Palm Sunday At Blackfen...

We were extremely fortunate to be able to have a Solemn High Mass for Palm Sunday. The Palm Sunday liturgy isn't for the faint-hearted, though - with the blessing of palms, the outdoor procession and the chanting of the St. Matthew Passion it is just over two and a half hours long. It's such an amazing visual and aural feast that it doesn't feel like it's that long, but it does require some advance planning for lunch...

The photos are just a little late in getting uploaded - actually, I did upload them a few days ago, but needed the Senior MC to check my descriptions. Using two cameras, one on BST and one on GMT, meant that the photo order got a little muddled. However, you can see a few more over on my Flickr page.

Tenebrae...

It has become something of a custom at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, to have extra Masses at the start of Holy Week for the benefit of those who are at work and can't attend during the day. The Monday and Tuesday Masses are in the evenings, but the Mass for Spy Wednesday is in the morning (at 7am, as the Gospel is a little on the long side...) so that it is possible to attend Tenebrae on Wednesday evening.

Tenebrae is the service of Matins and Lauds of the Triduum, and a candle is extinguished after each of the psalms, until finally all are out and the lights are turned out. The banging of books represents the earthquake (I think!) But the very last candle is only hidden from view, and it gets shown again at the end.

One year I went to Tenebrae and the last candle had actually been extinguished, which caused a bit of consternation for the MC when the time came for its reinstatement...

Yesterday I decided to make the effort to go to St. Mary Moorfields. As our Senior MC remarked, it seems like a trek to get there, but you realise it was worth it afterwards. The journey itself was simple enough, though finding a parking place in Finsbury Circus proved to be a very suitably penitential exercise - I think I drove around it six times looking for the exit nearest the church - all of the exit streets looked the same and all were named "Finsbury Circus" which didn't help. I had used my mobile phone as sat-nav, and the battery had gone flat as I haven't managed to get an in-car charger yet, though fortunately it got me as far as Finsbury Circus first.

The liturgy at St. Mary Moorfields had been organised by the Latin Mass Society who had arranged for Cantus Magnus to sing the polyphony.

Although the phone camera was out of action, I had my "proper" camera with me as well, and so I recorded a couple of the polyphonic responses sung by the choir. This one is from the third Nocturn of Matins: Gesualdo's Una Hora.

I didn't take many photos, as there isn't much going on around the sanctuary during Tenebrae. This meant I was free to record "Eram quasi agnus innocens" from the second Nocturn, and you can listen to that over on YouTube.

I also recorded the Benedictus - the canticle of Zachariah - at the end of Lauds where the final candle is "extinguished"... and here polyphony alternates with plainsong. I particularly like the contrast - remember that everyone, including members of the congregation, joins in with the plainsong parts, so it's not perfect, but that is its charm.

It was definitely the best way to start the Triduum... Perhaps one year we can celebrate it at Blackfen!

That 40 Days For Life Vigil...

I haven't been blogging very frequently and, although I thought I had mentioned the 40 Days for Life campaign this year, it seems to have slipped by without comment on my blog, which is annoying. I had meant to say something!

Then followed a lot of negative press given to the Vigil, particularly when Bishop Alan Hopes indicated that he would attend in order to lead the Rosary. One comment from the pro-abortion crowd really had me scratching my head in perplexity - apparently "Bishops have no business moralising about abortion..." Actually, they do, that is the main business of a shepherd, to warn the sheep when they are going off in the wrong direction, to protect them...

Not having said anything to that point, I initially decided to stay quiet, especially as I hadn't been there for the "showdown" on Friday, when the counter-demonstration happened. I understand that there was controversy over filming on a previous occasion, which some people had found intimidating. I agree wholeheartedly that filming women going in to the clinics is completely wrong. However, filming the people praying in the vigils has actually been beneficial in the past, to guard against false accusations of intimidatory behaviour. Remember the landlord of the abortion clinic who came out brandishing a chainsaw? In addition, the whipping-up of the anti-Vigil demonstration started well before the cameraman incident, in fact, it started as soon as Bishop Hopes' presence was announced. One lone cameraman filming on one occasion was a convenient excuse, not a cause.

