I always carry a book on the tube to ensure custody of the eyes,but never listen to my MP3 player, earphones make you unavailable, people will speak to you if you are reading. Thus I can ensure I avoid inappropriate conduct and still ensure availability to people.I remember reading once some advice for priests in an old book to the effect that you shouldn't read the breviary on the train in case people were scandalised. Presumably in those days, people knew about the priest's obligation to recite the breviary and might be shocked that he hadn't said it quietly somewhere.
Nowadays, it is probably edifying for people to see the priest reading something that is obviously a holy book. It is often presumed that it is a bible. (One of the Mission Impossible films makes this mistake.) Still, I try to arrange the day so as not to have to read the breviary when on the train. It is not always possible and yesterday I knew that if I didn't say the day hours on the train, I'd end up squashing lots of the office together later.
An African man got on at Canary Wharf and sat next to me. Eventually he pointed to the heading "Psalmus 55" and said something about the Psalms. We got into a full scale conversation about the various psalms and he told me about his prayer life. I translated some of psalm 55 and we talked about that too. He was clearly not a Catholic but I felt the best thing was just to run on about God and his goodness and mercy rather than try any direct apologetics. I think he understood that these priests who wear black and read Latin psalms share his love of the scriptures and understand what it is to meditate on the love and mercy of God. When he got off at Westminster, I prayed that God would follow up his brief introduction to the Catholic Church.
20 comments:
The books can themselves be a starting point, 'Spirituality, gender, and the self in RTenaissance Italy' (rather good on the foundation period of the Ursulines) raised no comments, while 'France and the cult of the Sacred Heart' and Pope Benedict's 'Jesus of Nazareth' both proved to be conversation starters. I was once taken to task, by a female cleric, ecclesial allegience unknown, for reading Roger Scruton on the tube...and I was in plain clothes not my normal cassock or black suit !
You will have influenced him in ways to numerous to mention. sadly it's people reading the Koran or buddhists with their prayer beads that are more obvious. i mean how many people do you see praying the rosary on public transport or walking in the park (see Pope Benedict post)? Now is the acceptable time..i'm going to do it..anyone care to join me?
"Nowadays, it is probably edifying for people to see the priest reading something that is obviously a holy book."
People returning from the countries of North Africa often mention how edified they are to see so much prayer in public places. That is why it would also probably be edifying for people to see ordinary Catholics saying the Rosary as they walk to the train or praying grace before meals in restaurants- complete with the sign of the cross.
Our Lord warns us against praying in order to be seen, and of course we should be very cautious of our motives. Are we praying in public in order to confess the faith or to gain the applause and the esteem of men? If the latter, then we have already received our reward. But if the former, then we are acknowledging the Lord before men and saying, in effect, that we are far from being ashamed om Him and His words.
It seems to me that the less we are known in a particular locale or situation the more sure we can be of our own motives in this regard. There is little danger of gaining a reputation as a saint-or a pious so-and-so for that matter- where no one has the slightest idea who we are in the first place.
Strolling through an urban area and letting the rosary dangle from our hands rather than carrying it bunched up in our fists is hardly the moral equivalent of the pharisaical practice of blowing a trumpet on a street corner to announce that we are about to pray-the kind of thing Our Lord was concerned about.
No, it is a simple witness and a beautiful example to other Catholics, an occasion to trample upon human respect and to raise everyone's minds to Heavenly things.
Or so it seems to me.
I've occasionally prayed the office on public transit, even sometimes during coffee breaks or lunch at work.
The big issue for me is not the noise, but making sure I have enough time to read through the particular office at my normal pace. The temptation I have, when I'm bustling from place to place on the bus, is to race through the office just to get it done in time and lose the contemplative aspect of my prayer.
I also generally prefer to pray at home to keep the wear and tear on my breviary to a minimum, but that's another story.
I'm surprised you include references to Mr Jones, still less commend him for emulation. He is a married Anglo-Catholic parson
I read the psalms on the tube too! I have a handy small CTS Grail Edition that cost £2.95. It is wonderful. I also read a small prayer book "Women Before God" from The Newman Press published in 1961 which I was a gift in 1964. Both these books have prompted people to speak to me on the tube! One lady asked where she could get a copy of "Women Before God" - does anyone know? An Asian man dug out his bible from his bag with enthusiasm to support his chat with me on the tube. Jackie - I will say the rosary in St James's Park, London in my lunch hour tomorrow! Onward Christians everywhere. JCR
I'll join you, Jackie! :)
Father, I know this misses the point of your post a bit, but does your Breviary have an inline English translation, or is it Latin only?
