Daily Mass - feast day of Saint Catherine of Sienna

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Michael Prendergast (+), may he blessed in the Risen Lord, and those who mourn him also.

Many years ago, when I was still at university in Rome, I attended a whole lecture on the theology of Saint Catherine. The series was delivered by an Irish Dominican called Father Paul Murray. I needn't summarise what Father Murray said, because there is a nice video online which will do it for me; Father has recently put out a book on Saint Catherine. If you have an hour or so to watch it, click here. Here is a beautiful picture of one of the most inspirational Catholic women Saints that I know.

The Easter Exultet

This is the great Easter hymn, sung before the first Mass at the very end of Holy Saturday. This year, I was very much alone, of course, but I thought I'd sing the Exultet anyway, for only the second time in my years as a priest (for various reasons). It was not until I sang it the first time, three years ago, that I was able generally to sing the various parts of the Mass in the book. It was learning to sing the Exultet that schooled me in the basic rhythms and cadences of the Mass chants. 

Anyway, here is the Exultet. It is beautiful, every time.

Daily Mass - Tuesday of the third week of Easter

Mass was offered today for the repose of the soul of Padraig Quinn (+), may he be forever blessed. As is my wont, I asked for his friends and family also, all those who loved him in this life. It often seems to me that the lives we live here below fit into a larger picture and our disappearance from that grand scenario leaves gaping holes and cracks here and there. These need never be mended, for we shall see those we love one day again. The trouble is dealing with the holes and the empty chairs, and I know a little of what that's like. So, praying for one of the faithful departed is, for me, praying for the wider circle of their family and friends. 

I don't have anything to say about the Mass readings today. All I want to do is post a portrait of Christ and then a quote from today's Gospel.

"'It is I who am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will never be hungry, he who has faith in Me will never know thirst. (But you, as I have told you, though you have seen Me, do not believe in Me.) All that the Father has entrusted to Me will come to Me, and him who comes to Me I will never cast out.'" - Gospel of S. John, 6: 35-37

The BVM at Saint Patrick's, London-Soho

Daily Mass - Monday of the third week of Easter

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Lilly Yore (+), may she be blessed. The people of the parish are constantly remembered, of course, at Mass and during hours of prayer. As the lectionary fumbles its way through the Acts of the Apostles, today we hear about the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen. Today's first readings tells us about the great success of the Christian message in the Holy Land and says, astonishingly, that 

"...many of the priests had given their allegiance to the faith." - Acts 6: 7

This means that some of the Sadducees of the Temple had seen the light and joined themselves to the ranks of the Christians. I wonder... could some of them have been ordained priests by the Apostles, and so become priests of both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? But then comes the description of the influential character of Stephen. The engraced Stephen, the hated Stephen. They could not match him in wisdom (oh, the frustration!), as Saint Luke says, and they tried to catch him out as a blasphemer. Sound familiar? They did the same to Christ.

"Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. There were those who came forward to debate with him, some of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it is called), and of the Cyreneans and Alexandrians, and of those who came from Cilicia and Asia; but they were no match for Stephen’s wisdom, and for the Spirit which then gave utterance. Thereupon they employed agents to say they had heard him speaking blasphemously of Moses, and of God." - Acts 6: 8-11

Before the Council, Stephen faced the same treatment as was given his Lord, complete with false witnesses and the old accusation, that Christ would destroy the Temple that Herod built. Tomorrow, the first reading continues with chapter six of Acts and Stephen's defence of Christianity, his quick commendation and his execution by stoning. As he began his defence, the Council saw his face to have the likeness of an angel (Acts 6: 15); that is the cliffhanger at the end of chapter six. What rage can cause men to stone such a being as this?

Daily Mass - the third Sunday of Easter

It's a lovely story, the walk to Emmaus. Just as lovely as the run back to Jerusalem. Lots of people have been remarking about the liturgical character of the story, and they're right. There is a type of liturgy of the word on the road, as Christ expounds the meaning of the prophecies to the surprised disciples, and a type of liturgy of the Eucharist, where Christ vanishes just as He consecrates the bread. That is to say, He doesn't quite vanish, because He is the Bread. And then the disciples return to the Apostolic congress at John Mark's home in Jerusalem to tell everybody that they recognised Christ in the 'breaking of the bread.' In Saint Luke's Gospel and in his Acts of the Apostles, this 'breaking of the bread' is code for the Holy Mass.

This is all about the Real Presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, then. When the church doors are opened again, and we are all able to get to the tabernacles, we've got to remember that. We have to remember that we shall be able to recognise Him in the Breaking of the Bread.

Daily Mass - feast day of the holy martyr and evangelist, Saint Mark

Mass was offered this afternoon for the repose of the soul of Francis Spencer (+), may he be forever blessed in the Risen Lord. After all the excitement last night, with firemen and police-officers climbing up and down our hill, today was reasonably quiet. I have been playing with the gates, preparing to close them at 18.30 this evening. 

Saint Mark to me is a strong, courageous figure in the early Church. You may remember him mentioned even in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles as John Mark and his mother is described in Acts as owning a home in Jerusalem that the early Church made a base of operations, and to which Saint Peter fled after the angel had famously freed him from prison. I remember, on my only visit to Jerusalem, standing in the so-called 'Cenaculum' or upper room where the Last Supper took place and being informed by a knowledgeable local Christian that the very building had belonged to the family of John Mark. That means that his mother provided the venue for the Last Supper, and it was Mark himself, the man with the water jar, whom Christ sent two apostles to find at the well and make preparations for that last, great Passover celebration.

Tradition tells us that Mark became closely associated with Saint Peter, even at Rome, and composed his Gospel based on the testimony of Peter himself, right down to the humiliating parts, such as Peter's three-fold denial of Christ on Holy Thursday evening. It is a colossal act of humility on the part of Peter to let that be known across the Church, and Mark must have cringed to write about the failings of the great Apostle. Mark later carried his Gospel to Alexandria, where he became the first bishop and patriarch. He was most horribly killed by being dragged through the streets of the city. You may read  more about him at this Coptic website. The Latin Church remembers him today as well as his successor, Saint Anianus, second bishop of Alexandria.

Vandalism on the church property

Late yesterday evening, a group of what seemed to be young people pulled out parts of one of the benches in the memorial garden and used it to light a type of campfire in the upper garden. Since it is the second occurrence of this act of vandalism in about a week, I have determined to close the gates on the property during darkness.

The morning Mass will have to be delayed today, as I await a police call.

The Consoling Christ, by Bernhard Plockhorst (1825 - 1907)

It is most unfortunate that the priests cannot hear confessions at the moment. Here's hoping that the situation will change soon.

