Corpus Christi Procession at S. Magnus

Here are a few pictures from the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament which took place after the Mass of Corpus et Sanguis Christi. As you can see, we processed around the Monument to the great fire, which is our nearest large public space, being a short walk up the hill.

Here you can see our flower-girl throwing rose petals down before the Blessed Sacrament.

Since our canopy is beyond use, it has been our custom for some time to use a liturgical umbrella, which Fr. Philip picked up in Ethiopia. I'm sure that the amount of Gold in it makes it liturgically legal for use in such processions, don't worry yourselves over THAT.

People find their places in the church before Benediction is given, and our Heavenly Father demonstrates his approval with a shaft of sunlight directed at the Blessed Sacrament. You'll also notice in these pictures a good turn-out for the Mantilla. I've been providing them for use for the last few Sundays, although I've given them away to women who would like to use them regularly. I will be making more myself this week, if only I could lay my hands on some tasteful scalloped lace edging.....

Shortly before Benediction...

The faithful kneel in rapt silence, adoring the Most Blessed Sacrament as sunlight cuts through the heavy haze of incense smoke.

There's one story I love which is told by one of our servers, Br. Deiniol, about a church he used to go to. There was an ecumenical programme there once which involved an exchange between the local Anglican and Methodist congregations so that they might better experience the other's worship life. So, the Anglicans went to the local Methodist Chapel for Evening worship with plenty of robust hymnody, and the Methodists were invited the following Sunday to Solemn Evensong and Benediction at the Anglican church. After the service, a Methodist lady was asked if she enjoyed Benediction : "Oh yes" she said, "lovely! Especially the bit near the end when the Minister picked up that carriage clock and it struck three". I fell about laughing.

Corpus Christi and then some....

There are some Holy Days which are ordered, under the newer directions, to be moved from their traditional mid-week position to the next Sunday. The Ascension is one such feast, and Corpus Christi is another. If I can, I like to attend both celebrations, just to make sure that I’ve really done the feast. This year, having attended no less than three celebrations, I feel as if I’ve really DONE Corpus Christi. I can’t help feeling that for the next week, my housemates will be asking me to refrain from belting out Sweet Sacrament Divine when I’m in the shower, and I might even be asked to spare innocent travellers on the Piccadilly line the higher notes of All for Jesus.

So, on Thursday I went along to All Saint’s, Margaret St, the original bastion of “High Church” (as far as Baptists and Methodists are concerned), for their wonderful yearly celebration. After a very dignified and solemn celebration of the Mass, the large numbers of pilgrims form a procession which winds its way down onto busy Oxford Street, before heading back to the church, where Benediction is given. Unfortunately this year, the police didn’t want to escort the procession down Oxford Street, as I remember happened last year, and so open competition for pavement space occurred between the procession and pedestrians. The preacher, Bishop of Ramsbury the Rt.Rev. Stephen Conway, gave a lovely sermon about something or other (my memory, not his preaching!) and the Mass was served by legions of children from All Saint’s, Notting Hill, who also served food at the reception afterwards.

Our celebration at S. Magnus was on the Sunday, where a Solemn Mass was offered, and a procession made up to the monument. This was the first outdoor procession of the Blessed Sacrament during my time at S. Magnus, and I will always remember the horrified looks of tourists at the monument, and the bemused stares of motorists on Lower Thames Street, as Our Lord is confidently carried over a pedestrian crossing on red! Pictures of this procession coming soon…

Yesterday evening then, I also went with a few others from S. Magnus to the Solemn Evensong and Procession at St. Mary’s, Bourne St. On entering the church, which I haven’t been to in some time, we were greeted with the sight of an immaculately arranged path of fragrant foliage for the procession, and an enormous green Baroque exposition throne in the Lady Chapel. The Solemn Evensong was very beautifully sung by Fr. Alasdair Coles and his choir, the congregation singing the Pange Lingua in English. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were by Byrd. The Salve Regina, directed to be sung by the choir, was enthusiastically taken up by the congregation, before Bishop Robert Ladds began his sermon. He made a very eloquent comparison of the box of precious ointment poured out by Mary onto Jesus’ head and the precious ointment of the Eucharist which is present in our Tabernacles, inviting us to “break” open the tabernacle more frequently to receive the outpouring of blessings available to us therein. We then sang two Eucharistic hymns while the clergy prepared for the procession, before belting out O salutaris hostia to the tune of Jerusalem. The procession stopped at the Lady Chapel and we sang Tantum Ergo, the versicle Panem de caelo with the collect sung by the vicar before Benediction was given. I have to say, this is the first time I have ever been to Benediction in an Anglican church sung entirely in Latin. The hymn Lauda Sion was picked up again for the procession back to the high altar, over the foliage, which smelled by this point like a Neal’s Yard Remedy. Benediction was given again by the Bishop, the divine praises said and Laudate Dominum omnes gentes with the Antiphon Adoremus insterted after each verse of the psalm. All in all, a real assault on the senses, but in every way a beautiful evening.

