Posts

Showing posts with the label Mary

Our Lady widens our vision

Image
Here is the text of the sermon given by Fra Lawrence Lew OP at last night's Mass at Blackfen for our patronal feast of Our Lady of the Rosary: Last month I had the opportunity to visit the cell of Saint Pius V in Santa Sabina, the oldest Dominican priory in Rome. And there in his cell, which is now a chapel, we were surprised to see that he had a wide-screen television! Well, actually… to be precise, what we saw was a fresco on the ceiling of the cell, showing the pope praying the Rosary… and as he does, an angel pulls back a curtain, and he appears to be watching the outcome of the battle of Lepanto on a wide-screen television… I think this is entirely appropriate because today’s feast widens our vision. And it is also appropriate that we celebrate this feast using the form of the Mass essentially codified by Pope St Pius V. This beautiful liturgy is itself a widening of our Catholic vision, of our hearts and minds. As Our Holy Father said: “Let us generously open our hearts a...
Read more

Parish feast day

Image
As it is just after midnight, I thought I would put up a quick post to promise you all prayers on our parish feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. I'll be saying Mass in English in the Church at 10am, and at the school at 2.30pm. We then have Solemn High Mass in the usus antiquior at 8pm. Please remember me and the parish in your prayers.
Read more

Rosary Crusade of Reparation

Image
Just a reminder: The Rosary Crusade of Reparation, in its Jubilee Year, takes place this year on Saturday, 16th October 2010. The Abbot of Farnborough, the Rt Rev Dom Cuthbert Brogan OSB, will lead this year's event. The Procession starts at 1:45 PM on Saturday, 16 October 2010 outside Westminster Cathedral in Central London (nearest underground station is Victoria). The procession makes its way through Westminster and Knightsbridge to South Kensington, ending at the the Brompton Oratory (nearest Underground Station: South Kensington). At the Oratory, following prayers and hymns, there will be Solemn Pontifical Benediction and an opportunity to enroll in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Do support this wonderful event in honour of Our Lady! You may also like to revisit the Rocket Science Examination .
Read more

Once an island of saints

Image
It has been a busy few days, liturgically speaking. On Friday, in addition to my morning English Mass, I celebrated a Missa Cantata at the chapel of the Good Counsel Network . Above is a photo (courtesy of the Ecumenical Diablog ) taken from one of my previous visits there. You can see that the chapel is quite small, so it was down to the skill of Paul Smeaton, the MC, that elbow-bumping was kept to a minimum. Yesterday was the anniversary of the dedication of Our Lady of the Rosary at Blackfen. In the morning we had Missa Cantata : Then (after I had celebrated a wedding) we sang Vespers: Vespers was followed by Benediction: Then it was just a question of evening confessions and Mass to finish off the day. Today is Rosary Sunday and so in the morning our Missa Cantata was of the external solemnity. this afternoon, we had the Rosary, a devotional procession of Our Lady, and Benediction. The photos above from yesterday are by  Mulier Fortis and I expect she will post so...
Read more

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino

Image
Yesterday before evening Mass I took my camera out to photograph our Lady Altar which was decorated for the feast of the Assumption. Afterwards, I thought that with the light just after a heavy rainfall, it would be a good opportunity to try and get a good photo of our outside statue, avoiding cars, sheds and buildings. More or less crouching in a puddle, I was rewarded with this one which, I think, might do for a postcard. The title of the post is from the pre-1950 antiphon for the feast of the Assumption: Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore beatae Mariae Virginis: de cuius Assumptione gaudent Angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei. Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating the feast day in honour of Blessed Mary the Virgin: in whose Assumption the Angels rejoice, and highly extol the Son of God. I'm not sure that the post-1950 propers with the Signum magnum introit are an improvement. Here is the photo of the Lady Altar: Say a prayer for the repo...
Read more

Novena suggestion

Image
Michael Morris writes: Short notice I know, but if we start a Novena tomorrow, St Patrick's Day, it would include St Joseph on Friday and finish on the Annunciation. The intention being of course the exemption of Catholic AND other Faith Schools: Jewish and definitely Moslem from the worst provisions of the Children Schools and Families Bill. I suggest at least the Memorare, or however many decades of the Rosary individuals can manage. I'll try to have it mentioned at Mass tomorrow. How about it? Memorare Remember, O most compassionate Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your assistance or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, we fly unto you, O virgin of Virgins, our Mother. To you we come, before you we kneel, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions but in your clemency, hear and answer us. Amen.
Read more

Oggi festa!

