Advent

I love Advent. I just love it. I love the waiting, the preparation, the anticipation, the excitement. And of course, the solemnity of purple. The crib is up and ready (it takes over the whole sideboard even though it's not particularly big, because the sheep have to spread out), and the star is hanging above it. The Advent wreath is gloriously upstanding in pride of place on the dining table, and the calendars are waiting to be opened. No, they aren't chocolate ones. Although one day, some enterprising calendar producer is going to twig that it might be nice to have the right number of days on one, and not always start on 1st December, but that's a minor quibble.

Have a happy and holy Advent everyone!

Saturday and Sunday

I was up in the metropolis on Saturday for the reps meeting, and the Requiem in Westminster Cathedral.  The Mass was as moving as ever. There's nothing quite like a Requiem to bring home to you how the living and the dead remain dependent upon one another. Trying to explain this feeling of interconnectedness in words is almost impossible, I find, but it is something you can't help but understand at a Requiem.

So spoilt entirely this weekend with two Masses in a row, Mass at St Thomas More, Seaford, was celebrated by Fr Bruno Witchalls. He preached on the three essentials for staying true to the Faith when all about you is confusion.












The first is devotion to Our Lady, our Mother in Heaven.

                                                

The second, love for and fidelity to the Pope, the successor of St Peter.

The third, devotion to the Eucharist.














All in all a very good weekend.

IMPORTANT NEWS, a post of two halves.

Bad news first:

From St Thomas More, Seaford:

The Mass on 18th December at 3.00pm is cancelled, as the church is needed for the parish family reconciliation service.

But the good news:

Is from St Mary Magdalen, Brighton,

Where there will be weekly Low EF Mass on Sundays at 9am, beginning on 27th November. 

This is ad experimentum, so please, if you are in the area, try and get along!

So, the EF on the third Sunday of the month, 20^th November at 6pm will be the last.

Masses at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne this week

There will be a Mass in the Extraordinary Form at OLR tomorrow, Wednesday 16th November, Feast of St Gertrude, and Thursday 17th November, St Gregory the Wonderworker.

Both Masses are at 10.30 am, the celebrant will be Fr Briggs.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY

14 November 2011

Recently Ordained Bishop Steps in at Last Moment to Enable Latin Mass Society Confirmations to Go Ahead

 

Rt Rev John Sherrington, newly installed auxiliary bishop of Westminster conferred Confirmations in the Traditional Rite on 31 candidates at a ceremony organised by the Latin Mass Society (LMS) at St James’s, Spanish Place in central London on Saturday, 12 November.

Originally, Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster was intending to confer the Sacrament but had to withdraw at the very last moment owing to ill health. Bishop Sherrington stepped into the breach at less than 24 hours’ notice to ensure a very successful and happy event went ahead as scheduled. He was assisted by Fr Andrew Southwell, the LMS National Chaplain, Fr Tim Finigan and the rector of St James’s, Fr Christopher Colven.

After celebrating Pontifical Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament the bishop joined candidates and their families and friends in the Parish Social Centre for a buffet lunch where he also cut one of two celebratory cakes.

LMS General Manager Mike Lord said: ‘We were delighted to have the chance to meet Bishop Sherrington for the first time since his installation and grateful that he was able to help us out at such short notice. It was a joyful occasion for all involved. I understand this was the first time that the bishop had administered Confirmations in the Traditional Rite, but it was a seamless performance, drawing complimentary remarks from the clergy who assisted him, all of whom are experienced hands in the Extraordinary Form. We were very happy that Bishop Sherrington spent time chatting to the candidates and their families afterwards, even delaying his departure for another appointment to ensure he had had the opportunity of speaking to everyone. Westminster archdiocese is fortunate to have acquired an auxiliary so pastorally attuned to the needs of ordinary Catholics, whatever form of the liturgy they are attached to.’

More photos can be seen by clicking HERE,

For further information, please contact Michael Lord, General Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284; (F) 020 7831 5585; (E mail) michael@lms.org.uk

Calendars, calendars, who wants a calendar?

Tired of boring calendars?

Need to know which Sunday you're on for the EF Mass because your local parish runs on a different set of Sunday readings?

Like to have feast days clearly visible AND have space to write the dentist appointment and reminder for the dog's flea treatment?

Then look no further.

The 2012 LMS Calendar is now available from the LMS website! Click HERE for details.

You can also obtain an Ordo for 2012, by clicking HERE for details.

The Holy Souls and the Cathedral

It was a very atmospheric, murky, and cold day on Saturday when we drove to Arundel for the Requiem for the Holy Souls. Fr Sean Finnegan was the Celebrant, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, Deacon, and Deacon Seamus Mahon was Sub Deacon. Many thanks to them.

Fr Lucie-Smith preached on a topic that doesn't get much time from an ordinary parish pulpit, that grief is part of life, and the Church gives you the hope, and the tools in the form of prayers and Masses for dead loved ones, to enable you to cope with it and also help the dead. He also reminded us that prayers for the dead are as old as the Church, quoting one of my favourites from St Monica, about being buried anywhere, but begging to be remembered at the altar of God.



The choir of St Mary Magdalen, Brighton, led by Clare, came along too and sang beautifully, the Dies Irae always makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and they really did on Saturday. Clare also took some photos, which you can find HERE. Andrew and his serving team, also from St Mary Magdalen, were as polished as ever.
Thank you, Team Brighton!

Thanks also to the sacristans at the Cathedral, who were very helpful in making sure we had everything we needed.








And of course, thank you also to everyone who came! I hope you found the Mass as beautiful as I did.

It is a real privilege and a real comfort to help our deceased family and friends by praying for them. It must be truly awful to believe that when you have lost someone, that's it, the end, gone forever. So I also love cemeteries. I visited ours last week, it was grey, murky and cold then too, but wandering about reading the headstones, I felt so peaceful.

Hope to see you...

at Arundel Cathedral tomorrow.

The next Mass at Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead...

...isn't.

It's at 3.00pm, second Sunday, as usual, but is returning to Henfield temporarily while the underfloor heating is completed at OLOC!

So please click HERE for location and link to a map.

All Saints

Happy Feast Day Everyone!