I returned home exhausted, not least because of the heat we had during the day. Such a beautiful weekend though, and I hope for many more summer weekends like this. After all the extravagant worship I’ve been involved in this weekend, what have I taken away? Well, I feel convinced that, as the Bishop said, our worship of God should be spontaneous, generous and expensive. We should never be cheap in giving ourselves to God, but rather offer the most expensive parts of ourselves to Him. Our yearly exercise in this kind of expensive worship is Corpus Christi, when we pour out our love and devotion to Christ, illuminate his shrine with hundreds of candles and shower Him with fragrant gifts. We do this because we are confident of his gift in return, something that we are unable to match: His eternal, boundless love for each and every one of us and his memorial of that ceaseless love, His Holy Eucharist.

Faith and Practice : Friday Penance

A defining feature of the Catholic faith, which sets it apart from innovative forms of Christianity, is the belief in tradition. Motivated by Christ’s promise to us that the Holy Spirit will guide His Church through the generations, Catholics believe that whatever was deemed good enough for the Apostles and Saints is good enough for us too. As a consequence, they affirm many pious practices and customs which are not directly commanded in scripture, but which point to an interior piety and offer a discipline that leads to holiness. So many of these practices have been absorbed into our daily lives, and even into local and national cultures, that we often overlook their origins and purpose. Other customs which were once seen as essential to the sound practices of the faith have now fallen by the wayside, considered old-fashioned or unnecessary, or even a hindrance to our spiritual growth. As one Eastern Christian writes :

We can always make innovations and change what our Holy Fathers and Mothers, Sisters and Brothers have kept for us intact for 2000 years--the Church canons, fasts, rules--etc. None of these later served as an obstacle to them to obtain sanctity and salvation. In fact, they believe that these were the means the Apostolic Church handed down to us from Christ. Strange that we would think so much differently than them, that we would think we are somehow wiser now than they, more understanding and compassionate, more liberated! We can change the rules and whatever we like, but let us not expect the same results!

One practice that was once universally commended is regular fasting and abstinence. In the East, the patterns of fasting, i.e. reducing one’s intake of food to one meal a day continue to be more widely observed than in the West. Most notably, Copts in Egypt and Ethiopia fast for roughly half the year. Apart from the fasts of Lent, Advent and certain ancient Vigil fasts, which I won’t go into now, the Western church has recommended that Christians fast on Fridays, as a weekly observance of the day of Christ’s passion, and regular way of doing penance for our sins. This fast was once binding on all Catholics on every Friday of the year, not only during Lent, but it is an observance that has been largely neglected in the last century.

Throughout most of the Church’s history, the Friday fast, as well as the other fasts of the year, were widely observed, and the Friday fast was explicitly defined as abstaining from eating flesh-meat (fish being allowed) on all Fridays of the year by Pope Nicholas I. The Friday fast is also enjoined by the Book of Common Prayer, which also denotes every Friday of the year, unless it be a feast day, as a day of fasting. However, the fast was only made obligatory in the Roman Church 1917.

In September 1983, Canons 1252 and 1253 reaffirmed the Friday observance, but added that Bishops may allow other forms of penance to replace the fast on Fridays outside of Lent only:

Canon 1253 It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

This recommendation contains much potential for an improved observance of Friday as a day of penance, by freeing it from exclusive association with abstaining from meat, and encouraging other “exercises of piety”….The problem is that it has been largely ignored! Few clergy now inform the faithful of their obligation to fast on ordinary Fridays and many Anglicans would think of it as a continental Roman Catholic custom to eat fish on Fridays which does not have anything to do with them. Many people are unaware of their obligation to at least perform some form of penance on Fridays.

To my mind, this abandonment of the Friday penance is lamentable, since its regular practice has much to offer anyone seeking spiritual growth. If you want to keep the custom of the universal church by performing penance on Fridays, why not…


Abstain from meat, and eat fish or vegetarian food on Fridays:

This practice can be most easily incorporated into one’s weekly routine. If you have a canteen at work, they might offer fish and chips on Fridays anyway, and most places have a vegetarian option. If you cook for your family, why not make Friday fish night. Treat the kids to something special, either from the chippy, or learn new and inventive ways to prepare fresh fish. Nutritionists are always telling us the benefits of eating oily fish regularly, so why not take up their advice and make Friday the night you eat it? If you’re dining out, you can easily select a fish or vegetarian option without causing inconvenience to your dining party. Whatever you do, remember that the meatless dish on your plate is meatless for a reason, and try to say grace!

