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Showing posts with the label Easter

Surrexit Dominus vere. Alleluia!

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A very happy Easter to all of you. May the risen Lord Jesus Christ bless and strengthen you with His grace.
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Liturgy, confessions, a brontosaurus, and a smashed Paschal candle

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This year, I celebrated two Masses each day from Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week so that we could offer both forms of the Roman rite. On Monday and Wednesday we had Low Mass at 7am and on Tuesday a Missa Cantata in the evening. The Chronista for St Matthew's Passion on Sunday and Synagoga for St Mark's Passion on Tuesday was a young man who is taking his GCSEs this year. His teacher was talking about St Mark's gospel on Tuesday and he mentioned that he was singing the St Mark's Passion in Latin in the evening. I think that made an impression! For the Triduum, we had Maundy Thursday in the usus antiquior and we have Good Friday and the Easter Vigil in the novus ordo . (That will keep everyone annoyed!) I hear confessions after all the services in Holy Week and the Triduum and find that this is a better option than having a "Penance Service" since it encourages people to return to the practice of regular confession in the usual manner. (If anyone is still p...
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Exsultet masterclass

Jeffrey Tucker at NLM points out that at this time of year, everyone starts looking for an Exsultet download and so offers links to English modern notes Latin Neumes English with Neumes If you are planning to sing it in Latin and would like a "masterclass" example, here is a video of Fr Guy Nicholls singing the Exsultet at the Birmingham Oratory last year:
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Traditional Triduum at St John of Jerusalem

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I received this notice today and am happy to pass it on for those fortunate enough to be able to attend: The Sacred Triduum will be celebrated according to the Traditional Roman usage for the fifth year running at the Order of Malta's Church of Saint John of Jerusalem (in the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, St John's Wood, London NW8). As well as the main Liturgies, Tenebrae is sung in chant each morning, and the liturgies are preceded by spiritual conferences, as meditations upon the Liturgy of the day. Thus the three days have the character of a retreat, for the benefit of the knights of the Order who are present in choir, and for members of the public. Anyone who wishes to attend is most welcome for all or part of the time. Full details of the timetable may be found at: Roman Christendom (The ceremonies will be carried out according to the 1962 missal.)
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Gaudia Paschalia

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A very happy Easter to you all. This morning was wonderful in the parish, Deo Gratias . There was standing room only in the Church at the 9am Mass. We tend to have more children at this Mass so I directed my sermon especially to the children, explaining in simple terms the story of the resurrection. There are many good parents who have recently returned to the faith at this Mass so I hope that it helped them too. At the 10.30am Mass, we had the baptism of a baby and again the Church was full, though not quite so many standing. At Easter and Christmas, I always say a word about Holy Communion, to the effect that it is practising Catholics in a state of grace who come to Communion. I say that it is great to see those who have been away from the Church for a while and that they should make a devout spiritual communion and then make a good confession during Eastertide, to join those many people who have returned to the sacraments. The evening Mass is quiet but I am glad to offer this Mass ...
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Easter Vigil

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Well, whatever conclusion we reach in due course of time about poor old Holy Week, we will be celebrating the Novus Ordo Easter Vigil tonight. It is arguably a considerable improvement on much of the 1956 one at any rate. The Gloria etc. will be sung in Latin as will the Preface, and the Roman Canon will be said in Latin. My altar servers are always very excited at the Easter Vigil, and understandably so. They love the fire and the candles and the clouds of incense in the darkened Church. Then when the Gloria is intoned, we ring all the bells we can find, put on all the lights, and then during the rest of the Gloria , servers go round taking the veils off the statues, and putting flowers in place. The main light on the sanctuary is a halogen lamp that warms up during the Gloria with the light increasing all the time. Say a prayer for Mandy who is being baptised and Kelly who is being received into full communion with the Catholic Church.
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Popular posts from this blog

Saint Gabriel

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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...
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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...
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Portiuncula indulgence tomorrow (and indulgences generally)

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Tomorrow, 2 August, you can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions ( see below ) by visiting a parish Church and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . This is called the Portiuncula indulgence and goes back to St Francis of Assisi. Fr Z has the details . Don't forget that you can also gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a Church on the day of the titular feast, and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . I made a list of other indulgences: please see the post Plenary indulgences for particular days which has a link to the list. The post has some background information which you may find helpful since indulgences are not well understood today - which is not surprising since indulgences are not included in most Catholic education curricula, and most priests never preach about them. Therefore many Catholics are left with whatever silly, half-baked, ill-informed nonsense about indulgences happens to be current. If you want to understand the theology...
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Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

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In public life, some basically well-meaning figures have the graciousness to wish us well at Easter and to recognise the importance of the Christian feast day. Perhaps they might assure us that their thoughts are with us at this time. That is kind of them and in Christian charity we should thank them for their kindness, but Easter should be a great deal more than that for us. We must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, in the flesh, and lives for eternity. We cannot treat Easter as a jolly holiday that heralds spring, or the remembrance of a significant event from the past. It must change us today and every day, change who we are and what we do. The Christian faith cannot be a mild custard or blancmange of religiosity. (I am showing my age. Nowadays, I should say that it cannot be reduced to a pious crème fraiche .) We bow down and adore the King of Kings, risen from the tomb, who, “[…] continues for ever,...
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Blessing of the New Painting of St Bede at Clapham Park

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This morning, the parish priest at Clapham Park, Fr Marcus Holden, blessed a new picture of the parish's patron, Saint Bede, painted by James Tildsley. It is sited over a recently installed side altar near the rear of the Church. The altar itself was acquired from Antique Church Furnishings . The website gives the information that the altar was built and carved by a nun in a convent near Liverpool. It is a beautiful piece of work and it is always a joy when such works of art find a suitable and dignified home. The inscription on the gradine is AMANS AMATUS AMOR. The sellers translate this as “Loving is the object of love” which is a reasonable stab at “dynamic equivalence”. Today the parish's relic of St Bede was exposed for veneration in its distinctive brightly-coloured reliquary. After the blessing, there was High Mass with Fr Holden as celebrant, Fr Littleton deacon, and myself subdeacon. That gave me the enjoyable task of chant...
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