Day With Mary 09 at Blackfen

Climbing up a step-ladder in a cope is one of the more challenging liturgical feats but it was necessary today in order to crown the statue of Our Lady of Fatima brought by the "Day With Mary" team. After processing round the streets saying the Rosary, we returned to the Church for Mass.

The policy of the "Day With Mary" is to accept the direction of the local parish priest as to whichform the Mass is in - Saturday morning is one of our two regular weekly Masses in teh usus antiquior and the Sisters of the Immaculate were happy to sing the Salve Sancta Parens Mass together with the Missa cum Iubilo. We borrowed a fine set of Marian vestments for the day.

Fr Agnellus FI took care of the Blessed Sacrament Procession and Benediction in the afternoon - I assisted him for Benediction, climbing the step-ladder to fetch down the monstrance only without cope this time.

Today's Day With Mary was our best attended ever, with a full Church for much of the Day. It is a great blessing for the parish to have this powerful day of devotion and prayer and to renew the consecration of the parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Many thanks to the Mulier Fortis for the photos - there are more at her blog, together with her own account of the day.

At the breaks for lunch and tea, there is a large bookstall filled mainly with TAN books. Of these, I got a short life of St Catherine of Siena to read on the train tomorrow afternoon, a rather longer life of St Aloysius Gonzaga and Mgr George Moorman's "The Latin Mass Explained" which is an introduction to the Traditional Latin Mass. The title is slightly irritating (the typical edition of the newer form is Latin) but if we can let that go for the moment, it looks to be a very helpful book for those who want to find out more.

A booklet that I have passed over several times is Very Rev Joseph Simler's "Catechism of Mental Prayer." I read this over a cup of tea this afternoon and found it to be very good. I heartily recommend it to anyone who would like to begin the practice of mental prayer or meditation. It would also be very helpful to anyone whose spiritual formation neglected the common teaching of the saints and spiritual doctors. In a 62 page pamphlet, it gives a good, practical and accurate summary of what must otherwise be quarried from many different books.

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Novena in honour of Bl Pius IX for seminarian

Image
The Overbrook Seminary of Philadelphia began yesterday a novena in honor of Blessed Pius IX that God might be glorified through the illness of a second year seminarian, Philip Gerard Johnson. Philip has helped at Lourdes for many years as a day pilgrim guide as one of those guiding the torchlight Rosary Procession throughout these Summers. He blogs at In Caritate non Ficta . The photo above is one I took of the statue of Blessed Pius IX in the Salesian Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome. Do join the Novena if you can. Here are the prayers: Novena In Honor of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who ...
Read more

Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec...
Read more