Go to Confession on Fridays

Friday lunchtime or after work can be a convenient time to start making preparation for your Sunday Communion through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Most people find Saturdays very busy, and that confession times for Saturdays often don’t suit. So why not look for a church near your workplace or home that offers a Friday lunchtime Mass, or is at least open at that time, and schedule a regular confession for then. Although Saturday evenings are the traditional time to start making preparation, many people use that time for socialising, so it might not be a bad idea to free yourself up and make Thursday night or Friday the time for self-examination, and then take up your preparation again on Sunday morning by reading psalms or the office on the way to Church.

Pray the Rosary on Fridays

If you don’t do it daily (and most of us don’t!), why not set aside Friday as the day that you do. Either pray the Sorrowful Mysteries that are traditionally assigned to Friday, as a way of drawing your mind to our Lord’s passion, or else pray the mysteries in turn each Friday, but make your prayer intention one of reparation for sins committed.

Find out what Friday devotions are on offer

Some churches offer “exercises of the Passion” on Fridays, which might involve the way of the cross or other meditations. Seek them out and discover a variety of devotions to add to your prayer life.

Keep a Friday box for charitable giving…

…or make it your habit to empty a box for loose change every Friday, making sure to add something extra. Traditional wisdom asserts that fasting is a pointless act unless it is done in a spirit of charity and love, so think about what you’re giving up, and how little others have, and make the effort to give charitably on Fridays.

Whatever Friday penance you decide to take up, make sure to pray for the grace to perform it well and consistently!

The story we tell...

…is that on the Sunday of his elevation to the See of Canterbury, on the Sunday after Pentecost of 1162, S. Thomas Beckett determined that this Sunday should from henceforth be dedicated to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Offices and Masses of the Holy Trinity had already existed for centuries, but Pope Alexander II had refused to institute a feast of the Holy Trinity on the grounds that every single day was dedicated to the Trinity, whenever the doxology Gloria patri… was pronounced. Many years after S. Thomas, Pope John XXII finally confirmed the dedication of this Sunday as a distinct feast, as its celebration had spread from Canterbury to the rest of Western Christendom. In a sense, Trinity Sunday was the gift of Canterbury to the rest of Europe, a day set aside to consider that God, in His infinite charity and wisdom, has chosen to reveal Himself to us in three Persons.

On Trinity Sunday yesterday, results of the European Parliamentary elections were broadcast, and it emerged that our gift to Europe this time round, is to elect two MEPs from the far-right, racist British National Party. In the midst of a general movement to punish the Labour party, a significant portion of the rejectionist vote went to a party that is not only opposed to the European project, but is virulently against the values of openness, inclusivity and social equality that we Britons idly like to claim as our own. At the risk of sounding as if I’m politicking excessively, I have to make the point that the BNP offers no coherent, realistic way forward for Britain’s economic problems, or the reform of parliamentary democracy. The party manifesto is rather more focused on issues of race and ethnicity, claiming that native Britons are discriminated against in favour of immigrants, and advocate voluntary repatriation of non-Caucasians; as far as we Christians are concerned, destroying families, coherent communities and kicking the sojourner out of our midst!

But it would be pointless to dwell in despondency, or to make mildly shocking pronouncements against universal franchise. We shouldn’t be surprised that the regions of the UK that voted for the BNP are facing increasingly isolation from the economic and political life of this country. Anyone living in the North of England, especially outside of the major cities, must feel as if they are frequently overlooked by investors, and that they have dropped off the map as far as government initiatives in education and culture are concerned. The long demise of the North is nothing new, and the transformation of former industrial centres into university towns has not brought significant benefits to the local population. In fact, under the new regime of granting almost anyone the right to award a degree and filling new, inferior universities with high fee-paying foreign students is surely only going to exacerbate the anxieties of the white working class that the BNP claims to represent.

What are they offering that’s so good? Well, in this climate of mistrust in political life, fear is the greatest currency and the more of it you can provide - the more access you can get to an individual’s deepest anxieties - the better. It would sound extravagant to say that BNP voters were in the grip of the devil, but this is what Satan is; the creeping fear and despair that work against God’s freely given gifts of faith and hope. Fear is what imprisons us; it’s what turns us away from God, and away from our neighbour. Fear is the enemy of truth.

