Blessing Of The Chalice...

I'm a bit slow getting the pictures up, partly because I'm not completely back into my blogging stride, but mostly because the photos weren't very good - well, Fr. Tim did insist on standing right in front of the chalice while he was blessing it, and I didn't feel able to march up on to the Sanctuary for a better shot...

I did manage to get a photo of the chalice on the altar before everything kicked off, and I cropped it so the chalice could be seen more clearly...

No Amnesty For The Unborn...

At the Blognic on Friday, Red Maria alerted the bloggers present to the report which Amnesty is due to publish on Monday, regarding human "rights" for women and girls in Nicaragua.

I used to be an enthusiastic supporter of the work of Amnesty International, and even helped to co-ordinate letter-writing campaigns in my parish as part of the Justice & Peace Group. However, when Amnesty decided that it would no longer support the most defenceless and vulnerable people of all, namely the unborn, I was forced to withdraw my support.

Now Amnesty are actively campaigning for abortion to be made legal in Nicaragua under the guise of "human rights"... this means, however, that the unborn children have no rights. By virtue of the fact that they cannot speak for themselves, they are of no importance, nothing more than an inconvenience, and they can therefore be discarded as worthless. But Amnesty used to be the organisation which prided itself on speaking out on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves, those considered worthless and inconvenient by the authorities...

When is a human being not worthy of the right to life...?

Parish Club Presentation...

Tonight saw the Parish Club's celebration of Fr. Tim's Silver Jubilee. Mass beforehand was well-attended (I wasn't actually present for that: having been to Mass in the morning, followed by Adoration and Benediction, and then a Nuptial Mass where I sang the Ave Maria, I figured that I'd earned some time off!) and there were five visiting priests... two can be seen here with Fr. Tim: Fr. Stephen Dingley on the left and Fr. Michael Cullinan on the right.

The Parish UCM had been working hard all day to prepare refreshments...

The Club had bought Fr. Tim a beautiful chalice and paten, and here you can see Eddie, the Club Chairman, presenting it...

And Fr. Tim appears to be delighted with the present...

The chalice will be blessed tomorrow, after Mass, ready for use on Tuesday (the actual Anniversary of Fr. Tim's Ordination.) I shall do my best to get some more photos...

London Blognic

I was quite tired when I returned home after the Blognic (well, I had only come out of hospital two days before!) and today was pretty hectic, what with Mass in the morning, Adoration, Benediction, music practice and a wedding where I was singing Schubert's Ave Maria... As a result, I didn't quite manage to put up a post about yesterday's Blognic.

It was extremely good: lots of people turned up; for some it was just a flying visit - they popped in on the way home, just to say hallo. Others had made more of an effort: one couple had dropped in on their way back to Carlisle... from Lourdes!

I was delighted to meet up again with Fr. Mildew, Delia, Londiniensis and Dillydaydream. I was also very pleased to meet Red Maria: her blog comments in the past have demonstrated an incisive wit, and this was even more evident (and entertaining) in the flesh. Oliver Hayes made an appearance, and several of us did our best to convince him to blog more regularly. Sir Dan of the Blogosphere was there as well... along with many others.

It wouldn't have been a Blognic without His Hermeneuticalness and the indomitable (and charming) Fr. Z.

You can read Oliver's summary, and Fr. Mildew's brief report; Fr. Z did a quick post, and Fr. Tim also added some thoughts and photos...

Congratulations...

...to Monsignor Richard Moth, Vicar General in Southwark, who is to be ordained Bishop of the Forces. Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Ray Blake, and also Fr. Stephen Langridge (who tweeted it!)

You can see the Vatican announcement HERE.

One Was Most Amused...

...by the following poster which appeared on Pundit Kitchen (the political version of the I Can Has Cheezburger? site.)

"New Mass" Given The Once-Over...

Seraphic Spouse did a series of brilliant posts on attending the Usus Antiquior Mass: I put up links to all four of them. She has now turned her attention to her memories of the Novus Ordo, or "Nervous" Ordo as one of my friends likes to call it.

Five parts, and counting (we've only reached the Eucharistic Prayer... a reflection, perhaps, of how wordy and cumbersome the Novus Ordo appears to those of us who love the Usus Antiquior?) Anyway, I shall update this post when the rest of the Mass makes an appearance!

In the meantime, check out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

UPDATE: The final section, Part 6, has arrived. Check it out!

Home Sweet Home...

As you can see from the typo in yesterday's post title, I couldn't see straight due to the very effective painkillers I'd been given...

I'd just like to thank everyone for their prayers and best wishes: having a spinal anaesthetic was, quite literally, the answer to my prayers (not all anaesthetists seem too keen on them.)

Spinal anaesthesia feels pretty weird. First of all, I couldn't feel anything from the waist down. I couldn't move anything. I couldn't even feel myself trying to move anything. When I put my hand on my leg, my hand felt warm skin, but there was no leg detecting the hand, so it felt as if I was touching someone else's leg... but my brain did a sort of back-flip, because I knew it was my own leg. I also got a bit of a shock when I saw a leg being moved by a nurse, and then realised that it was my leg.