Daily Mass - transferred feast of Saint Adalbert of Prague

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Frank Quinn (+), may he be blessed along with his family and friends and all those who mourn his passing. As we continue in our general fast from the blessed Sacrament during these difficult times, Saint John in the gospel reading today (chapter six of that Gospel) gives us the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Five thousand, with five barley loaves and two fish. After hearing this story for most of our lives, we should be just as shocked by it as by the story of a man returning from the dead and, indeed, a Man returning to life after being viciously tortured and crucified.  Or even that, at every single Mass that we have attended and will attend, bread and wine are made into the Body and Blood of Christ through the action of the High-priest himself, acting through his priests. There's a powerful narrative link between these feedings of multitudes and the feeding with the bread of life that is at the heart of the communion rite at Mass.

It makes me ask myself, everyday, what this Mass of ours is, and how it draws us together into communion. All of us, not just those actually attending Mass in any one church, at any one time. All those who have received the Sacrament in holy communion. And we mean here not just people today or tomorrow, or yesterday, just as we do not mean those who are only in Europe, or England, or the Midlands. Catholics have always rejoiced in being united by the Mass across frontiers not just of space, but of time. We are then united to our fellow Catholics who lived through the horrors of the revolutions of recent centuries, through the horrors of the reformation movements of the sixteenth century, who suffered all manner of things in the middle ages, who rested in the peace of Rome in various times during the fourth century, who suffered horrible persecutions in the earliest centuries. 

It bothers people very much, some more than others, that Masses have become entirely private now and take place behind closed doors. What is it to have a regular, communal service, with no community present physically at all? The answer to that question is, No, wait a moment, if what we say about the Mass is true - if this really is the communion of Catholics of all times and places - then it remains a communal service, even when it is severely restricted, as it is now. And there are ways of being present, without being physically present. I think of Saints like Padre Pio, who were sometimes able to be present to people at the same time in different places. That particular example may be beyond the rest of us, but there is a sense that when we kneel before, say, a statue of a Saint, we find ourselves before the reality that that image and shadow represents. Every day, during the Mass, I read through the first dedications of the Eucharistic Prayer. One of those paragraphs is this:

Remember, Lord, your servants N. and N. and all gathered here, whose faith and devotion are known to you. For them, we offer you this sacrifice of praise or they offer it for themselves and all who are dear to them, for the redemption of their souls, in hope of health and well-being, and paying their homage to you, the eternal God, living and true. [text source]

Know that all our parishioners are in that phrase 'your servants N. and N.,' even though they cannot be in the 'all gathered here.' The following phrase is something we need to consider ourselves, each one of us, everyday - 'whose faith and devotion are known to you.' On your accounts is this Sacrifice re-presented to the Father every day. For you and for all who are dear to you, for your redemption, your health and well-being, as you pay homage to the living God.

In these days, I would like to encourage you to read slowly, in as much as you can, through the Book of Apocalypse/Revelations, the last book of the Bible. As you do so, keep in mind that the book was intended as a message and warning to the Christian Church of all time. Stay faithful, stay true, remember the Holy Faith, etc. It presents a vision of the Holy Mass in its eternal aspect and also a vision of the final triumph of Christ, and by extension the triumph of Holy Church. I have heard an old priest once say that, when we look at those paintings of heaven that we sometimes see in paintings either in their native churches or in museums, that we should hope ourselves to be there present in the countless faces of the redeemed. That is our Christian hope. We work towards it everyday, by the grace of God.

Daily Mass - Saint George, Patron of England

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Seamus Ring (+), and may he be forever blessed in the Risen Lord, and under the protection of Saint George. The first reading of the Mass of Saint George contains an extract from the absolutely wonderful end of the book of Apocalypse, and so the end of the Christian Bible, as given to us by the Holy Fathers of the Church in the first centuries. It concerns the triumph of Christ; He repeats again His last word upon the cross: 'It is accomplished, it is over.' Here it is:

"And He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' (These words I was bidden write down, words most sure and true.) And He said to me, 'It is over. I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end; those who are thirsty shall drink—it is my free gift—out of the spring whose water is life. Who wins the victory? He shall have his share in this; I will be his God, and he shall be My son." - Apocalypse of S. John 21: 5-7

It's a beautiful. Who is it that won the victory and that we celebrate today? The Christian soldier George. Let us ask for his prayers today. There are still many dragons that face the Church on a daily basis, and we must needs have a strong defender.

Daily Mass - Wednesday of the second week of Easter

Mass was offered today for the repose of the soul of Lilly Yore (+), may she be forever blessed. In the first reading, after the Sadducees have the Apostles arrested and imprisoned, an angel arranges a jail-break, and the Apostles are back on the job, preaching. And the Sadducees are afraid to mistreat them in public, because they are too popular. What happens next we should discover tomorrow.

But probably not. Because tomorrow is Saint George's day and it's going to be big, oh yes! With its own readings. I'm going to raise a flag in the blog sidebar. To find out the sequel to the angel jail-break story, read chapter five of the Acts of the Apostles.

We're going red for a while

Not only was today the memorial day of the second-century Holy Father Saint Soterius (twelfth of the successors of Saint Peter), alongside the third-century Holy Father Caius (twenty-eighth of the popes), both reputed to be martyrs in some histories, but tomorrow we honour the patron Saint of England, Saint George, also a martyr. And on Friday, we honour Saint Adalbert, tenth-century bishop of Prague and apostle to the Prussians, Hungarians and Poles (transferred from Thursday, to make way for Saint George). And on Saturday, we honour the great lion, Saint Mark, associate of the Apostles and one of the four Evangelists, who was most brutally killed in Alexandria, as her first bishop.

Yes, I think we'll stay red until Sunday. 

Daily Mass - Tuesday of the second week of Easter

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Anthony Leckey (+), may he be forever blessed in the Risen Christ. Alongside our story of the visit to Christ of the pharisee Nicodemus today, we continue also with the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading. And, as Father Patey said on his Twitter account this morning,

The patron of ⁦@Cathedral_Nottm⁩ gets a mention in today’s first reading. Perhaps we could ask St Barnabas to encourage us and to help us encourage others today. For those who live in ⁦@NottsDiocese⁩ a good day to pray for our Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/0WBHMIxFTe

— Father Colin Patey (@FatherColin1) April 21, 2020

So we come to the remarkable character of Saint Barnabas, one of the early associates of Saint Paul, although they later had a falling out. Barnabas was a Cypriot, so very useful to Paul on his first missions, which were local ones from the north of Syria, to Cyprus, but also from Cilicia (Paul's own home country) to other major Roman cities in the south and south-centre of Asia Minor. Barnabas was also related closely to Saint Mark, who was also associated with the Apostle Saint Peter and who wrote the second Gospel in our collection. I can't remember where I read that Barnabas was, like Paul, a pharisee and student of the great rabbi Gamaliel, who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and was later a powerful evangelist in Cyprus. He was buried there with a copy of the Gospel of S. Matthew upon his breast, and his tomb may still be visited. 

