The Hermeneutic of Continuity

My father was a primary school headmaster and, like everyone in the profession, had some good stories of how children can upset the planned direction of a lesson. One one occasion, a well-meaning priest went into a class to talk to them about grace. He wanted to use petrol as an analogy so he asked the children "What makes a car go?" One bright lad waved his arm frantically and, on being selected, said "Please, Father, the internal combustion engine." I have had plenty of such moments myself. Here is one with President Barack Obama: Here's the transcript with my comments in red : THE PRESIDENT: I think one thing that's important to remember is that, even though there's a lot of fun at Christmas, you know, you got -- especially when it's snowy like this, so it's pretty outside, you got the Christmas tree, you got the Christmas cookies, you've got presents. You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Chr...

Christmas Day itself I spent with my sister Mary's family - always a great day. After lunch I did actually watch television for a short while. It was an episode of "Shrek" in which the homonymous protagonist has lots of people round to his house, throws them all out, repents, searches for the "true meaning of Christmas", finds it is "everybody coming together", and then invites everybody back again. It was a truly remarkable feat in that as far as I could tell (I was not awake for the whole time, you understand) the entire programme managed to skirt around Christmas without a single reference to the nativity of Jesus Christ. Later, we played " Scattegories " and " Balderdash ": much more fun. The Wiki article says: An oft used strategy in balderdash is to elect your own fake definition in an attempt to give it credibility in the minds of your fellow players. This is referred to as a "downstream balder". You do not score a ...

I wish all of you, dear readers, a happy and blessed Christmas. May the infant Jesus bless you and your families and loved ones. Getting through the three Masses has been something of a battle since I have a heavy cold, but through the fog of snuffles, spluttering, and coughing, I have enjoyed the beautiful texts that the Church proposes for our meditation in the Sacred Liturgy, and our magnificent repertoire of English Christmas carols. We have been blessed with some wonderful music from the parish choir at Midnight Mass, and a scratch choir for the 9am Mass which harmonised the carols and sang Stille Nacht in German. I'm now off to visit my sister Mary and her family in Croydon for lunch, good conversation, exchanges of gifts, and some uproarious parlour games.

H/T to Patrick Madrid - as he says, there's one in every neighbourhood.

Our Crib Service today was a heartwarming occasion with little shepherds, angels and kings taking part in a tableau to celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Some of the older ones read passages from the Holy Scriptures: and some of the younger ones just took part in their own way: One young shepherd was particularly enthused by some of the carols: The Kings made their procession with gifts as described in Holy Writ. It was great that so many dads came along like St Joseph, the "upright and just man", supporting the family occasion: And finally, all the children gathered to sing, to receive a blessing, to be photographed by loving parents and to help us all to enter into the spirit of the feast day:

The temperature has dropped in this part of the world over the past couple of days and the pond at Aylesford had chunks of ice floating on the surface today. Aylesford, the Carmelite Priory confiscated by King Henry VIII and re-acquired by the Carmelites in 1949, was the home of St Simon Stock who received the vision of Our Lady, granting him the brown scapular which is worn, in miniature form, by Catholics all over the world. I always love to visit the Priory which is a mixture of ancient and modern buildings, the home of a community living and working in the service of the gospel. A forty minute drive in the coach took us there from Blackfen today for a "Christmas Lunch" organised by the Union of Catholic Mothers. I know it is still Advent but these occasions are a good way for people to get together, spend a day out safely, and enjoy a good lunch in good company. I'll admit that I did doze a little on the coach on the way back but I think I was not the only one.

