Credo also brought a lump to my throat...

And before Mass we had our usual Lenten Friday devotion of Stations...

Sadly, I didn't quite get to follow Fr. Ray Blake's advice to "eat swan" but I was able to treat myself to a large coca cola after Mass. I had intended to have some chocolate too, but, by the time I remembered that I'd bought it specially, it was too late to eat it, so I shall have to hide it away until Easter...

I Hate British Summertime...

I do not, of course, mean that I hate Summer. I hate British Summer Time, also known as BST. Those initials are quite apposite, really... they just need the addition of a "D" on the end to make my feelings clear...

BST involves putting the clocks forward an hour. I have a vague idea that, back in the mists of time, this was necessary to give farmers an extra hour's daylight, or something of that ilk, but I never did quite get my head around why we need to continue with it. Cattle and other livestock don't use clocks, they respond to daylight, so putting the clocks forward merely means that your average farmer has to get up "earlier" to milk the cows, and stay up later. And people like me lose an hour's sleep, and have to struggle to get up in the morning because there isn't any daylight to help reset one's body clock... just when I was beginning to get the hang of mornings again...

It occurred to me that the clocks were due to be mucked around with some time soon. The lateness of Easter this year has messed up my internal calendar... I decided to Google it, and discovered that, oh frabjous day! we are due to commence BST this Sunday.

I am now going to go and sulk...

Victims Of Their Own Success...

The Good Counsel Network has been so successful that it has seen a five-fold increase in the number of women seen. These women would, without Good Counsel's support, probably have felt that they needed to have an abortion, as they had no other way to support themselves through pregnancy and just after.

Unfortunately, the Good Counsel Network is in desperate need of funds to help support these women and their babies - it provides food, clothing and even homes for them, and it all costs money.

So, the season of Lent having an emphasis on almsgiving, please do consider giving money to the Good Counsel Network. You can donate via PayPal, through justgiving.com or even by cheque or standing order. All the details are available on the Good Counsel's website.

And if you want to give something more specific, such as vouchers for maternity clothes, baby buggies, moses baskets and so on, check out the baby goods information page - the Network has limited storage space, so it asks for specific items as needed, but there are a few things which are always required!

If you aren't able to contribute financially, then offer some prayers for the work done by the Good Counsel Network - a rosary or two, or some time before the Blessed Sacrament, or the Stations of the Cross...

Good Counsel really does help to save lives, so please give what you can.

Kitten Adventures...

Lately I have spotted that the kittens are more and more fascinated by what's happening outside - both Monsignor Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini spend a lot of time sitting on the window ledge, looking out through the window.

In addition, the kitchen window (where the catflap is situated) is becoming more interesting. I had to put two large boxes in front of the catflap to prevent accidental egress! Yes, the catflap does have a lock, but those kittens are very inquisitive...

This afternoon was glorious, and both kittens appeared restless, so I decided that it might be time for their first outdoor adventure. My next-door neighbour had offered to help, and so, on her recommendation, she stood inside the kitchen and attempted to encourage Furretti to go through the catflap, while I stood on the other side, calling her name. Nothing doing. Furretti promptly grabbed the wall with all four paws and refused to budge.

I thought about it for a minute, and decided that the psychology was all wrong. Obviously Furretti didn't want to go out into a strange place. So I went inside and carried her out. We sat briefly on the garden bench, and I tried to calm her down while she sorted out the smells and sounds. Then, once she appeared relatively happy, I put her down near the pathway back to the catflap. She promptly scooted along the side, checking out all the bushes, especially the one used by many of the neighbourhood cats as a convenience. I let her explore a bit, and then picked her up and pushed her back through the catflap... this time there was no resistance at all!

Then we tried the same thing with Miaowrini. She was far more nervous than Furretti, and struggled to get away, so I didn't try sitting down with her. However, she at least had the chance to go back inside through the catflap.

On my way back inside, I called to Furretti and Miaowrini - they certainly seem to recognise my voice, and both kittens promptly came to see me on the other side of the window...

If the weather is fine again tomorrow, I'll try the whole thing again in the afternoon.

A Non-Blonde Joke...

I'm still running low on inspiration, but this caught my eye on Facebook and made me chuckle, so...

Several thousand years ago...
First Mayan: "Okay guys, I've finished the calendar!"
Second Mayan: "Great... but it only goes up to 21 December 2012!"
First Mayan "Ah, don't worry about it... we'll make a new one before then! I would have continued on this stone, but I ran out of room..."
Second Mayan: "Fair enough! Heheheh... imagine if people thought that the world was going to end because you couldnt find a bigger stone..."
First Mayan: "Heheheh... yeah, but you'd have to be pretty stupid to think that, wouldn't you?"

Time To Make Fun Of Blondes Again...

It has been a while since I posted one, so...

A blonde rings up her friend, absolutely distraught. "I'm having real problems with this jigsaw. I just can't seem to get it started."

"Start by looking for the edges," her friend advised.

"There aren't any edges!" the blonde wailed, "And it doesn't seem to bear any resemblance to the picture on the box!"

"Well," her friend replied, soothingly, "I'll come round and help."

The friend arrived. The blonde triumphantly showed her the box, and said "See, it's a rooster, and the pieces don't bear any resemblance to it!"

The friend took one look at the blonde and said, "Ok dear. Now, let's put all the cornflakes back in the box..."

St. Joseph

St. Joseph's feast day is one of those little bright spots during Lent...

I'm rather fond of the statue we have at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen - the child Jesus entrusting his foster-father with the world, and St. Joseph shown as a relatively young man.

Amusing Decisions...

Being somewhat short on inspiration, I have unashamedly nicked this from the Ironic Catholic.

A guy goes into a restaurant and is greeted by the hostess, who asks: "Smoking or non-smoking?"” "Non-smoking," he replies.

He is seated and the waiter comes over to his table to take his drink order. "I’ll have a Coke," he states. The waiter says: "Diet or Regular?" "Um, regular." "Caffeine or caffeine-free?" "Uh, with caffeine."

The drink is brought to his table and the guy orders his food. The waiter asks what kind of dressing on the salad, "Italian, French, Thousand Island, raspberry vinaigrette?" He says: "Italian," and the waiter immediately comes back with "regular Italian or fat-free?" "Regular," says the man, with a hint of impatience in his voice.

And it goes on, with the steak order: "how do you want that prepared, rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done?" and "how do you want your vegetables: raw, steamed, baked, boiled, blanched or fried?" and "how would you like your potatoes: baked, French fried, or mashed?"

Finally, the poor man has had enough and looks up to heaven and shouts: "I can’t TAKE all these choices!" He then turns his prayer to his patron saint saying: "St. Francis, HELP ME — help me with all these decisions!"

At that moment a big voice comes booming down and says: "Assisi, Xavier or De Sales?"

Curiosities Of The Natural World...

I was setting things up for a special evening Mass this evening (in honour of St. Patrick) and, while putting the bell in a suitable spot for the server to ring at the appropriate moments, I spotted what looked like a large, dead spider on the sanctuary step. (Not the one in the picture, I hasten to add... that one was just from Google, for illustrative purposes, but it looked pretty similar...)

I'm not terribly squeamish when it comes to spiders, but I don't particularly want to get up close and personal, and so, putting the bell down carefully beside the spider, I mentally noted that I should get some tissue paper and remove the deceased invertebrate as soon as I had finished setting stuff up.

However, although the spirit was willing, and the flesh wasn't particularly averse to careful arachnid disposal, my brain was absent without official leave, and I completely forgot...

...until the start of Mass. As the server, deacon and celebrant approached the sanctuary, I looked over to where the bell was positioned... and discovered that no spider was anywhere to be seen...

Does anyone know if spiders "play possum"?

Lacking Inspiration...

Again... I know, I know... and no, I'm not threatening to stop blogging (as someone pointed out, I seem to do that quite regularly!) But I'm trying to explain to the few of you who still check in that I've hit another hiatus in my blogging inspiration.

I don't want to blog bad news, but I haven't got any good news to blog at the moment.

No doubt I'll get some inspiration soon. If you are in the mood for some old-fashioned comedy, might I suggest that you wander down The Path Less Taken - Mary's given up watching Fawlty Towers for Lent, but she's been posting the occasional clip for the rest of us...

The Day With Mary Hits Blackfen...

Today we were blessed to have the Day With Mary at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen. It was absolutely wonderful - someone commented on my Facebook wall that it was like a three-day retreat packed into six hours - I think that's a pretty good summary!


We started off with some prayers, the Crowning of the Statue of Our Lady and a procession around the block, with the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary...

Mass was in the Extraordinary Form, with the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate chanting the Mass propers. Today was the Feast of St Gregory the Great, the Pope responsible for sending St. Augustine to England.

After Mass, Fr. Tim consecrated the parish to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart...

...and then it was time for lunch, which meant (for me) a beeline for the bookstall. This year, the bookstall was divided into two sections, one at each end of the parish hall, so I hardly knew where to begin...

I bought four books this time - Bethlehem: The Sacred Infancy of Our Most Dear and Blessed Redeemer by Fr. Faber; A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation by St. Thomas More; The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent and Difficulties in Mental Prayer by Eugene Boylan. That should keep me out of mischief for a while!

Then we were back in the church for Exposition and the Blessed Sacrament procession...

The procession only went round the car park a couple of times rather than right around the block because the first part of the day had over-run somewhat, and we had to get back on schedule...

We prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, had a talk by Fr. Tim, prayed the sorrowful Mysteries, then meditated on the Stations of the Cross...

We had a talk from Fr. Agnellus, FI,  and a break for tea (which gave another opportunity to browse the bookstalls), and then we returned to pray the Glorious Mysteries and receive Benediction...

Enrolment into the Brown Scapular very nearly didn't have any takers - those present had obviously been enrolled on previous occasions - but, at the last minute, one woman shyly came forward...

And then, finally, Our Lady's statue was carried out...

...pausing at the back of the church while people waved goodbye, as they do in Fatima...

I always get rather choked up at this - it's such a poignant moment, when we get to show our devotion in such a simple way.

So many people came along, it was truly inspiring, and a great way to start Lent. If you get a chance to attend a Day With Mary, do go along, even if only for part of it. You can read more over at Fr. Tim's blog, and you can see more photos on my Flickr page.

And So We Commence...

There was a Mass in the Extraordinary Form in Blackfen for Ash Wednesday, and, tired though I was, I managed to take a few photos. Being rather tired (and conscious that I have to get up early in the morning) I shall just put up a couple of photos, but I felt that Ash Wednesday merited at least a mention on the blog!

Lenten Almsgiving Ideas...

Almsgiving is one of the three areas we are required to address during Lent. We cannot all donate money - though, sometimes, giving our time can be more valuable, but for those of us who wish to make some financial sacrifice, the issue can be a little fraught. Events such as Red Nose Day get a lot of attention from the media, but one cannot always be sure where one's money will end up. Several charities support work which is in opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church: supporting abortion, euthanasia, human embryo research and so on.

SPUC has a charities bulletin which helps to identify whether a charity engages, supports or promotes activities of this sort. It isn't exhaustive, but it's a good place to start, helping one to identify that, for example, that MacMillan Cancer Relief is actively involved in palliative end-of-life care whereas Cancer Research UK has used cell lines derived from embryos resulting from IVF treatment.

However, if you want to take the easy option, I can suggest a few good options...

First of all, if you want something personal, Beatrix, a little girl in the parish, wants to donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust (helping children who have lost their own hair) and thought it might be a great idea to be sponsored to do so. The money she raises will then go to Mary's Meals, an excellent charity I have mentioned before.

Then again, there is the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative, run by the Sisters of the Gospel of Life. At the moment they are in desperate need of baby buggies and prams (you can always buy them from Amazon, and get them delivered to 104 Albert Rd, Crosshill, Glasgow, G42 8DR) but I am sure that cold, hard cash would not be refused! (And you can donate directly from HERE.)

The Good Counsel Network does similar work to the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative. It is possible to donate online, though not via PayPal as yet, but they accept cheques too - click on "Donate" on the website for details of where to send it.

Finally, do consider donating money to SPUC to help them continue to do their excellent work on pro-life issues.

Obviously, this isn't an exhaustive list, by any means! Have a happy and holy Lent!