When I lived at the cathedral in Nottingham, I was told that there was absolutely no link between the Church in the East Midlands and Saint Barnabas, no particular devotion to him that anybody knew about. The dedication of the cathedral is probably simply on account of the bringing by Mgr. Nicholas Wiseman (then the vicar apostolic of the Midland district) of the relics of the holy apostle from Rome for the consecration of the building in 1844. Thus did we gain a powerful protector for our Diocese, whom we may rely upon in times of distress, for as Acts says in our reading today, 

"There was a Levite called Joseph, a Cypriot by birth, to whom the Apostles gave the fresh name of Barnabas, which means, 'the man of encouragement;' he had an estate, which he sold, and brought the purchase-money to lay it at the Apostles’ feet." - Acts of the Apostles, 4: 36-37

A book list

I thought I'd put more material into the side-column of this blog. So, I'm adding today a list of books that I've currently got on the burner. Over the years, especially during seminary, I have had the good fortune of amassing a collection of books. Not that many, for I have never seen the sense in collecting books that I would never wish to read or want to read. However, although I have read to much of what I have, there are several which I have wished to read for years, that I acquired, but have not had the time for.

Until now.

Lock-down time is a natural time for catching up on unfinished and other reading. Accordingly, on Sunday (which we called Divine Mercy Sunday), I finally pulled out the personal diary of the seeress of Divine Mercy, Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, dear to our hearts generally, but a great beacon of hope for the Polish nation. Sister was of humble descent and would have found work as household help, had not Christ called her to the conventual life of the Sisters of OL of Mercy. Learn more about her here. This book should be interesting. Both my parents were and several friends are completely devoted to the visions and the subsequent cult that grew around the now Saint M. Faustina, Apostle of the Divine Mercy. 

It shall stand amid some twenty other books that I am in various stages of reading.

On social isolation

Many years ago, I worked for a time on oil-rigs, mostly on land and for short periods. One of my lasting memories about being driven from rig to rig to rig on dusty roads is arriving in the depths of the night, walking into the sand-dunes, away from the constant roar of engines, looking up at the heavens and being knocked over by the brightness of the stars, with our native galaxy sailing overhead from horizon to horizon.

I've never seen starlight like that since, having lived in big cities ever since I left that occupation. One of the strange thing about living through the isolation that oil-field work forces upon you is that you start to treasure the things that are no longer possible. Therefore, when I say (often enough) that there should be a rush back to the churches when this virus event is over, I am speaking a little from experience. For, although I was little more than a weekly Mass attender (on Sundays), I emerged from the oilfield into the study of theology, I know not how. I had no interest in theology when I was in engineering school, except that I taught myself Latin then, at age twenty, because I had been informed that the Church had her own language and I was ignorant of it.

Isolation is therefore no stranger to me. Deprived of Holy Mass, as I was for weeks on end in my professional life, and deprived of Sunday Mass for months on end (for it was extremely unlikely that the few days I spent in the city between visits to the various oil-rigs would fall on Sundays), I turned my spirit of devotion towards the study of holy Scripture and towards the strong spirit of Catholic youngsters, who in those days were investing time heavily on websites and blogs to demonstrate their identity as Catholics.

And this is what we need to think about ourselves, as circumstances peel away the outward observances of our holy religion. Who are we? What are we? What does the word 'catholic' and what does the word 'christian' mean? Where is your heart? Have you given it to Christ entirely, or have you given it to Christ in part, or is church just something your parents or grandparents placed into your heart at an early age, hoping it would blossom later? I'll be quite honest and say that, for me, church was placed in my heart by my parents, hoping that it would blossom later. In university, when everything from my childhood fell away for me, there was only one constant - Mass attendance on Sunday. The Church meant something more to me than that, though, for even then there was a sentiment of the ancient in my experience of the Mass, and that's why the Latin meant so much, even at the age of twenty. It was a connection with generations of Christians who had gone before. And because I started to love that Church, spread through time and space, I gave my heart partially to Christ, and partially to the natural sciences, in particular physics and its practical branch, engineering. And I delighted in that. And the externals of religious observance were ripped away from me by my work, but the Church was not ripped away from me. And so I still delight in that dual love of the natural sciences and the theological sciences, for though my interest in physics and engineering remains (while my practical ability in it has declined), He who is the author of both was never far away. And there is some powerful thing in the priesthood, more powerful even than that which lay Catholics experience, that draws me everyday towards giving myself entirely to Christ and his Church.

This is what social isolation once did for me. I wonder what it could do for you.

photo credit: Ali Esm Black Dirty Gold via photopin (license)

Daily Mass - Monday of the second week of Easter

Well, with regard to the Mass readings, the excitement is quite all over now. Lent had a marvellous sequence of Gospel readings, each with its own lesson, and the first readings correlating reasonably. Then came the liturgical high of Palm Sunday, the Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Now we've more-or-less settled down with a narrative sequence from the Acts of the Apostles for the first reading, with the early history of the Church. But we had an interesting gospel reading today, from the beginning of the Gospel of S. John. It's all about being reborn through baptism, and it's a dialogue with the good pharisee Nicodemus, probably one of the Sanhedrim, which was the ruling council of the Jews. Yes, there were nice pharisees, too.

"There was a man called Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and one of the rulers of the Jews, who came to see Jesus by night; 'Master,' he said to him, 'we know that Thou hast come from God to teach us; no one, unless God were with him, could do the miracles which Thou doest.' Jesus answered him, 'Believe me when I tell thee this; a man cannot see the kingdom of God without being born anew.' 'Why,' Nicodemus asked him, 'how is it possible that a man should be born when he is already old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and so come to birth?' Jesus answered, 'Believe me, no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless birth comes to him from water, and from the Holy Spirit. What is born by natural birth is a thing of nature, what is born by spiritual birth is a thing of spirit. Do not be surprised, then, at my telling thee, You must be born anew. The wind breathes where it will, and thou canst hear the sound of it, but knowest nothing of the way it came or the way it goes; so it is, when a man is born by the breath of the Spirit.'" - Gospel of S. John, 3: 1-8

This is all part of the instruction that those who are preparing to be baptised at the Easter vigil service are given in the weeks preceding by those responsible for their formation in the Faith. Nicodemus begins with superficialities; he has been led in by the miracles and he asks how one can be reborn, but he seems to be thinking of natural birth. Christ now begins to draw Nicodemus beyond the consideration of natural processes and describes a theology of baptism. This is one of the most famous passages in the Gospel of S. John. The rebirth Christ is talking about is a spiritual rebirth and the Christians are spiritual sons and daughters of God. The rest comes in tomorrow's gospel reading, I'll wager.