Image
Today is the patronal feast of my parish of Our Lady of the Rosary. I feel that we are especially blessed since we can also celebrate the feast on Rosary Sunday. Today, we had an English Mass in the morning, with some of our favourite Marian hymns. This afternoon, I will celebrate Mass in Our Lady of the Rosary Primary school, and this evening we will have a Missa Cantata (EF) in the Church. The feast day was instituted to celebrate the victory of the european Holy League at the battle of Lepanto. Here is a rather "blood and thunder" account of the battle I found it rather curious that the film ends by describing the battle as a victory for "humanism". Pope St Pius V instituted a rosary campaign to pray for victory in the battle, in which the Christian forces were outnumbered. The original title of the Feast was "Our Lady of Victory" but it was shortly after changed to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is possible that the dedication of my own Church was made be...
Read more

Rosary Sunday

Image
The dedication of the parish to Our Lady of the Rosary means that we usually get to celebrate our patronal feast twice over, once on Rosary Sunday and then again on the feast. This afternoon, as is our custom, we had Rosary, Procession and Benediction. This year, the procession was enhance in various ways. The President of the Union of Catholic Mothers suggested that I invite children to bring a flower to carry in procession and then leave as a token of devotion to Our Lady. We also took the procession outside for the first time for many years. In addition, we now have more servers for Benediction, so could have six torchbearers who are used to the ceremonies. Here is a picture at the " veneremur cernui ": My sermon at Mass focussed on Pope John Paul's wonderful explanation of the Rosary: we contemplate with Mary the face of Christ. I said also that Our Lady can help us in two particular ways today: in the upholding of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural...
Read more

Yesterday's Assumption Mass

Mulier Fortis took photos at yesterday's Mass at Blackfen for the Feast of the Assumption. Here is a slide show video:
Read more

Collect for St Simon Stock

Image
At Aylesford there is a reliquary containing the skull of St Simon Stock whose feast was celebrated last Saturday in the Archdiocese of Southwark. Here is the proper collect for his feast as found in the Southwark supplement to my old breviary: Plebs tibi, Domine, Virginique Matri dicata, beati Simonis solemnitate laetetur: et sicut per eum tantae protectionis signum obtinuit, ita praedestinationis aeternae munera consequatur. O Lord, may the community dedicated to You and to the Virgin Mary rejoice at the solemnity of blessed Simon: and just as it obtained through Him a sign of such great protection, so may it gain possession of the gifts of eternal predestination. The "sign of such great protection" is a reference to the brown scapular. When Our Lady appeared to St Simon, giving him this distinctive Carmelite clothing, she said that whoever died devoutly wearing it would not suffer the fire. Promises such as these are never intended to be a "get out of jail free" ...
Read more

Lecture on the Immaculate Conception

I just found at AirMaria this video of my lecture last September at the Co-redemption Conference held by the Franciscans of the Immaculate at Grey College, University of Durham, entitled "Scotistic Mariology from Scotus to the definition of 1854". ( pdf of the lecture here ) This follows on from a previous lecture about the Blessed John Duns Scotus on the Immaculate Conception. ( pdf of the lecture here )
Read more

Rosary solidarity

H/t Auntie Joanna for this fun video.
Read more

Feast of the Annunciation

Prayers and good wishes to you all on the Feast of the Annunciation. On this feast day, I am always reminded of the parish Church I belonged to for the first 18 years of my life at Addiscombe. The new Church was built in 1964 and I have some childhood memories of the old Church and the High Mass which was the one my family used to go to. I was ordained at Addiscombe on 28 July 1984 and so this year is my silver jubilee. (Details of the celebration to follow soon.) Today at Blackfen, we have our English Mass in the morning at 10am and a Missa Cantata in the evening at 7.30pm. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate are coming to sing for us.
Read more

Day With Mary 09 at Blackfen

Image
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 ...
Read more

Pregnant Mary? Too much to bear!