I've spoken to people who were actually present at the Vigil on Friday. One of the most rational accounts I have read is that of Leutgeb over on Bara Brith, and I have a great deal of respect for her common-sense approach to life, so it's her report which carries most weight with me.

But the final thing which made me break silence is the fact that, arousing such vehement responses from the pro-abortion camp, suggests that the 40 Days for Life vigils are having an effect. There wouldn't have been the need to protest against some religious nutcases standing on street corners if that was all they were. Rather inconveniently, the people attending the vigils are just ordinary people, men and women, young and old. In fact, the very violence of the response indicates to me that the truth pro-life message is slowly trickling through, aided by ultrasound images of the unborn child which make it impossible to pretend that abortion is just the removal of an inconvenient blob of tissue.

So, even if mistakes were made (we are merely human, after all), the 40 Days for Life endeavour deserves praise and encouragement for the good which has been achieved so far.

Colour Me Cynical...

As I drove home this evening after Benediction, I noticed a rather long queue at the local petrol station. It was much longer than normal for 9:30pm on a Thursday night, and stretched all the way back to the roundabout, causing quite a bit of disruption to passing traffic.

Obviously people are panicking about fuel shortages if there is a strike by tanker drivers..

This hasn't been helped by Government ministers telling people to keep a full tank and also to store petrol in their garages to help avoid strike disruption.

The effect of such statements on public behaviour is so easy to predict that one can't help but wonder why the Government didn't foresee it. You'd have to be really stupid not to work out that suggesting the possibility of fuel shortages increases the likelihood of panic-buying, wouldn't you?

I'm no fan of the Government but I find it just a little hard to believe that anyone could really be that stupid. Surely at least one civil servant would have made the obvious connection and told someone...

Which then makes you wonder if it wasn't deliberate. Get everyone really riled up, start the panic, see a few petrol stations run out of petrol because of the unusual demand, closed petrol stations fuel (sorry!) the panic and then the general public start screaming at the Government to send in the troops to cross the picket lines. This then undermines the bargaining power of the unions in the future. After all, if it's ok to break this strike, why not the next one?

Incidentally, the price of petrol has gone up even more. It's currently at £1.40 per litre. That's approximately 2.24 US dollars. A litre is 0.26 US gallons. So 1 US gallon of petrol is about 3.79 litres and it costs £5.31 or 8.45 US dollars...

Just saying...

Stational Churches...

In Rome, during Lent, it was traditional to visit a different church for each of the days - each church or chapel was a "Station." Plenary indulgences were attached to such visits, I presume under the usual conditions. The St. Andrew's Daily Missal has some information on each of the Stational Churches.

Zephyrinus (the blogger, not the deceased Pope!) has gone one better - he has combined the information from the Missal with other information and photos gleaned from Wikipedia and other sources - each day during Lent he has put up a post on the stational church associated with that day.

It's absolutely wonderful, so do go and browse...

Belated Thank-Yous...

I've been meaning to say thank you to a few people.

First I was sent a book about St. Luigi Orione, the founder of the Sons of Divine Providence and the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity. I'd never heard of him, and I said so during the Day With Mary. Kevin very kindly hastened to correct my ignorance, and I shall read the book over the Easter holidays.

The next present was from Sister Roseann, who knew of my appreciation of the St. Ninian Tartan - the one designed especially for the Holy Father's visit. I had already managed to get a shawl, but shawls don't really suit my rather more than generous proportions... so Sister Roseann presented me with a scarf. The weather has been unseasonably warm ever since, but I shall wear it at the first hint of a cold snap. Probably some time in June... or July... (British weather being what it is...) Mind you, I shall have to prise Monsignor Furretti off it first. She has decided that it's a very nice comfortable tartan...

One of my Confirmation candidates presented me with a lovely little "handbag saver clip" - I only knew that's what it was because someone had helpfully written it inside the box lid. It's a small hook that uses a cantilever effect to balance on a surface so you can hang your handbag under the table or shelf. It is a brilliant piece of engineering, but it took me ages to figure out how it worked. Mind you, His Hermeneuticalness couldn't figure it out either... but then I guess he doesn't have handbags...

I was also given a large box of Maltesers by another candidate, which was very nice. Unfortunately, it being Lent, I deemed it prudent to pass the chocolates on to someone with more willpower (or who hadn't given up chocolate)...