At Morning Prayer today

Divine Mercy Sunday

Some years ago, when he declared Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska to be a Saint of the Church, our Holy Father John Paul II declared this second Sunday of Easter to be dedicated to Divine Mercy (more here). Many people still call it Quasimodo Sunday because, as you can see from the picture above, the entrance antiphon in Latin begins with, 'Quasimodo geniti infantes...' Which, in English, is 'Just as new-born children...' and is from the first letter of Saint Peter:

"[Just as] you are children new-born, and all your craving must be for the soul’s pure milk, that will nurture you into salvation, once you have tasted, as you have surely tasted, the goodness of the Lord." - 1 Peter 2: 2-3

This is part of Saint Peter's call to Christians to put on virtue, to choose good and avoid evil in the best tradition of Hebrew and Jewish philosophy. So, he tells us to put aside all ill-will and deceitfulness, to dismiss our affectations and the grudges we bear, and certainly to give up slanderous talk. As Christians, we are new-born of the Lord and have tasted of his goodness, and we are to be like Christ. More about that in our second reading at Mass today, which speaks of God providing us safe-conduct (probably through the grace-filled imitation of Christ) through the trials of this life until we reach our home in the heavenly Jerusalem. By the way, the above antiphon is also how the hunchback in the famous Victor Hugo novel got his name.

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Sam Lukins (+), and for his family and friends, those who mourn his passing from among us. May they be blessed in their desire to see him again, one day on the distant shores to which Christ beckons us. The first reading today spoke to us of the community of the primitive Church, still under the guidance of the Apostles, with regular Mass (read 'the breaking of bread') and fixed times of prayer (the beginning of the divine office of prayer of the Church). Miracles were still in common evidence, for the Apostles were still among them, and the community lived together for mutual support, sharing all things, visiting the Temple regularly, growing in number and reputation among the wider Jewish community. This much we are told by Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles (2: 42-47) and this common life was only to be disrupted by the spate of persecutions that soon raised its ugly head and sent the Christians flying from Jerusalem to all parts of the Holy Land and further, notably to Damascus in the north-east and to Antioch in north-west Syria. 

The Gospel story tells of the commission of Christ to the Apostles to receive the confessions of the Christians: 

"...he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; when you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven, when you hold them bound, they are held bound.'"- Gospel of S. John 20: 22-23

And then we hear the story of the absence of our scientist Apostle, Saint Thomas, for whom I have much affection. When he arrives, they tell him about it all and he says, What? I need proof. Unless I can feel the imprints of the nails and the spear which you tell me are still present, I shall not believe! And, thus he brings forth for us who live thousands of years in the future a blessing we can be glad of:

"'Thou hast learned to believe, Thomas, because thou hast seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.'" - Gospel of S. John 20: 29

May you all be blessed in your devotion to our Lord and to his blessed Mother, in your prayer this Easter and in the graces that the most High God sends to you during this Easter and in the present circumstances of the nationwide lock-down. Pray for me here at S. Joseph's, as indeed I pray for all of you.

Daily Mass - Easter Saturday

Mass was offered on Saturday for the people of the parish. It is my custom to remember at such Masses, even when they are well-attended, all those of our parish who cannot come to Mass because of illness and infirmity, and those who will not come to Mass for any reason whatsoever. 

Saturday drew us towards the end of the Easter Octave, which was today, Sunday. In the first reading, the Sadducean Temple priests, wondering at the boldness of Saint Peter and Saint John, forbid them to continue to preach the Christian message. Their reply was just as bold as their proclamation:

"'Judge for yourselves whether it would be right for us, in the sight of God, to listen to your voice instead of God’s. It is impossible for us to refrain from speaking of what we have seen and heard.'" - Acts of the Apostles 4: 19-20

The Church today is a poor shadow of this early evangelism, so that the acts of the Apostles are a constant challenge to us.

The church this morning: thought I'd bring out the incense

The year of the Word

I don't suppose we have forgotten, despite the present situation, that our beloved Father, the Bishop, had, in association with his fellows of the Conference of Bishops, declared this year to be a Year of the Word. Please do what you can to honour his wish that we become more profoundly embedded in the Word of God as given to us in holy Scripture. This was certainly one of the dearest wishes of the Fathers of the second Council of the Vatican, which feels like several lifetimes ago now. You can still see the final summary of their deliberations in the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum, which is available from the website of the Holy See of Rome. By all means, read the whole thing, but here is paragraph 12:

"However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words. 

"To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another. 

"But, since Holy Scripture must be read and interpreted in the sacred spirit in which it was written, no less serious attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out. The living tradition of the whole Church must be taken into account along with the harmony which exists between elements of the faith." - Dei Verbum, paragraph 12

A summary of all this could be this: God speaks to us through human mores and customs and so, if we wish to understand Him, we should know about the mores and the customs of the writers of Sacred Scripture. That means actively studying the history of the Holy Land and the Hebrew and, later, the Jewish people until the end of the Apostolic age. We need to understand also the variety of literary forms in the Bible, that is, historical record, poetry, prophecy, etc. We need to be familiar with modes of expression, possibly through frequent reading and familiarity. At the same time, we must realise that Scripture has a single message, a unity, that we cannot lose sight of, and that the living tradition of the Church holds that unity in harmony with other aspects of the Faith.

Daily Mass - Easter Friday

We are still in the octave of Easter, the eight-day celebration of the feast of the Lord's Resurrection. There is therefore no Friday fast, and we should be continuing the feasting of last Sunday. Mass was offered this morning for the peaceful repose of the soul of John Hood (+), may be be blessed in the Resurrection of the Lord. It's another beautiful day out, weather-wise, and I'm starting to see lots of people finding excuses to escape the doors of their homes.

Let us continue to pray hard for those suffering from this infernal viral infection, those who have died from it, and for the families and friends of these people. It is a terrible thing to watch those you love sicken and die before your eyes and not be able to do anything to help. It is worse when you cannot even get close, because of the risk to yourself and others. 

