30 June 2011

At yesterday's Pallium Mass at St Peter's...

free wallpaper of Pope benedict XVI no29054


...His Holiness gave a homily that I think everyone ought to read.


Below is the beginning, which struck me particularly:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Non iam dicam servos, sed amicos” - “I no longer call you servants, but friends” (cf. Jn 15:15).

Sixty years on from the day of my priestly ordination, I hear once again deep within me these words of Jesus that were addressed to us new priests at the end of the ordination ceremony by the Archbishop, Cardinal Faulhaber, in his slightly frail yet firm voice. According to the liturgical practice of that time, these words conferred on the newly-ordained priests the authority to forgive sins. “No longer servants, but friends”: at that moment I knew deep down that these words were no mere formality, nor were they simply a quotation from Scripture. I knew that, at that moment, the Lord himself was speaking to me in a very personal way. In baptism and confirmation he had already drawn us close to him, he had already received us into God’s family. But what was taking place now was something greater still. He calls me his friend. He welcomes me into the circle of those he had spoken to in the Upper Room, into the circle of those whom he knows in a very special way, and who thereby come to know him in a very special way. He grants me the almost frightening faculty to do what only he, the Son of God, can legitimately say and do: I forgive you your sins. He wants me – with his authority – to be able to speak, in his name (“I” forgive), words that are not merely words, but an action, changing something at the deepest level of being. I know that behind these words lies his suffering for us and on account of us. I know that forgiveness comes at a price: in his Passion he went deep down into the sordid darkness of our sins. He went down into the night of our guilt, for only thus can it be transformed. And by giving me authority to forgive sins, he lets me look down into the abyss of man, into the immensity of his suffering for us men, and this enables me to sense the immensity of his love. He confides in me: “No longer servants, but friends”. He entrusts to me the words of consecration in the Eucharist. He trusts me to proclaim his word, to explain it aright and to bring it to the people of today. He entrusts himself to me. “You are no longer servants, but friends”: these words bring great inner joy, but at the same time, they are so awe-inspiring that one can feel daunted as the decades go by amid so many experiences of one’s own frailty and his inexhaustible goodness."

We are very blessed to have this Pope.


29 June 2011

The Feast of St Peter and St Paul and a Diamond Jubilee


Happy Feast Day!

And of course, congratulations to His Holiness, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of his Ordination.

 



An occasion for more cake, I think.

25 June 2011

Upcoming Mass at St Joseph's, Guildford



Fr de Malleray FSSP will be saying Mass at St Joseph's, 12, Eastgate Gardens, Guildford, GU1 4AZ on Sunday, 17 July, at 3.00pm.

Before Mass, from 2.30 to 3.00pm, there will be half an hour's catechesis.

(This is great, I know when I went to my first EF, I was completely at sea, blown away by the amazingness of it, but completely at sea!)

24 June 2011

Have a look...

...at Joe Shaw's blog, leave a comment if moved to do so.



I shall have a restorative cup of tea and reflect, in spite of them not being worthy of it in the eyes of some, on all those holy women and saints, St Gertrude is a particular favourite of mine, who were *oppressed* by the Church, yet have had such a positive effect on me.

The Nativity of St John the Baptist

21 June 2011

What a load of...

...calculated misrepresentation.



There seems to be a lot of calculated misrepresentation going on all over the place at the moment.

From the quite frankly risible 'arguments' over girls serving the EF, which as we all know (yawn) the Vatican says AREN'T ALLOWED, to the one that really sticks in my throat: the 'misogyny' claim. This is absolutely hysterical  (if you'll excuse the pun), women are 'unclean' and therefore can't 'do' on the altar.


So for the record, and very briefly as I could go on for hours about this, as a woman quite capable of shovelling away the BS chucked all over the Catholic media at the moment by people with ishoos:

1. I have never ever felt second class in the Catholic church because of a male priesthood.

In the eyes of some people this probably tars me as a no-brainer with an inability to see  'unfairness' when it's staring me in the face every time I'm at Mass. Er, no, actually it means I believe Priests should be male, and will always be male. Oddly, that's what the Church teaches.

2. Nor have I ever considered male servers an affront to the dignity of the unserving *sisterhood*.

Again, my bad, where is my solidarity with my poor oppressed sisters (or brothers) who feel they should be servers, or more? Well, if, as I believe, the Sanctuary is a place where vocations are made, damned right, no girls in the Sanctuary. See point 1.

3. I am not inferior because I am a woman.

I think this blindingly obvious fact has to be stated, because some people seem to be carrying Everest sized chips on their shoulders about the great gift God gave them of being women. Equal but different, right?

This peculiar attempt to secularise the church by imposing some kind of uniform job equality would be funny if it wasn't quite so tragic.

Didn't Our Lord say  'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's'?

20 June 2011

Missa Cantata and Procession for Corpus Christi


at St Mary Magdalen, Brighton, 7.30 pm.




 

12 June 2011

Pentecost




There is a Missa Cantata today at Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead, at 3.00pm.

Have a lovely feast day!

08 June 2011

Just in case anyone was in any doubt...

...about the culture of death in our country, the BBC do it again.

I feel a Logan's Run moment coming on.


01 June 2011

Spiritual Bouquet for the Holy Father


This year, on 29th June, His Holiness celebrates the 60th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood.

At this very special time, the LMS would like to send Pope Benedict a spiritual bouquet, and is asking for spiritual offerings. There are a number of things you can do:

Masses
Holy Communions
Rosaries (5 Decades)
Stations of the Cross
Divine Mercy Chaplets
Eucharistic Adorations

If you would like to undertake any of these for the Holy Father, please could you let me have your name in the combox, and what you are going to do, then I'll fill in the form and send it off to the office, from whence the bouquet will wing its way to His Holiness. Don't worry, no names will be published on the blog.

I'll also have a form or two with me wherever I go in the next few weeks, and will nobble anyone I see, so be warned!

I think this is a great way to show our love and support for our Pope.