I’m not about to launch a massive Europe-wide evangelisation programme, much as I’d love to! However, I do think a bit of practical, day-to-day evangelism is demanded of us by the Gospel. If we can be a people who stand for the truth, if our word can be trusted and if our worship of the Triune God is seen as worship that dispels fear, then we have taken the first step. Passing this on to others in our household, town, city, nation or continent allows us to take the second. Fides, spes et caritas…Faith, Hope and Charity are the virtues that we proclaim, and blasphemy, despair and hatred are the sins against them. We really need to be tireless in proclaiming these virtues, in living them and in teaching them, and zealous in fighting whatever opposes them. They are only the seed of our future, but without them, everything else is groundless. Let them be the guiding principles of our political system, let them play a part in addressing the problems of those victims of despair, let them be the beginning of boundless grace and our endless freedom in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Can anyone tell me....

...what's happened to S. Mary's, Somers Town on Eversholt street, near Euston station? I sometimes drop in there if I ever have to walk to Camden from my work near St Pancras, and on doing so today, I noticed a few changes since my last visit.

The overall impression is much more like a church than I last remembered it! The pews have been re-orientated from the circle they were in before and now all face towards the High Altar. The nave Altar has been put back into the sanctuary and is now much closer to the lovely High Altar and Reredos which is the main ornament in this sparse church. This re-positioning of the altar seems to have necessitated another welcome change - no more celebrant's chair facing away from the Altar of Reservation! This is an abuse all too commonly seen these days in churches that follow a more informal style of liturgy, but in fact it is not to be tolerated. Our churches were built with one focus: Christ, and to place a chair for the celebrant with his back to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is a grave offence. For a priest to sit in a position that is literally centre-stage during the liturgy is also inappropriate. When not performing some liturgical action at the altar, surely the priest should sit in some place aside from the altar, not obscuring it or pulling focus from it, especially if our Lord be there upon it.

Another change I noticed was a slimming down of shrines. There is now one Shrine of Lady in the nave, and another in the South side of the Church. There is also now a distinct Side Chapel, where I didn't notice one before. Such considerations are pastorally important, as a side chapel allows Masses to be said during the day when people might wish to come and pray before the Tabernacle in the main body of the Church.

It seems S. Mary's has been scrubbed up and turned around for the better, and I'd love to know who is responsible for the changes. I love having that church so close to my work, and I've often dropped in on lunchbreaks and spent some time with Jesus, especially during Lent, taking my place along with the homeless and the travellers who tend to hang around near the station. Long may the ministry of S. Mary's continue in this part of London. I only pray that whoever rearranged the furniture has the opportunity to see to that nasty colour on the walls!

June is the Month of the Sacred Heart

After the joy of the Ascension, and the thrill of Pentecost, we are moving into Ordinary Time and the Green Sundays after Pentecost/Trinity which all seem to melt into one long memory of cucumber sandwiches, fruit loafs, church fetes, and (if you chose your church well) Pimms on the terrace. During this longest of the lirtugical "seasons", we run the risk of losing our focus. We can feel as though we're not really going anywhere, just drifting through another summer, going on holiday, skipping Mass to sunbathe etc. We need to think hard, now, what it means to be a people of Pentecost, and to seize this outpouring of the Spirit, the Spirit that guides us and nourishes us as living water.

This is the genius of the Catholic practice of assigning certain devotional foci for the months of the year. We all know May is Mary's month, and now in June, we're in the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We have some good feasts to look forward to in the near future; Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, but during our down-time, perhaps we should make use of this powerful devotion to focus ourselves more intently on Christ. Indeed, devotion to the Sacred Heart is designed to appeal to the cooling hearts of Christians, as Pope Pius XI said :

"From among all the proofs of the infinite goodness of our Savior none stands out more prominently than the fact that, as the love of the faithful grew cold, He, Divine Love Itself, gave Himself to us to be honored by a very special devotion and that the rich treasury of the Church was thrown wide open in the interests of that devotion."

The prayers, litanies, novenas and other devotions to the Sacred Heart all begin with the acknowledgement of our own weakness, that we frequently don't love God with our whole hearts, as we are commanded to. In venerating the Sacred Heart, we are making reparation for that sin of indifference, and we are rekindling the fires of holy love in our own hearts, being set alight by the love of Christ.

And let us not forget that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is also his Eucharistic Heart. That Holy Heart, set aflame with love for us, yet crowned with thorns and weeping blood, is Cor Jesu Eucharisticum, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, given up for us, and to which we join our meagre offerings. So go to Mass in June, make it a resolution to attend the Holy Mysteries whenever you can, for what else are we giving thanks for in the Eucharist other than God's immense love for us, symbolised by the radiant, tortured heart of our Saviour.