The daily Mass readings continue with the theme of hope. In the first reading yesterday and on Wednesday, Saint Peter and Saint John, two of the holy Apostles, have met a badly disabled man and restored him to full health using the name of Christ. Today, they are interrupted after Peter's second homily by the Sadducean Temple priests, arrested and imprisoned overnight. When they are then called to give account to a council of priests and elders, Peter again boldly sets forth about the Resurrection and then speaks of the power of the holy Name of Christ: 

"'If it is over kindness done to a cripple, and the means by which he has been restored, that we are called in question, here is news for you and for the whole people of Israel. You crucified Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, and God raised him from the dead; it is through his name that this man stands before you restored. He is that stone, rejected by you, the builders, that has become the chief stone at the corner. Salvation is not to be found elsewhere; this alone of all the names under heaven has been appointed to men as the one by which we must needs be saved.'" - Acts of the Apostles 4: 9-12

Just so. Even as they are being arrested, two thousand more are added to the band of the earliest converts to Christianity. Miracles are flashy things, designed to create a powerful impact. And they don't just happen without any references; they have an intent and are always attached to a name. Just as yesterday's Saint, Bernadette of Lourdes found that the miracles of the spring she discovered was attached to the name of the Immaculate Conception, so the council of Temple priests and elders discover in this story that the healing of the cripple was attached to the name of the man they had just had executed, and whom they had tried to seal in his cave-tomb. 

And there are agents - mediators - that stand between the power of the Name and the effects it produces. Just as the people of Lourdes could not feel the presence or power of the Lady of Massabielle without the help of Saint Bernadette, so the Jewish priests who had rejected Christ could not feel his presence or power except through the miracles the Apostles were beginning to work in Jerusalem, and soon enough beyond the holy City. The gospel story today is that of the Apostles trying to fish once more on the Sea of Tiberias/Galilee (you will remember that the three chiefs of the Apostles, Peter, John and James, were fishermen before they were called) and catching nothing on their own. Christ repeats an earlier miracle of His from the shore and they immediately draw in a number of fish. Saint John carefully records that number:

"'Bring some of the fish you have just caught,' Jesus said to them: and Simon Peter, going on board, hauled in the net to land. It was loaded with great fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and with all that number the net had not broken." - Gospel of S. John, 21: 10-11

As an exercise, I thought I'd look up that number. Sure enough, it has its own Wikipedia page, according to which 153 has several mathematical properties. In those days as in the succeeding centuries of the classical period and the medieval period, people like Saint John (Apostle on the boat and writer of the gospel) gave particular numbers particular significance. Saint Augustine himself identified it as the sum of the first seventeen integers and so one a triangular number, as shown on that Wikipedia page. Saint Augustine added the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to the ten commandments to describe a spirituality for the number seventeen. I'll stop at that, but do feel free to study the rest of the Wikipedia page. Possibly, John simply counted and reported the number accurately, but it doesn't prevent Augustine and the rest of us from speculating about any significance John may. 

Good heavens, this is a long post. I shall end with a video of the tilapia, the uncomfortably bony fish that is native to the sea of Tiberias and must have been well represented in the 153 fish on the boat that day.

Just a picture of the passing of our glorious patron

Daily Mass - Easter Wednesday and Thursday

Yesterday's Mass was offered for Ray Asser (+). Mass was offered this morning for Patrick Trayner (+). May they be blessed and may the souls of the all the faithful departed rest in peace. 

Today is also the memorial day of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young seeress of Lourdes, who died on this day in 1879. I have spent the last three weeks reading through the Song of Bernadette, a novelisation of Bernadette's story, written very affectionately by the Jewish Franz Werfel. This man, fleeing from tyranny during the second World War, had found haven in Lourdes and had made a vow to tell the Lourdes story if he ever reached succour in the United States. This book is the fulfilment of his vow. It certainly has given me a greater appreciation of the Life of the Saint. I have just come to the point where she is told by the mysterious Lady of the grotto that she (the lady) is the Immaculate Conception. The parish priest argues and tells Bernadette that she may be the fruit of the Immaculate Conception, but she can't be the Immaculate Conception itself. There are little details like that throughout, and there are marvellous characterisations of various characters in the story, and of the atheistic and revolutionary politics of the time and the delicate balance that had been reached between Church and state. It is certainly a good read. There was a film made with the same name in the forties, and it is fully available on Youtube:

Our readings at Mass these two days continue along the narrative tangent. The first reading tells of the healing of the cripple by the two disciples, Saint Peter and Saint John, in the name of Christ at the Temple. When the people seemed disturbed by this, Peter sets forth again the truth of the Resurrection and then speaks of Christ as the prophet that Moses had promised centuries ago would come after him. The Gospel narrative told us yesterday of Christ coming to the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to the nearby village of Emmaus. In that story, Christ had not made physical contact with the disciples, but had stayed to supper with them and had vanished at the breaking of the bread. If they had had any doubts about his physical reality then, he returns to them, after they have hurried back to Jerusalem with their story, appearing to them in a larger company in today's gospel reading, apparently coming through the walls of the room with several people in it and declaring himself substantial and not a ghost; to prove it, he eats some baked fish. He continues on this occasion, as at Emmaus, to explain and expound his place in the prophecies of the several centuries before.

Sometimes people think that Christ could have accomplished much more if he had stayed longer in ministry before his Sacrifice. I don't think that was his aim. Some scholars think that John the Baptist had a longer and more influential ministry than Christ himself, although John deferred to Christ at the end and many of John's disciples became Christians. Traditionally, Christ spent three years in ministry, and he spent much of that time preaching and teaching, so that his disciples called him Rabbi or Rabboni. But his work was not, finally, centred on teaching. He had come to die in a definite and prescribed manner, which he carefully arranged right down to the details of the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. The bulk of the preaching and teaching would be accomplished by the Apostles, the bishops and the missionaries of the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, after Pentecost Sunday. And that is the narrative of our first readings this week.

Just returned from the Nottingham road cemetery

One of ours, Mrs. Josephine Connolly (+), passed over not long before Palm Sunday, and was buried this morning. The Connolly family has requested that we all pray for the peaceful repose of Mrs. Connolly, and to keep her and themselves in our prayers. I'm attaching an intonation of the old sequence from requiem Masses in the old days. Even if we cannot understand the Latin, many of us will know or remember the rhythms and the cadences of the old funeral dirge. If you enable subtitles in YouTube, you will know what's being sung.

Josephine, this is for you. Rest in peace.

Daily Mass - Easter Tuesday

I'm a little late with this post, but here we are. I don't have too much to say, but I'll post a nice picture as soon as I find one. Mass was offered this Tuesday for the intentions of A. B.; may she be blessed in the Risen Lord. The gospel reading continued with another of the Easter stories, in this case, that of Saint Mary of Magdala discovering the risen Christ. Meanwhile, the first reading deals with the ending of the Holy Father Saint Peter's first homily on Pentecost Sunday; what was the result?

