Straws in the wind

Although it is always a delight to visit Lourdes, the liturgy is not exactly "classical" in style. The music can be particularly awful at times. This is not entirely the fault of the French. I heard some soupy crooning coming up from the Pius X Basilica this morning at Mass for a large English group. In the Pilgrimage booklet this year, there is special hymn to be sung at the International Mass in accordance with this year's theme. It is a jaunty song in 3/4 with the words "Penance, penance, holy penance for the Kingdom of God is close at hand!" It has been translated from the French without regard to the stress in the English sentence so that the last phrase goes "is close AT hand."

I was therefore intrigued to see the welcome sight of these books in the French section of the official shrine bookshop.

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