I'm surprised you include references to Mr Jones, still less commend him for emulation. He is a married Anglo-Catholic parson
I'm surprised that you are surprised. The fact that someone is an Anglican Parson does not vitiate everything they say and do. Fr Jones is obviously a good and holy man. Of course, I pray that he will become a Catholic - he would be a great asset to the Church.
Mark - my breviary is Latin only. But there has recently been published a Latin-English version of the Monastic Diurnal which might be of interest to you.
Thank you, Father. The Monastic Diurnal misses out Matins, though doesn't it? I think I shall have to wait for Baronius Press to issue their edition.
Well any Brummies about Wed 1st Aug 10.30am at Edgbaston reservoir. Lee i never even thought it might be a 'showy' thing to do. i don't expect the Holy father did either.It would be a strange thing to do just to be thought super-pious..i must be a bit naive in that department hopefully.
Good luck to the London rosary at lunch time & God bless
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You think people will think you're dead holy? I always assume they'll think I'm a pious prig. Especially if they know me.
Fr. Tim,
I want to add my voice in support your defence of Fr. Jones. The anonymous comment referring to him as "Mr." is completely uncalled-for, IMHO. Anyone who visits Fr. Jones' blog will see that he is doing a tremendous job in a difficult part of inner London, and the manifest beauty of his liturgical practices puts a lot of our post-Conciliar Catholic liturgies to shame.
I agree that Fr. Jones would make an excellent Catholic priest -- of all people, he is someone Catholics should be treating in a true spirit of ecumenism rather than sniping at him from the sidelines.
I have a funny story about praying the Rosary in public. Anna Maria Schmidt tells this story. Her plane was delayed. It looked like the wait would be for hours. So she and her friends started the Rosary. Soon others joined her. Yes! And! A couple of Muslim women in burqa sheepishly approached Anna Maria and asked her if they could just join the group and listen. Prayer is prayer. Of course it was OK. Well, "lo and behold", you never saw airline personnel move so fast to get these passengers boarded.
Faith - that's good!
Francis - it was anonymous. For all I know he could have been some nitwit trying to be sarcastic. But I thought it was a good opportunity to say something nice about Fr Jones for whom I have great respect.
Without getting into a brawl over this, if we hold Pope Leo XIII 'S Apostolicae Curae to be valid and forever having the full force of the law, can we really refer to a parson as "Fr."?
Back to the orginal question: I tried to ray the traditional Little Office of the Blessed Virgin on the tube a few year ago but I found it hard and gave up. =(
Fr. T.,
Hear, hear.
Fr. T.E. Jones,
God bless you and your good work.
Dear Father and Francis, thank you for your kindness, to be honest I suspected on Lit Crit grounds that I detected an 'in house' Anglo-Catholic tone to the comment. It had a S. Stephen's House Oxford feel... the sort of thin we say to each other in private in self depreciation.
It did not imagine that it was a member of another Christian being unkind.
Your blog Father is always inspirational.
Are we praying in public in order to confess the faith or to gain the applause and the esteem of men?
Here's an interesting point though: in the west, public displays of religious belief, particularly Christian, and especially Catholic, religious belief is more likely to bring on disdain and hatred. It isn't looking for the esteem of men when you know that the people on the subway have been brainwashed to loathe and fear you for being a practising Christian. I say grace with my friends in restaurants, and every time, this being vicious old secularist Toronto, I wonder if I'm going to get thrown out, or at least have a bread roll lobbed at my head.
It takes quite a bit of screwing the nerve to the sticking place to get Christians to be overtly regligious in our post-Christian towns, make no mistake.
Fr Jones - thank you for crystallising the suspicion I had :-)
Andrew - I don't think so. As a matter of courtesy, we refer to non-Catholic clergy by the titles that they take themselves. It does not necessarily imply a particular stance on Apostolicae Curae, I think.
Hilarity - absolutely. In London, from fellow diners you might well get stares, silly jokes, or some nonsense about the Da Vinci Code or paedophile priests - from the staff, though, in quite a few restaurants, you get a delighted and respectful recognition from a muslim, hindu or lapsed Catholic.
I'm prone to motion sickness and thus any form of reading while travelling on public transport is out of the question for me.
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