"'...Let it be known, then, beyond doubt, to all the house of Israel, that God has made him Master and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.' When they heard this, their consciences were stung; and they asked Peter and his fellow apostles, 'Brethren, what must we do?' 'Repent,' Peter said to them, 'and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to have your sins forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and for your children, and for all those, however far away, whom the Lord our God calls to himself.' And he used many more words besides, urgently appealing to them; 'Save yourselves,' he said, 'from this false-minded generation.' So all those who had taken his words to heart were baptised, and about three thousand souls were won for the Lord that day." - Acts of the Apostles 2: 36-41

Wonderful, isn't it? Three thousand in a day. Most of these were pilgrims to Jerusalem for the holy days. They took the message with them to their own communities across the Roman Empire and beyond and, later on, missionaries like Saint Paul found native Christian communities in many of the towns and cities that they visited. Anyhow, here's the picture I promised. It is Christ's descent into Hades (remember that that is one of the articles of faith in the Apostle's Creed) on what we would recognise as Holy Saturday; there He will have discovered, among others, many characters from the Old Testament period, including patriarchs, kings and prophets, many of who had seen His triumph over death in vision, but now behold it at last in reality. There He will have discovered also His beloved step-father, Saint Joseph, our holy patron, and probably Saint John the Baptist. The artist is the Austrian Emmanuel Kratky, 

Just locked the blog language to English

Many apologies. My Google account is a Portuguese one, and it automatically set the blog language to that. It should be much easier to use now. Playing with atmospherics, too. I've set a background with some of that lovely lock-down weather we've been having.

Daily Mass - Easter Monday

What a joy Easter is, in spite of everything. Next week, on Monday I hope, I shall begin a regular parish praying of the Liturgy of the Hours, with the Office of readings and Morning prayer at 9.00 and Evening prayer at 18.00. It begins in church with just me, of course, but I hope that, when things have returned to normal, some of your may join me, too, just before the daily Mass. In these strange times, when bishops and priests are increasingly asking us to develop our liturgical lives at home, the Liturgy of the Hours is not a bad place to start. Long ago, in the years following the liturgical changes, the Church authority even made this office of prayer available to us in our own languages, to help us take it up in community, when in the past it had been only in the Church's language: in Latin. The texts are readily available online, most simply at the Universalis page. The Universalis service is also available as a smart-device application (check your device's app store), if you're happy to pay a small fee. If you would like, you could say the prayers yourselves at home, at the hours I've mentioned above (9.00, Office of Readings, and Morning Prayer; 18.00, Evening Prayer), so that we're all saying the same prayers at the same time, although we can neither see nor hear each other. You don't even have to know how the hymns go; simply sing them on a single note throughout.

Mass today was offered for a private intention. The first reading this week has moved from the prophecies of the Old Testament to the fulfillment of those prophecies in the growth of the newly-born Church, as given by Saint Luke's history in the Acts of the Apostles. On Pentecost Sunday, Saint Peter boldly sets forth to the surprised people in Jerusalem, who have just seen the Apostles talking loudly and volubly in various languages, what theologians call the kerygma: the first announcement of the core belief of the Church.

"'Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man duly accredited to you from God; such were the miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves well know. This man you have put to death; by God’s fixed design and foreknowledge, he was betrayed to you, and you, through the hands of sinful men, have cruelly murdered him. But God raised him up again, releasing him from the pangs of death; it was impossible that death should have the mastery over him...  God, then, has raised up this man, Jesus, from the dead; we are all witnesses of it. And now, exalted at God’s right hand, he has claimed from his Father his promise to bestow the Holy Spirit; and he has poured out that Spirit, as you can see and hear for yourselves.'" - Acts of the Apostles, 2: 22-24, 32-33

Yes, what a joy Easter is. We look at these wonderful stories from a long distance in time, but sacramentally we are right there and we may have a mysterious understanding of being in that first community of faith, for we are united with them now as always in the most holy Sacrament of the altar. Find the daily Mass readings at the website of the American bishops, and daily watch the story of the early Church unfold.

Easter Sunday

The long weekend has ended. From Good Friday afternoon, there is supposed to be a long stillness until late Saturday night, to represent the body of the Lord lying in the tomb until the glorious moment on Sunday morning when He rose and changed everything. The Church uses this line from the letter of S. Paul to the Philippians to illustrate this self-abasement of Christ, which resulted in His glory:

"His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet He did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted; He dispossessed Himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting Himself to us in human form; and then He lowered His own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought Him to death, death on a cross. That is why God has raised Him to such a height, given Him that name which is greater than any other name; so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the Name of Jesus, and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2: 6-11

I'm not certain what was arranged last year at the church, but I thought I would offer the first Mass of Easter at or just after midnight. I therefore arranged for the Easter vigil of readings to begin just after 23.00 at night. In the circumstances, it wasn't a good idea to have a wood-fire, so the Easter candle was lit simply and stands now in front of the lecturn in church. Following the missal, the seven readings were read in candlelight, until the great Gloria that ended the season of Lent. 

The liturgy of the sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday) doesn't work well without the people. It was something of a relief to come to the Easter Mass of the Day, this morning. Mass was offered this morning for the peaceful repose of the souls of Harold and Moira Spencer (++), may they be blessed. 

By another old tradition, the next seven days are an extension of Easter Sunday, so that Easter is celebrated for a total of eight days - an octave of days. I hope all of you have had a blessed and a holy Easter, and that you will be able to celebrate as well until next Sunday, which is traditionally called Low Sunday, because it descends from the high of the Octave. At least, I think that's true. 

This should be another quiet week.

Daily Mass - Holy Thursday

Of course, there was no Mass today, on Good Friday. By an ancient custom, the Church celebrates no Masses on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The next Mass will be the Easter vigil and, in some churches and chapels, the midnight Mass of Easter.

I have to say again: it is surreal to have the great Masses and services of Holy Week without the people. Mass was offered yesterday evening for the repose of the soul of Padraig Quinn (+), may he be blest, and also for his family and friends, those who mourn him. This was the Mass commemorating the Last Supper and the institution of the Mass itself. It is usually a spectacular event, and has the Gloria sung with the servers happily ringing bells until their arms hurt. The last bell-sounds until the Easter Masses. But again, it was quiet as ever at S. Joseph's. All I can say is: we're going to have to ring the bells louder and longer next year. 