The major advantage of a spinal anaesthetic is that the immediate post-operative pain is pretty much over by the time you can feel anything at all, and sensation returns very gradually, so medication for pain relief is therefore pretty effective. In my experience, waking up from general anaesthesia has always involved a much more immediate awareness of pain... more often than not, it was the pain which brought me round, and the painkillers have a higher threshold to get over. Patient-controlled analgesia pumps work on much the same sort of principle: little doses of painkiller, administered very frequently, prevent the pain building up, and so less painkiller is needed overall.

I'm now safely back home, having unpacked my bag, cuddled the cat and wolfed down some hot, buttered toast. Normal blogging will resume shortly...

Suurgery Update

Thanks for the prayers and good wishes. My biggest fear - the general anaesthetic - didn't happen. The anaesthetist, on hearing how I react, was keen for me to have a spinal block. This is a major blessing. I shall blog more when I get home, tomorrow morning. All went well.

Hospital...

I'm off to hospital tomorrow. It's a minor operation, but I react badly to general anaesthesia, so I'm a little nervous. I will probably have to stay overnight. A very kind friend has offered to drive me to the hospital, so at least there's no chance I'll oversleep.

Right now I'm walking round the flat trying to think of what things I need to arrange before I leave. I've not been able to pack anything yet because Sylvester is eyeing me speculatively... my next door neighbour will be cat-sitting until my return, but she was begging me not to let Sylvester see any bags, or he'd go off in a sulk and she'd worry.

I'm sure that Sylvester would only sulk if he wasn't hungry; if he misses the odd meal because he's throwing a strop, it'll do his waistline the power of good. However, as a well-trained cat-companion (note, I do not class myself as an "owner") I prefer not to upset him...

Prayers would be appreciated. For me, not the cat...

Cricket Course Continues...

I managed to watch a little more cricket this lunchtime, and my education in the laws of cricket and the terms used continued apace.

I was instructed in the finer points of cricketing etiquette, (such as walking) and tactics (declaring).

I gather that, if the fielder is touching the boundary when he touches the ball, that counts as a four, because the ball is deemed to have reached the boundary...

Also, (I think) a googly is an off break which looks like a leg break to the batsman... so the batsman thinks the ball will be bouncing out when in fact it bounces in... (I probably got that completely wrong, but I can't quite figure out which is the leg side and which the off side... I guess that's lesson three.)

And I think a Chinaman is the opposite of a googly...

This is actually getting to be quite interesting.

Some things continue to escape my comprehension... apparently, England are in a very good position to win this test match, because the chance of Australia scoring 411 in the five remaining wickets is pretty low... so why bother?

UPDATE: It seems that Australia didn't hear that England's win was a foregone conclusion, and they ended up 313 for 5. This means that they need only a further 208 runs to win... and England need to take 5 wickets. Now, in theory, England should be favourites to win...

Oh Dear...

I just couldn't resist Gonzo's new act... the Benedictine Monkees.

Twitch of the mantilla to Carolina Cannonball.

*sigh* I have got to get out more!

More Ways To Waste Time...

I'm a terrible one for procrastinating. Despite knowing all too well the dangers involved, I always seem to put things off until the last minute.

Packing, for example. I always leave it until the last minute, and, as a result, I often pack far too much stuff (I might need it, I haven't got time to work out what I really do need...) and I usually forget something or other.

However, I do like to be organised. I like to know what I have left to do... so, I employ that device beloved of so many procrastinators: the drawing up of lists.

Now, don't get me wrong, lists are useful. Making a list in order to prioritise things is quite helpful. However, I have it down to a fine art: my lists can end up taking longer to complete than the tasks themselves.

And, as one needs positive feedback, (sorry, I studied Psychology, I can't help it...) I find myself making lists of things that I have already done, just so that I can cross them off my list and feel productive.

Google obviously employs people of a similar mindset. I noticed a new section when I logged on to check my email: the "Tasks" link. Ooh, another way to make lists...

Unlike many online task management lists, Google's list facility doesn't automatically delete the completed tasks... instead, after you have clicked on the task to show it's completed, (very satisfying) a line is drawn through the item, so you can see it's been crossed off your list.

Very, very satisfying.

And there is the option of printing out the list with the completed items on it, or clearing the completed items out, and just printing the outstanding ones. Printed lists are very satisfying indeed... The inclusion of a due date is also optional, which is handy for all those items which need to be done at some time in the future, but not by any particular time, so they can never be marked as "late"...

And you can make different lists.

I don't know what happens if you don't clear an item by the due date. I might have to omit ticking something just to find out... except that I'd look as if I was putting things off...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I just have to go and make a list of the different lists I need to make...

Prayers For The Holy Father...

The Holy Father fell and fractured his wrist. A Vatican spokesman said it wasn't severe - Pope Benedict said Mass and had breakfast before going to hospital.

He had the wrist pinned, and it's in a cast.

I have to say that I'm surprised he had breakfast, knowing that he might need a surgical procedure done on the wrist, but, obviously, I'm delighted to hear that it wasn't, therefore, a bad break.

The Holy Father needs our prayers more than ever now. Knees to the deck and crack open the rosaries, chaps!