Image
Portland, Oregon is a very liberal, very pro-abortion city. Recently, Valerie Aschbacher commissioned a sculpture of Our Blessed Lady in pregnancy and arranged for pictures of the sculpture to be posted around town with a link to her website Mary Full of Life . Developers of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Northeast Portland had crews remove a billboard structure on their property before Aschbacher's ad was scheduled to appear on it. "We needed the space" they said. See the full story at Oregon News: Old Town billboard of pregnant Mary aims to bear hope
Read more

Immaculata Conceptio blog

Have a look at Fr George's Immaculata Conceptio blog. Fr Geoprge is a permanent chaplain in the Sanctuaries of Our Lady of Lourdes in France and his blog is especially devoted to an "in-your-face historical critical scientific exegesis of Genesis 2,4–3,24" and other scriptural texts relating to the Immaculate Conception. Fr George is highly competent in ancient languages and exegesis so do go over to see his contribution to this fascinating area of study.
Read more

More black madonnas

Image
My friends in the Netherlands have been quick to refer me to the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows at Warfhuizen ( above ) where I stayed this August for the catechetical bootcamp. (See various posts in late August .) Brother Hugo points out that the custom is originally Spanish and that in Spain, the Madonna is traditionally dressed in black for the whole of November. Here is a link to various pictures of Maria Vestida de Luto . Mgr Stephen di Giovanni, the Pastor of St John the Evangelist Church in Stamford, Connecticut has sent me this picture of "Mama" (as Fr. Faber referred to her). She appears so each Good Friday, Our Lady of Sorrows and All Souls'. Mgr gratefully acknowledges the good influence of the London Oratory.
Read more

Our Lady in black

Image
Like myself, many bloggers have posted photos of Mass celebrated in black vestments for the Commemoration of All Souls. Fr Z particularly encourages us to Show us your black vestments . I think I can trump some of those with this photo I took today at the Church of the London Oratory:
Read more

A million on Marian Pilgrimage

Image
The other day, a million people gathered for the Youth Pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, about 40 miles west of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Many of the pilgrims walked for 18 hours to get to the shrine. The Catholic Culture website has information about Our Lady of Lujan  and there is also a good piece at the  SSPX Canada website . The statue was originally intended for another village but various providential miracles of nature and grace ensured that the statue stayed at Lujan which became a place of pilgrimage. Here is a photo of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in blue vestments. This year, he criticised "those who do not listen to the grievances of the people", widely understood as a reference to the present government of Argentina.
Read more

Parish Feast Day

Image
Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the patronal feast day of my parish. We are fortunate in that we got to celebrate the feast on Rosary Sunday as well. This morning, my regular parish Mass was in English, versus populum . I sang the Introit to a simple psalm tone rather than have an entrance hymn. At the offertory, we sang "Ave Maria O Maiden O Mother" which is one of my favourite hymns. At Communion we sang "O purest of creatures" and then after Mass, I went to the Lady altar, intoned the simple Salve and then we said three Hail Marys for various parish intentions. In the afternoon, I said Mass at the junior school which is also dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The Hall is quite squashed when all the children are there but they are soon to have an extension built so perhaps next time I celebrate Mass for the whole school, the children will be a little more comfortable. The school Mass was delightful and I was especially impressed by the reveren...
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

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

Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

Image
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,...
Read more

Blessing of the New Painting of St Bede at Clapham Park

Image
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...
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

Portiuncula indulgence tomorrow (and indulgences generally)

Image
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...
Read more