"To God who gives joy to my youth"

The northern region of the Netherlands is a beautiful part of the world. Canals, pastures stretching as far as the eye can see, windmills, and lovely houses made for a restful and rejuvenating couple of days.

The participants in the Boot Camp were mainly young graduates in various disciplines: they wanted to learn more about the Catholic faith. My task was to talk about the sacraments in general and the Eucharist in particular. I took along the notes that I use at the seminary and tried to give an overview of these topics, looking in some detail at questions such as validity and fruitfulness, the nature of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Tridentine decrees on transubstantiation. I was not sure beforehand what level to work at and so I was glad that for those who took part, I had to hand my full notes with quotations from the Fathers and the magisterial documents.

The programme for each day was quite ambitious. The participants were camping locally in tents and walked the half mile to the village for breakfast and other meals, and for offices sung by Brother Hugo in the chapel. They prepared their own food in the village Hall and must have walked quite a number of miles to and fro during the course of the week.

Each night, there was a time of adoration after Compline. For this, the Blessed Sacrament was carried from the village solemnly with torches, thurible and bell - both there and back. As a priest, I was asked to fulfil this office and to give Benediction at the end of the period of adoration. It was a wonderful experience to carry Our Lord so solemnly along the roads and tracks, across the canal, into the chapel tent and back again. (Given the darkness of the roads and tracks, the torches fulfilled their practical, as well as their symbolic purpose.) There was no doubting the young people's love for the Lord in his Eucharistic presence. Although I have virtually no Dutch, I was moved by Brother Hugo's leading the litanies in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and the reverence which was shown.

Another welcome duty as a visiting priest was to celebrate Mass. The day before I came, two priests from the Fraternity of St Peter in Amsterdam spoke about the usus antiquior and I was asked to celebrate Mass in this form of the Roman Rite (most of the participants being readers of my blog and knowing that I would not object to this request!) Here is the chapel tent set up for the 8am Mass, open towards the morning sun:

The altar was hung with fine quality damask, with gold braid decoration. Everything was as dignified as could be for the celebration of the sacred Liturgy. In the front of the altar is a niche containing a piece from the sarcophagus of St Bruno (one of the many relics in the possession of Brother Hugo) and a relic cloth was placed on the altar with a first class relic.

I had expected that I would be celebrating Low Mass but the young people had prepared with Brother Hugo all the texts from the Graduale Romanum, and Mass IV so that we could celebrate a Missa Cantata on each of the two days I was there. It was not possible in the circumstances to have the more solemn form of the Missa Cantata but my server, David, was very competent and we managed to negotiate our way around the groundsheet and the carpet that had been sacrificed to lay in front of the altar.

It was really most impressive that the quite challenging Gregorian Chant for the two days was sung with such enthusiasm by a choir with little experience of the usus antiquior. As ever in such cases, they were modest and apologised afterwards for the fact that they made occasional mistakes. Really - they should not be so hard on themselves!

The atmosphere at the Boot Camp was full of fun. I was asked to ride a bicycle in my cassock for a photo (perhaps that will appear somewhere soon!), there was much improptu singing (especially from Anna) and I sang "The British Grenadier" as my contribution while lunch was being prepared. I was also introduced into the mysteries of the pronunciation of Dutch diphthongs by being encouraged to read the local Catholic paper out loud while being carefully coached (especially by Livi).

The Church in the Netherlands is fortunate indeed to have this gallant band of young adults ready to sleep out in damp tents for a week, staying up late to adore Our Lord, getting up early to praise Him, and scribbling diligently in notebooks while learning more about their faith. I was so glad that I agreed to go and help out, even for a couple of days, and I shall be watching with interest to see the growth of the Church in that lovely country. In the Netherlands too, The Church is alive! The Church is young!

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

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more