Meanwhile, why not make use of some of these devotions...?

Apostle to the English

Form English Missals to English weddings and now to the Apostle to the English, S. Augustine of Canterbury. On his Feast Day, it is fitting to reflect on the consolidation of Christian England by that great mission from Rome. It is also fitting to examine ourselves, and determine how faithful we have been to that witness.

This is what the Church of England looks like, the stump of a stone column that, for nearly 1000 years, supported a grand and elaborate structure. Founded by S. Augustine himself, and later named after him, the abbey of which this column is a part was cherished by the successors of Augustine, expanded and built upon until a majestic complex of buildings developed, with many chapels, grand and small, where Christ was offered on the Altar of the Lord, and His Body given in Communion to His faithful bride, the Church. The abbey established itself in the community, and life without it became unimaginable. The main function of the abbey was to bring Jesus Christ to the people, in the rigorous daily cycle of prayer, and in the Sacraments. Its witness was local, but it testified to the universal, and it enjoyed continued union with the Apostolic See of Rome, the root from which it sprang. Thanks to this rootedness, the abbey was able to take its place in the evolving landscape of the city of Canterbury. When the shrine of S. Thomas Beckett became a site of international renown, attracting pilgrims from across Europe, the abbey had no need to see itself as a competitor, but rather as a partner in living and proclaiming the Gospel, and it continued to faithful witness.

When the abbey was dissolved, however, all of this changed. The monks were laid off, their intercessory prayer no longer deemed valuable. The altars were stripped, the precious stones and gold that covered the shrine of S. Augustine, votive offerings made to the glory of God, were taken away. Part of the site was converted into a royal palace, inaccessible to the local people the abbey once served, and the rest of the structure was picked at for building material until it lay in ruins, as it does today.

Like this column in the abbey, the pillar of the Catholic faith, which was hacked down during the Reformation, is in effect no more than a ruin, a monument to past times, as far as much of the Church of England, which simultaneously claims to be built on that column, is concerned. But the pillar of the Catholic faith will support nothing other than the growth of that faith and practice. Last night I watched an old video clip from the time of the last Synod, where Jeremy Paxman interviewed both the Archdeacon of Lewisham, and the Bishop of Fulham about the code of conduct and the debate surrounding it. The Archdeacon quoted Archbishop William Temple as saying that the Church of England had a unique mission in national life in that it was an organisation that existed primarily to serve those who weren’t its members, i.e. the general public. Therefore, argued the Archdeacon, it is only right that the Church of England reflects that public in order to better serve it, and that it must recognise the “gifts of spiritual leadership” endowed to both men and women in the Church by consecrating both as bishops. Paxman then asked the Bishop of Fulham what he thought of this, and he replied simply that the Church of England should stand to serve Jesus Christ, and that is the primary orientation and focus of our corporate life.

S. Augustine came to England in order to convert it. He knew, as a Catholic, that the Church does not compromise its mission by emulating the norms of the culture it wishes to proselytise. If we in the Church of England try to minister to an atheist, post-modern and individualist society by first conforming ourselves to that mindset, then what do we have to offer the country that is different? What alternative vision do we have to proclaim?

For a long time now, we have not enjoyed Communion with the rest of Catholic Christendom, but, like the foundations of that column, our roots run deep. In cherishing those roots, we are able to grow, and that is why there is always hope. As I mentioned after my pilgrimage to Canterbury, not far from that column, an altar of the abbey has been restored for the celebration of the Eucharist. We have Christ with us in the Sacrament and in the Gospel, and so we shouldn’t be afraid to roll up our sleeves and start building for the Kingdom, speaking the truth without fear of derision, pointing out error in a spirit of love and humility. One powerful thing that the Christian tradition acknowledges is that God communicates with us through signs, the meanings of which unfold in our hearts through prayer and contemplation. One such sign from which we can take comfort and strength is what is signified by our liturgy. Whenever a priest says the Roman Canon of the Mass in an English Church, he is harking back to the first Mass said by S. Augustine after landing in England, as the words of that Great Prayer have scarcely changed since that time. He is also making a vivid expression of our dependence on, and thankfulness for that mission sent by Pope Gregory, who plucked the prior of S. Anthony’s from his abbey in Rome and sent him forward, confident that from this man, great things would come: the conversion and unification of Britain in the Christian faith. So remembering Augustine today, we should do so prayerful that that unity that was broken may be restored, so that we can move as one body, unified in one mission, to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.