Twitch of the mantilla to all those who tweeted the news on Twitter...

They're Going To Do It Anyway...

Matthew Archbold of Creative Minority Report has an excellent post comparing the US government's approach to smoking in teenagers and the approach to underage sex... and wondering what would happen if the approach to the latter were consistent with that of the former.

Why not restrict advertisers from using sex in commercials geared towards young people? How about Hollywood treats underage sex in movies as something undesirable rather than the apotheosis of cool?

Certainly, young people engaging in premarital sex is as least as dangerous to themselves and society as smoking.

So why do we spend so much and try so hard to prevent young people from smoking and then just throw our hands up as a society when it comes to sex saying "Ah, they're just going to do it anyway?"

The government's reaction of just handing out condoms is like putting filters on cigarettes - and about just as effective.

Read the rest HERE.

Cherishing Vocations...

A short while back, I got chatting to a gentleman in Addiscombe. He has been doing a lot to promote vocations to the priesthood in his parish, and asked if I would be kind enough to advertise some of the initiatives they have introduced.

As I explained, I'm happy to do anything I can to promote vocations to the priesthood, and to support those who wish to promote them: remember, no priests means no sacraments, and therefore no Church.

First of all, there's the website. This is, I suspect, a "work in progress" as I couldn't get any further than the front page. Keep an eye on it, though, as it has great potential.

I was more interested in two other initiatives: The 31 Club and Friends of the Lamb.

The 31 Club is a simple enterprise: during the Year for Priests, members agree to attend Holy Mass on one day of the month (in addition to the normal Sunday obligation) where they pray for priests and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The idea is that you pick a date which is memorable for you. Eventually, all 31 days of the month are covered (hence the name.) I'm not sure what happens in any month where your date doesn't occur (eg. if you pick 31 and it's April), but presumably you can transfer it to another date - which is the advice given if you forget your selected date.

People who are sick or housebound are also encouraged to join: they are encouraged to offer up an hour of their daily suffering, say a rosary, or pick a prayer they can say without too much difficulty.

The Friends of the Lamb is a way for younger members of the parish to pray for priests. Children who have not yet made their First Holy Communion are asked to pray a Hail Mary on one day in the month (again, a particular date which they can remember.) Children who have made their First Holy Communion are asked to pray three Hail Marys. The children are also encouraged to tell the priest that they are praying for him each month. Once the children have been Confirmed, they are encouraged to join the 31 Club.

I think that these initiatives are a wonderful way of marking the Year for Priests.

Bethlehem Art

We had a visit to the parish on Sunday from Bethlehem Art. Christian families living in Bethlehem used to rely on pilgrims and visitors to the Holy Places for their income, but, as visitors have dropped off, the families have found it harder and harder to make ends meet.

The group contacted our Archbishop and got a letter of introduction from him, and, on the basis of that, then contacted various parishes to see if they could sell stuff after Mass.

The carvings are all from olive wood, and they are beautiful. I took a couple of photos of the display in the small hall, but they don't convey the feel of the wood, which is very touchable.

The website can be seen HERE, and, in the UK, you can contact George Rishmawi by email.

Take The Challenge...

I challenge you to watch this video without cracking a single smile. I don't think it's possible, there's something infectious about babies' smiles. I would love to know what the father is doing though!

Twitch of the mantilla to Matthew Archbold.

What Happens At A Sunday Missa Cantata

A while back, I wrote a post about what to do when you attend a usus antiquior Mass for the first time, and what to expect. I also described the differences between a Low Mass, a Missa Cantata and a Solemn High Mass.

Seraphic Spouse (formerly Seraphic Single) has gone one better, and has given a blow-by-blow account of a Sunday Missa Cantata in her parish. I know it has to be Sunday, because she mentions the Asperges.

It is absolutely brilliant, and comes in four parts: part one, part two, part three and part four.

Twitch of the mantilla to Leutgeb... and I shall have serious words, as I want to know why I didn't spot this sooner!

How To Bowl A Maiden Over...

Yesterday, the cricket happened to be on TV in the parish club. I mentioned, in passing, that I didn't understand the rules of cricket, and how it was that, if England were in the lead by 6 runs (or whatever it was) that, actually, Australia was winning.

Bad move.

In the space of about ten minutes, I was taken through fast bowling, slow bowling, creases, overs, top-spin, seams, stumps, bails, leg before wickets, hand signals used by umpires, fielding, wicket keepers' gloves, batting for six, or four, running someone out, boundaries, wide balls, no balls, calling, polishing one side of the ball to give it more spin, the minimum number of overs in an innings, and the ten-minute gap between innings.

I then started to watch the cricket. Only there was less than ten minutes before the end of the match, so, although England were in the lead, Australia couldn't have their innings and so it was a draw, and the match ended, or something.

Maybe.

I only managed to grasp that much because I was on the coca cola rather than anything stronger.

I was also told that there aren't any rules in cricket. There are laws.

I still don't quite understand why they're playing for an ashtray...

UPDATE: Miss Ellen has added a little clarification. I would also like to point out that I shall try and pay attention to the match, if it's still going on, after Rosary and Benediction, when I shall be in the parish club again...