After Mass, I took the cloth off the altar; I think we shall have a fresh one from Easter eve. Since we could not have a procession of the blessed Sacrament to the altar and tabernacle of repose, I thought I'd keep candles burning on the high-altar and keep the Sacrament exposed in a monstrance until midnight, for I find the episode in the Garden haunting, where Christ scolds Peter for not keeping vigil before His arrest:

"When He rose from His prayer, He went back to His disciples, and found that they were sleeping, overwrought with sorrow. 'How can you sleep?' He asked, 'Rise up and pray, so that you may not enter into temptation.'" - Gospel of S. Luke 22: 45-46

After the breviary psalms this morning, and before the commemoration of the Passion this afternoon, I made it a point to watch the famous Passion of the Christ film again, as I do every year on this day. The detail is horrific, but it shows in a way no artist has shown throughout our history the great price that was paid for our redemption. Was it Saint Augustine who said that God's setting such a price upon Himself was a way for Him to show us how much we are worth to Him? Here is Simon helping:

Just finished with Stations of the Cross in the church

Thought I'd stop extra long at station eight, where the poor ladies of Jerusalem express their sympathies for the Lord as he drags the cross past them. In the midst of the pain, he stops to sing his old song again, the first message that he gave us - Repent, weep for yourselves, because of what is to come if you do not repent. For, he adds, if the priests and the people behave so brutally now, in relatively good times, while the trees are still green, how on earth will they behave when bad times come, when the City will be laid to ruin. 

And certainly, some forty years later, Jerusalem is besieged by the Romans and the people are brutally mastered by the greatest army of ancient times. 

URGENT prayer request

If you are following this blog in any way, please pray hard for the complete recovery of S., who is seriously ill. Get our Lady and your favourite Saints on it.

Daily Mass - Wednesday of Holy Week

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Seamus Ring (+). Eternal rest grant unto him, may he gain the companionship of the angels and the Saints of God.

Our readings today, on the eve of Maundy Thursday, follow on from yesterday. Isaias continues to speak of consecration and the effect it has on the strength of the anointed one. Thus, 

"The Lord God is my helper; and that help cannot play me false; meet them I will, and with a face unmoved as flint; not mine to suffer the shame of defeat; here is One stands by to see right done me. Come, who pleads? Meet me, and try the issue; let him come forward who will, and accuse me. Here is the Lord God ready to aid me; who dares pass sentence on me now? One and all they shall be brought to nothing, like garment the moth has eaten!" - Isaias 50: 7-9

The theme is the same as yesterday, for we are preparing ourselves to commemorate the terrible ordeal that Christ had to face in order to make amends for our sins, to bring us to unity with God. The psalm today is Psalm 68 (69), one of the most graphic about Christ's suffering. Here's a part of it:

"It is for Thy sake that I have met with reproach, that I have so often blushed with confusion, an outcast among my own brethren, a stranger to my own mother’s children. Was it not jealousy for the honour of Thy house that consumed me; was it not uttered against Thee, the reproach I bore? What more could I do? I humbled myself before them by fasting; and that, too, was matter for finding fault; I dressed in sackcloth, and they made a by-word of me. Idlers in the market-place taunt me; the drunkards make a song of me over their wine. To Thee, Lord, I make my prayer; never man more needed Thy good will. Listen to me, O God, full of mercy as Thou art, faithful as Thou art to thy promise of aid. Save me from sinking in the mire, rescue me from my enemies, from the deep waters that surround me; let me not sink under the flood, swallowed up in its depths, and the well’s mouth close above me." - Psalm 68: 8-16

I could go on to the gospel reading, which tells of the betrayal of Judas, but I'd rather not. We'll have quite enough of Judas in the next two days, and I have as little appreciation of him as Saint John has in his Gospel.

I hope that many of you will be able to follow the Masses and services of the next four days, online only, unfortunately. The Holy Father in Rome has arranged for televisation form Saint Peter's in Rome, and closer home, the Bishop is making full arrangements at the Cathedral. Find more information about those by clicking this link.

The patronage of Saint Joseph

This painting by the eighteenth-century Mexican Miguel Cabrera. Learn more about him here. 

On the holy Rosary

It's a wonderful thing that something so simple divides people. There were times past when our parents, grandparents, our great-grandparents had rosary beads in their pockets or in their bags, and they could perhaps draw them out faster than they could their wallets. There is a legend that says that the rosary used to be said by the poor and unlettered, who could not join in with the psalms sung in the churches and chapels in Latin; people still call it the 'poor man's psalter.' Now, with some pride, we say to ourselves that there has never been a time in history that more people were as educated as today. Or could read so well, in such great numbers. That may be true. But, for all that, it is still difficult to find people who read many books, who read them front-to-back, and who read more than novels. 

And we say to ourselves that there has never been a time in the history of the church that more people could follow the divine liturgy, now no longer even in Latin for most of the time, but in their own native languages. But, for all that, even those who frequent the churches and chapels today don't always follow closely the readings or the prayers of the Mass, and it is still difficult to find many who read about and study their own religion, who read more than the parish newsletter and a few other small devotional messages that may circulate within the communities in some form or other.

The point I wish to make is this: we cannot vainly say that the rosary is for the poor and unlettered only, stupid and simple people who cannot read. Where are people such as these? Rather there are those cannot read or who cannot understand the statements of the Faith and about religion that the priests, say, take for granted. It is no secret that catechesis is getting more and more difficult today, because the very vocabulary of faith is fading from our homes and from the collective memory of our community and our families. In terms of faith and religion, we are today generally poor and unlettered. In such a situation, where people cannot read even the Bible, even if they want to with all their hearts, such devotions as the holy Rosary arrive with the same freshness they had when they were first brought to the consciousness of the Church. 

Because not all of us will study Scripture, and read long essays on Mariology (the science or theology of devotion to the Blessed Virgin), Mary herself and her humble servant, Saint Dominic, have given us this prayer as a tool, to centre our hearts upon Christ, while keeping the blessed Lady always in the picture.

Do say your rosaries, alone or, even better, in your families. It takes me about an hour to say the whole rosary in church every day; it shouldn't take most people more than twenty minutes to say the typical five decades daily. 

Daily Mass - Tuesday of Holy Week

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Anthony Lecky (+); may he be blessed.

I am rather late with this post, so I won't say too very much. On the very eve of the Sacred Triduum, that is, the three holy days that precede Easter Sunday, the first reading begins with the calling and consecration of the prophet, in the book of Isaias. The words take on a new meaning as Christ prepares for his sacrifice: 

"Ere ever I was born, the Lord sent me his summons, kept me in mind already, when I lay in my mother’s womb. Word of mine is sword of his, ready sharpened, under cover of his hand; arrow he has chosen out carefully, hidden yet in his quiver. Thou art my servant, he whispers, thou art the Israel I claim for my own. To me, all my labour seemed useless, my strength worn out in vain; his to judge me, he, my God, must reward my work as he would. But now a new message he sends me; I am his servant, appointed ever since I lay in the womb, to bring Jacob back to him. What if Israel will not answer the summons? None the less, the Lord destines me to honour; none the less, he, my God, protects me." - Isaias 49: 1-5

Shortly, in the book of Isaias, come the songs of the Suffering Servant, which offers a vivid description of the passion of Christ, such as the famous chapter 53. The gospel reading, meanwhile, tells of the departure of the treacherous apostle Judas, off to sell his Master for a few pieces of silver. The scene is now set for the end of the so-called 'Last Supper,' when Christ institutes the Holy Mass and ordains the remaining Apostles priests of the new Covenant. 

Daily Mass - Monday of Holy Week

Mass was offered this morning at the high altar for the repose of the soul of Moira Edwards (+), and secondarily for her friends and family, those who love her. Love does transcend the graves, and our bonds of affection, as the funeral rite declares, do not end at death's door. Following our long tradition, that stretches far back into the centuries before the coming of our Lord in the flesh, we bury the dead and we pray for the dead, generally and in particular. May they rest in peace, Amen. Because we love them and they are part of who we are.

Our readings at Mass today continue to build up the tension, as the opponents of Christ scramble to find a way to end His interference at Jerusalem. As the Gospel of S. Matthew says in chapter 21, after entering the City in triumph as the Heir of David, Christ was received very well by a cheering crowd, and that 

"The chief priests and scribes saw the miracles which he did, and the boys that cried aloud in the temple, Hosanna for the son of David, and they were greatly angered at it."

This intense dislike and resentment was possibly why Christ made His centre of operation not the City itself but the town of Bethany, which was behind the Mount of Olives, to the East; from there He came to the Temple daily to tell His most provocative parables and His most straightforward teachings on the Law, which caused the tension to grow continuously. The Pharisees and the party of the Temple priests began to plot against Him, simply because His message was wildly popular and His base of disciples was itself growing, and they were unable to argue against Him. And He was dreadfully critical of themselves, as in chapter 23, with its long list of condemnation of the orthodox Judaism of the time, and which ends in this way:

"'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning the messengers that are sent to thee, how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it! Behold, your house is left to you, a house uninhabited.'"

The gospel reading today is from the Gospel of S. John, chapter 12, but is told by the Gospel of S. Matthew, also, in chapter 26. The penitent Mary, at whose home Christ and his Apostles were being hosted in Bethany, anoints Him prophetically for His coming death with an expensive oil and the apostle Judas protests, seemingly out of concern for the poor. The two things about this reading that I notice are, first, that Christ doesn't seem to consider the use of the oil on Himself as undue or extravagant for, as He says, we shall always have the poor with us (this has implications for the dressing up of our churches, and the investment in the very best in Christian worship, art and architecture, etc.); and, secondly, that the belligerent Temple priests were prepared to kill even Lazarus, to prevent the people from joining the disciples!

"A great number of the Jews heard that he was there and went out there, not only on account of Jesus, but so as to have sight of Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead; and the chief priests made a plot against Lazarus’ life too, because so many of the Jews, on his account, were beginning to go off and find faith in Jesus." - Gospel of S. John, 12: 9-11

So, yes, the tension is building, and today's psalm talks about a gathering storm:

"The Lord is my light and my deliverance; whom have I to fear? The Lord watches over my life; whom shall I hold in dread? Vainly the malicious close about me, as if they would tear me in pieces, vainly my enemies threaten me; all at once they stumble and fall. Though a whole host were arrayed against me, my heart would be undaunted; though an armed onset should threaten me, still I would not lose my confidence." - Psalm 26

He's asleep in the boat, but not unaware

Another spectacular nineteenth-century painter from the French School. Learn more about Jules-Joseph Meynier, who painted this.

Daily Mass - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

What new thing can be said about Palm Sunday? We have witnessed, if we have followed the readings at Mass over the last few days, the growing plotting of the enemies of Christ against Him. But today, at least, they are silenced by the people who have begun to gather in Jerusalem for the upcoming paschal festivities of the Jewish religion. If we think that the time in which Christ lived was a time of heightened expectation of the arrival of the Messiah, we appreciate the enthusiasm of the people as they recognised the trappings of majesty as Christ enters the holy City on both the female ass and the colt, just as the old prophecy used in the Gospel of S. Matthew had described. 

"Glad news for thee, widowed Sion; cry out for happiness, Jerusalem forlorn! See where thy King comes to greet thee, a trusty Deliverer; see how lowly he rides, mounted on an ass, patient colt of patient dam! Chariots of thine, Ephraim, horses of thine, Jerusalem, shall be done away, bow of the warrior be unstrung; peace this King shall impose on the world, reigning from sea to sea, from Euphrates to the world’s end." - Zecharias 9: 9-10

I have heard say that the older ass represented the Jewish nation tethered, as it were, to the observance of the Law of Moses, and the younger colt the pagan nations, still free from the religious observance desired by God, gentiles who would soon stand below the standard of the King in the Christian church. Despite this moment of glory for our Lord, we are still commemorating the Passion of Christ, as we approach Good Friday. Our psalm at Mass today is therefore the rather sombre Psalm 21. This was the psalm that Christ was reciting on the Cross, beginning with, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Loudly I call, but my prayer cannot reach Thee. Thou dost not answer, my God, when I cry out to Thee day and night, Thou dost not heed. Thou art there none the less, dwelling in the holy place; Israel’s ancient boast. It was in Thee that our fathers trusted, and Thou didst reward their trust by delivering them; they cried to thee, and rescue came; no need to be ashamed of such trust as theirs.

But I, poor worm, have no manhood left; I am a by-word to all, the laughing-stock of the rabble. All those who catch sight of me fall to mocking; mouthing out insults, while they toss their heads in scorn, 'He committed himself to the Lord, why does not the Lord come to his rescue, and set His favourite free?' What hand but Thine drew me out from my mother’s womb? Who else was my refuge when I hung at the breast? From the hour of my birth, Thou art my guardian; since I left my mother’s womb, thou art my God! 

Do not leave me now, when trouble is close at hand; stand near, when I have none to help me. My enemies ring me round, packed close as a herd of oxen, strong as bulls from Basan; so might a lion threaten me with its jaws, roaring for its prey. I am spent as spilt water, all my bones out of joint, my heart turned to molten wax within me; parched is my throat, like clay in the baking, and my tongue sticks fast in my mouth; Thou hast laid me in the dust, to die. Prowling about me like a pack of dogs, their wicked conspiracy hedges me in; they have torn holes in my hands and feet; I can count my bones one by one; and they stand there watching me, gazing at me in triumph. They divide my spoils among them, cast lots for my garments. 

Then, Lord, do not stand at a distance; if Thou wouldst aid me, come speedily to my side." - Psalm 21 (22)

It was a sad thing, indeed, to not have the parishioners at Mass this morning. May this time of quarantine and isolation come swiftly to an end. I have blessed the palms we had obtained for today and have them waiting in a basket in the church. When all this is over, people may come and take them away to their homes. All glory, laud and honour to Thee, Redeemer King.