The Good Counsel Network have several carol singing sessions at central London tube stations to raise funds. Dates and venues as follows: Monday 14th December at Canary Wharf Friday 18th December at Baker Street Monday 21st December at Waterloo Tuesday 22nd December at Knightsbridge Wednesday 23rd December at Green Park All sessions 5-8pm

Each week, a team of ladies in the parish cook a three-course lunch for about 40 people. I would like to get to this more often - for both pastoral and gastronomic reasons. Today was the Christmas lunch and although I was late after celebrating a funeral this morning (please pray for the repose of the soul of Jillian O'Shea), there was some left for me. Background was provided by Mary on the keyboard. She is a regular blog reader and often brings in print-offs for others who do not have the internet, so it is good to be able to feature her here. The Team were keen to be on the blog also - they sent me back into the presbytery to get my camera! Above you can see Maura on the left and Head Chef Tricia on the right. The specifications for the sparkling, state-of-the-art, kitchen was designed especially to make sure the Lunch Club meets all the "elfin safety" regulations. Here are two more stalwart workers, Audrey and Tracey: I have to say that although priests do sometimes g...

Fr William Charlton at the parish of St Alphonsus, North Ormesby , in Middlesbrough, celebrates Mass according to the usus antiquior every Sunday evening. His programme for Christmas includes not only a solemn High Midnight Mass in the older form, but also first Vespers, Lauds, and second Vespers with Benediction. All of these offices will be sung with Gregorian Chant. (There are also three other Masses in the ordinary form.) The above picture is a screen grab of the parish's poster; here is a link to the full pdf .

A couple of years ago, our local funeral director, Ashdown Funeral Services , suggested that they would like to support our carol service and give people an opportunity to remember their loved ones as Christmas draws near. It might seem on the surface an odd idea but I felt that it could be an opportunity for evangelisation and links with those in Blackfen who do not normally come to Church. Towards the end of the carol service, I receive a basket of memorial cards, say the De Profundis in English, and prayers for those who have died. We have done this for three years now and I think it has been a success. Previously we had about 80 or so parishioners for the carol service; now we have about 250 people, so the work that the choir put into the service is appreciated by more people. It has also succeeded in creating a link between the Church and the wider community: people are very appreciative of the welcome they receive and of the reception organised afterwards by the Union of Cathol...

St Stephen's Day has been a special day for me in recent years. After our Altar servers' Mass - which is always a joy - I join the community at St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster for their "extended recreation" to celebrate Christmas. This year, we were treated to an explanation of a typical icon of the nativity. After this and a few carols, the refreshments were ready. One of the brothers had prepared some mulled wine; there were mince pies and Indian snacks: non-meat since meat is never included in the diet there. (The flasks contain tea and coffee.) I do not get a chance to talk to most of the community through the year, only the novices and simply-professed who come to my classes, so it is a welcome opportunity to greet and talk to the more senior monks whom I only see in choir at Vespers. They all take a keen interest in what is happening in the Church and in the world, making me feel even more grateful for their prayers. When the bell struck four, there was...

Here is the text of my sermon for the Christmas Masses. The Lord said to me “You are my Son” this day have I begotten You . (Ps 2.7) The lovely traditional carol with which we began our vigil for Christmas, “Once in royal David’s city” sings our faith in the mystery of this great feast day: He came down to earth from heaven Who is God and Lord of all. The eternal Word of God, born of the Father before time began, is now born in human flesh of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who herself was chosen by God and preserved free from original sin to be His immaculate Mother. The carols also tell us the purpose for which Our Lord descended in humility to be with us in human form: And our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love, for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above; and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone. “His children” refers to all of us. In the presence of the Most High God, we are all children and do well to come before him in humility...

May I wish all of you, my dear readers, a very Happy Christmas. May God bless you, your families and your loved ones, and shower his graces upon you on the occasion of this great feast. Thank you for reading the blog and thank you for your many kind and encouraging comments.

My Christmas tree is now up - perhaps I will post a photo of this masterpiece if I get time. All presents for my family are now in order, I think, and I have even wrapped some of them. The shops seem to have agreed on a holiday for St Stephen's Day which is surely to be commended; however, I have my family coming over on Saturday so I needed to get the shopping today. Fortunately, Sainsbury's was not too crowded. My sacristan prepared things this morning and my MCs have been in the Church since 9.30pm sorting out all the last-minute adjustments for our Midnight Mass which will be a High Mass in the usus antiquior (the Dawn and Day Masses will be English Novus Ordo .) They've borrowed an Evangeliarium , found the gold tabernacle veil, laid out the gold High Mass set and prepared a gold cushion for the Bambino Gesu . The choir have been working very hard and have a good programme of carols and motets to sing before Mass. The Church looks beautiful, decorated mainly with gree...

