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!

Felix Fidei Defensor (Part II) ...

A few months ago, Monsignor Furretti showed her true traddie colours when she shredded a copy of The Catholic Times while leaving The Remnant unscathed.

At the time, there was more than a little speculation as to what the clever little Monsignor would make of The Suppository (aka The Bitter Pill.) I explained that, as I had a moral objection to paying for The Suppository, I would have to wait until someone donated a copy for me to use. Given that most of my friends wouldn't be seen dead with a copy in their possession, this follow-up experiment didn't look like it would be happening any time soon.

However, a priest of my acquaintance (none other than Fr. Briggs, Parish Priest of Chislehurst) discovered an abandoned copy at the back of his church: I offered to dispose of the offending item for him.

In order to make it a "fair test" (something all schoolchildren are having hammered home, ad nauseam) I realised that I had to provide a more traditional alternative, to see which one the kittens would choose to destroy. I realise that, technically, it isn't totally fair, because I now have two Monsignori rather than just the one... however, both kittens have been blessed...

Anyway, I decided to present my Monsignori with the choice between The Catholic Herald (far and away the best British Catholic Weekly, IMHO) and The Suppository.

I give you my word of honour that I didn't rig the results...

I put both papers down, and the kittens started to explore...

There was a bit of pouncing and skidding about, as the paper was quite shiny...

Then there was some exploration of the pages themselves...

I now have bits of The Bitter Pill all over my living room floor... a small price to pay, I think, for peace of mind as to my furry felines' orthodoxy...

Adopt-A-Priestess...

Life is getting busy - what with Confirmation preparations, a few extra Masses, parents' evenings, reports and such like. Blogging will be sparse for the next two weeks (nothing new there, then!) However, I thought I'd draw your attention to this idea of Larry D's: in the wake of the recent conversion of wannabee-womynpriest Norma Jean Coon, Larry suggests that we each take responsibility for praying for an individual womynpriest.

As he (so eloquently) says:

"Here's how it will work: I have a list of the names of 75 women, taken directly from the website of Roman Catholic Women Priests. They are from the US, Canada and a few from Europe. The list will get longer, as I am sifting through a similar roster from the Women's Ordination Conference site (I'm checking for duplication). If you wish to participate, I will assign you one of the names - or more, if you so desire, just let me know. I'm asking you to pray for that woman's conversion and return in full communion to the Church. How you do that is entirely up to you. Masses, rosaries, Divine Mercy chaplets, adoration, fasting - whatever devotion or means that works for you. If you're a priest, and you want to participate, perhaps you could say Masses for that woman (a few for the success of this project would be cool, too!)"

Larry also points out that,

"Please - prayerfully consider taking part in this project. This movement can be defeated, one woman at a time. It won't be won through argument or persuasion (least of all snarky blogposts), but only through the power of the Holy Spirit, invoked through prayer and sacrifice. Conversion doesn't happen in a vacuum - as Catholics, we must stand in the gap and assault heaven with prayer. We might not see tangible results, but God answers every prayer in His way, in His time."

Do go over to his post and volunteer!

40 Days For Life...

The 40 Days for Life campaign aims to bring an end to abortion.

This year, the 40 Days for Life will run from March 9th to April 17th. London will be one of 247 cities joining together for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:

40 days of prayer and fasting
40 days of peaceful vigil
40 days of community outreach

You can read about the international efforts of the 40 Days for Life campaign and what has been achieved so far, as well as following what's happening in London. In addition, there's a blog for the London campaign, as well as updates on Facebook and Twitter.

This year's campaign is happening during Lent, and, as has been pointed out on the website, this could add a special grace to the fasting and prayer element of the campaign. Get involved - there are many different things you can do - and have a look at the suggestions made on the London website.

It will be interesting to see if any of this ends up being reported in the mainstream media...

Ooooh... A Film About Catholicism...?

When I first heard about The Rite, my heart sank. I was pretty sure that this would be something along the lines of The Exorcist and perhaps even shades of The Thorn Birds. I then started to hear positive things about it on the Catholic blogosphere, though the film seemed to have sunk without trace in secular circles, which is unusual, given that it stars Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The Reluctant Sinner has been to see the film and has given it a firm thumbs up - the review makes me even more keen to go and see it.

How The Kittens Got On...

There was a somewhat anxious comment on a previous post asking what would happen to the kittens during my visit to Ampleforth.

I have to confess to being a little unsure how they would react to my absence. I had arranged for my neighbour to come in and feed them, and had left instructions as to changing of the litter tray, and how to ensure that Monsignor Furretti didn't eat all Monsignor Miaowrini's food. I knew that she would make a fuss of them, and would spend a bit of time playing with them, so I had no worries on that score. I just wondered whether the kittens would ever forgive me for abandoning them...

...another commenter had speculated as to the likelihood of "presents" being left in strategic positions - finding a hairball (or worse) in one's shoe can be most unpleasant...

Hooligan? Moi...?

On my return, the two kittens greeted me at the door. They were purring and affectionate. It was probably guilt. My neighbour had left me a note...

Dear Mac,

Thank you for the bottle of wine you left. I needed it. Your kittens are right little hooligans. They knocked over the hoover and dragged the attachment hose over to the door, so I nearly couldn't get in. They also chucked stuff off your bookcase. The chair in your bedroom was knocked over. I've tried to put everything back. They also chewed your mail.

The kittens didn't eat the Whiskas wet catfood, or the Felix, but they did eat the biscuits, and, although you said you didn't want them to have too many of the biscuits, because I was worried by them not eating the wet food, I gave in and fed them all the biscuits. Sorry.

I also had to give Miaowrini a wash under the tap, because she tried to jump onto the top of the washing machine and missed, and landed on top of the swing bin, and, although there wasn't much in the bin, it was a bit smelly...
Hope you had a nice time...

I have no idea what happened to the chair...