My final thank-you goes to the candidate who presented me with a Mass card. That was a very special gift indeed...

A Chip On His Shoulder...?

*Ahem!* I am very sorry for the awful pun, but someone was sure to make it sooner or later, and so I thought I'd get it over and done with. His Hermeneuticalness has been visiting the famous Chip Museum in Bruges. Hopefully he didn't eat any of the exhibits...

So it seems that Belgium is famous for beer (Blackfen's Senior MC would probably insist on it being termed Novus ordo Eurofizz), chips and chocolate. I'm very tempted to emigrate...

Indoctrination Doesn't Always Work...

Successive governments here in the UK have been banging on about pollution, climate change, global warming, damage to the the ozone layer and greenhouse gases for at least as long as I have been teaching (and probably longer) to the extent that these topics appear with monotonous regularity on the school curriculum, particularly in Science. Rather in the way that the History curriculum seems to revolve around the trenches in World War I and the Nazis in World War II, this constant rehashing of the topics means that students "know" about it all, but they promptly switch off when they hear the key phrases.

This was demonstrated in answers to a test question I have been marking. The question was about the decline of a deer population over time. Suggestions for the cause of this decline were solicited...

In addition to the expected answers of "increased predation by wolves," "hunting" and "disease" I noted several mentions of "global warming" and "climate change." Not surprising, when these are such favourite buzzwords. But the answer which had me howling with laughter demonstrated the typical teenager's muddled thinking:

"The hole in the ozone layer is melting."

I would just like to add a disclaimer - I haven't mentioned any of these topics to the class in question!

Swapping Pulpits...

For Laetare Sunday this year, Fr. Finigan had arranged a "pulpit swap" with Fr. Christopher Basden, Parish Priest of St. Bede's, Clapham Park.

This was quite an undertaking, as, according to custom at Blackfen, we were due to have a Solemn High Mass, to make full use of our splendid rose High Mass set. However, Fr. Basden took it all in his stride, proudly reminding the parishioners of Blackfen that he had reintroduced the traditional liturgy at St. Bede's long before Fr. Finigan had done so at Our Lady of the Rosary!

Fr. Basden was celebrant, Fr. Bernard McNally was deacon, and Rev. John Harrison was subdeacon. Once again I had my phone camera to hand, and a small selection of photos can be found over at the Flickr page.

Day With Mary

The Day With Mary team visited Blackfen on the first Saturday of March. It was a wonderful day, and very well-attended.

You can see my selection of photos on the Flickr page for the set. Unfortunately I forgot my proper camera, but my mobile phone did quite a reasonable job, I think.

I think that one of my favourite photos from the collection was taken during the recitation of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, led by one of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. The Sisters are wonderful - they always appear serene and joyful, and they just exude holiness...

I also paid the obligatory visit to the bookstall during the lunch break - though due to financial constraints I was forced to forego my usual spending spree... though I did manage to obtain a copy of Joan Carroll Cruz's Eucharistic Miracles - a book I'd read before (borrowed from someone) and had been meaning to get for ages for myself. Despite my lack of purchasing power, the ladies manning the stall were happy to pose for a photo opportunity...

Sodality Of The Five Holy Wounds...

The Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds held a Missa Cantata at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen on Friday. The Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent is traditionally the Feast of the Five Holy Wounds, which I hadn't realised before.

The unfamiliarity with this Feast meant that there was a bit of a query as to the liturgical colour in the Sacristy before Mass...

The Mass itself was beautifully sung. It was known as the Golden Mass, revealed to Pope Boniface II in 532AD and believed to have been composed by St. John the Evangelist himself.

I only took a few photos, and they can be seen on my Flickr page. The dates and times of future meetings are to be confirmed, but if you want to join the Sodality, you can keep an eye on events by checking out the Sodality blog. More information about the Sodality and its Constitutions can be found there too.

Photos From Brighton...

With shame, I realise that I didn't get around to posting any of the photos from the 150th Anniversary Mass of St. Mary Magdalen's, Brighton - the ones I posted directly from the phone didn't really count!

The Mass was really wonderful, as was the party afterwards. A selection of photos can be seen on my Flickr page for the event.

I got there early enough to get a shot of the choir rehearsing beforehand...

The church really did look beautiful...

And at the end, Fr. Ray Blake kindly allowed me to take his photo...

One advantage of having taken so long to get the photos up is that I can also link to Fr. Tim Finigan's sermon, as well as to the official photos page, and to recordings of Bruckner's Locus Iste and the setting of Tu es Petrus which Tom Bennett composed especially for the Anniversary Mass. Awesome. Clare, who runs the choir at St. Mary Magdalen's, has some fantastic posts also, so do go and check her blog.

Presents...

My next-door neighbour accosted me as I returned from Mass this afternoon. Had I received any more presents from the Monsignori? she wanted to know. I replied in the negative, and she warned me that Furretti had succeeded in catching a squirrel the other day, but when my neighbour intervened, the cat dropped the squirrel which then made its escape.

On entering the flat, both cats came to greet me in a manner which I have learned to distrust. It's a sort of "We're here, and we love you, and we want you to come with us now because we have something to show you..." manner. Warily, I followed the cats into the living room. There was a live pigeon on top of the curtain track. Miaowrini was miaowing like mad, running between me and the pigeon, as if to say "I want that one, can you get it down for me, pleease..."

Well, it wasn't easy. The pigeon was too high up for me to drop a towel over it, and when I went to open the curtains it flew back across the room, much to the cats' delight. I managed to open the window, but it blew shut again just as the pigeon tried to fly out, so the poor thing stunned itself on the glass. I got the towel over the bird at that point, and waited for it to calm down (its heart was hammering so hard I could feel it, and Miaowrini's cries of excitement didn't help!) before I let it fly off. The poor bird had been a bit chewed up before it got away, and the state of the living room floor gave testimony to the epic battle which had occurred.

I still marvel at how they got the bird up to the catflap in the first place...

Back Again...

I appear to have had a blogging break for the past two weeks. It feels a lot longer. Nothing to do with Lent - I just seemed to be too tired, or too busy, or too uninspired... or a combination of all three.

Every now and then I get the urge to give up blogging for good, but I do enjoy it... I've just been out of sorts. And I have lost a lot of readers too... I suspect that I have been given a dose of my own medicine - dead blogs are expunged regularly from my own blogrolls, so it wouldn't surprise me if my lack of output has led to the blog being culled.

Anyway, I shall attempt to get back on the straight and narrow - blogging shall recommence forthwith!

The Most Beautiful Thing...

The Most Dangerous Time For The PP

... the Crowning of the Statue while wearing a cope...

Day With Mary At Blackfen

It starts with prayers...

Happy Feast Day !

Yes, daffodils. I'm not that fond of daffodils, and I definitely don't know why that Wordsworth chap was wittering on about them. I vaguely associate them with Wales... and the alternative was leeks. I'm afraid that I really don't like leeks. So, today, it has to be daffodils...

A very happy St. David's Day to all my friends of Welsh extraction, particularly Leutgeb (I do hope she gets to have some spotty bread) and the Reluctant Sinner.

A Fun Quote...

"Of course, just when you get a decent MC trained up, he leaves. We're losing about three soon... That's the trouble with the Old Mass... it keeps causing vocations...!"

Just Back...

I'm just winding down after the really wonderful Mass at St. Mary Magdalen's, Brighton (Fr. Ray Blake's parish), this evening. The bun fight in the hall afterwards was pretty impressive as well.

I enjoyed hearing the new composition of Tu es Petrus, but must confess that I preferred the one by James MacMillan. MacMillan's version was reminiscent of the victorious Church - the Church Triumphant - "You are Peter, and on this rock, etc." (at least it was for me, but I'm a musical ignoramus.) I thought that the setting tonight was filled with the terrifying and awe-ful (as well as awful) responsibility which accompanies the office of Pope. MacMillan's piece made me think "Yay! Pope Benedict!" whereas tonight's piece sent shivers down my spine and made me think "Oh, no... poor Pope Benedict!"

I've taken a few more photos, and will try to load them later in the week.

The only disappointment of the evening for me - Genty came and said hallo, but I was conscious of not wanting to disturb people around us. Unfortunately, in the crush, I lost contact... hopefully we can have a chat at the next Bloggers' event!