A big hat tip to the Hound of Heaven for this excellent Christmas gift idea: a Pope Pius clock with all the Pius's in order from 1-12. Yes, I would very much like one - and I don't mind Christmas gifts arriving late ;-)

Gregor Kollmorgen at NLM has picked up some comments made by Mgr Marini, the Master of the Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations to the Italian Catholic paper Avvenire. See: Details about the Papal Liturgies This Christmastide (Italian original: Vaticano Nella liturgia la gioia della Natività ) The note explains that there are no great novelties in the choice of vestments, just a sense of continuity and a healthy equilibrium between past and present. (There will be a Roman chasuble on the feast of the Epiphany.) This year again, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass ad orientem in the Sistine chapel on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Mgr Marini explains: "this means that at some points the Pope will turn towards the Crucified, thus underlining the correct orientation of the Eucharistic celebration. This is not about turning the back to the people, but about assuming the same orientation as the assembly, which precisely looks toward the Crucified."

The fourth Sunday of Advent is usually the day when we have our children's crib service. The children are invited to come dressed as a shepherd, an angel or a king. The catechists organise the children on the spot (no rehearsals) to come on at various points, to sing carols and to read from the scriptures. We look out during Autumn for a soon-to-be-born baby and this year, Joshua was the baby Jesus, after being baptised earlier in the day. Some of our fine young students are home from university and can help out with things. We should have a good crew of servers for our various Masses and the choir are in very good voice. We also have a girls' choir for the early Mass, with some quite young children helped out by some very good young people. At the Missa Cantata this morning, Ryan was MC for the first time. At ten years of age, this is no mean feat. I have been treated to lots of very good meals and some people have reminded me of my own advice to find hidden ways to do some p...

We are very fortunate in the English speaking world to have such a rich collection of Christmas carols - all the more reason to curse the ubiquitous noise pollution of Noddy Holder's "So heer id izz merry crissmuss..." As a student in Rome, I was surprised to find out that there are not many Christmas carols in Italian that are popularly sung. In fact, the only one that seems to be sung ever is " Tu scendi dalle stelle ". Nevertheless, it is by St Alphonsus Liguori and is quite charming. I knew that it would be on YouTube but it did take a while to find a halfway decent version that did not mess about with it. Here is a version from the Portale Cattolico Italiano: Words and translation here . H/T to Orbis Catholicus for reminding me of this carol. (Now what I would really love to find would be a recording of " Inni e canti sciolgiamo fedeli .", a hymn to the Blessed Sacrament that Don Augusto Cecchi used to have at San Lorenzo. It is one of the most ...

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Carol singing for the Good Counsel Network . Today I was at their chapel to give Benediction at the end of the day's Adoration. I always enjoy a cup of tea and a chat afterwards (no chocolate hobnobs in evidence). They told me today that some of the people who turned up to sing carols had heard about it here. So - there are still two opportunities to join them: 16th and 22nd December (see the post mentioned for further details.) Earlier in the afternoon, I was at the St Patrick's School of Evangelisation which has its own blog, Hope in the Heart of Soho . I was speaking about the nature of the Church and it was a good session with lots of questions and exchange from an enthusiastic and thoughtful group of students. Say a prayer for the success of their street evangelisation in Soho and Oxford Street.

Many thanks to a correspondent who has observed that the Royal Mail have made available the Christmas stamps from 2007 which have an image of the Our Lady with the child Jesus. There are designs for first and second class stamps. Go to the Stamp Sheets page in the online shop and scroll to the foot of the page. I think that this is a very good idea. Nowadays, a company like the Royal Mail can offer "print on demand" via the internet and people can vote with their plastic for the stamps that they would like to use to send Christmas cards. (The 2008 stamps feature pantomime characters.) There is another interesting feature that I have not seen before. You can now make up your own custom stamps with a feature called " Smilers " They are a bit pricey but would be quite fun to do. Here is an example I made as a preview: