Today's Spiritual Exercise

Today's spiritual exercise - Make a list of all the things to be happy/grateful for . . .

A very good exercise for me as I know I am blessed in many ways but you'd never think so to hear me moaning on about nothing at every opportunity!

So-o-o-o- On my walk today, I gave it some serious thought.

There are so many things that make me happy, especially when I'm out walking.

Such as the fact that this view is just five minutes from our house and I pass it daily. I'm so very grateful that I can see nature and I'm not living in a 'concrete jungle'.

I love to see the first signs of Spring, like these snowdrops I passed on a bit of rough land.

And these crocuses in our own garden . . .

I am very grateful that I am well enough to be able to walk outside whenever I like, that my eyesight is good enough to let me see God's beautiful creation, my hearing is also good and allows me to hear the birds singing in the morning.

I am very fortunate in that I am free to roam and have a loving family who are happy to indulge me.

On a more mundane level, I am also grateful that I am able to own a phone with a camera that enables me to take photos when I'm out to post on my little blog.

As it says in a certain famous  song, 'these are a few of my favourite things' . . .

The list is endless and I am resolved to remind myself to 'count my blessings' next time I feel like having a moan!

Corpus Christi Processions . . .

I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in two Corpus Christi processions this year, one in my own home parish and also in the 'slightly' larger procession in central London from Farm Street Church to Spanish Place.

I don't know if it is just my imagination but there seems to have been an increase in the number of these processions lately; a re-awaking of popular piety perhaps?  I have absolutely no evidence for this, it is just a feeling based on the frequency of references on social media  to various processions taking place this year.

Lying in bed on Sunday evening, unable to sleep, despite being worn out from a long day in London, I had the possibly daft idea of trying to list these references just to get a feel for the number of processions that actually took place.

This will just be a fraction of the total number in England and Wales, and beyond, and naturally dependent on the people and places I follow on Twitter, Facebook etc.

If anyone feels aggrieved that their parish has been omitted, do please add a comment, and a link if possible and I will update the list in  a few days' time. Thank you.

I will try and add a link to a photo or  a website where possible rather than try and include lots of photos in this actual post.

Please note some processions took place on Thursday 4th June (no comment! :-)) and others on Sunday 7th June.

In no particular order . . . 

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street to St James's Spanish Place via the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral

Brompton Oratory

The Church of the Most Precious Blood, Borough

Arundel Cathedral

Buckfast Abbey

St John the Baptist Church, Westerham

St Patrick's Church, Soho

The Dome of Home

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Leigh-on-Sea

Chelmsford Catholic Community

St Ann's Church, Banstead

St Edmund's Church, Bury

Cardiff Cathedral

The Shrine of St Augustine, Ramsgate

Our Lady of the Rosary, Sidley

I know there are many, many more but this is just  a list of some that I've noticed.

Update on the letter posted here just before Easter.

Having resurrected my blog (sorry, maybe not a particularly apt term given the Liturgical season in which we find ourselves!) to post what I felt was an important letter, I feel I ought to just give a brief update for the sake of my reader and anyone else who might have been on a desert island or in some other way out of touch with things recently.

The letter was published in the Catholic Herald online and you can read it and the full list of names here.  You can also read an update of the situation on Ben Trovato's blog here and here and here.

Both these sites are of course well worth checking regularly anyway for their excellent articles. Plus naturally all the other blogs listed who published the letter and joined the appeal for signatures.

Now, I have been moved to remember how on earth this blog works (it took me a little while to remember how to access certain settings etc.) who knows, maybe I might feel tempted to post the odd item on here in the future . . . ?

In support of our priests, our families and our Church . . .

I haven't posted anything on this blog for 18 months but here is something that I feel can't be ignored  . . . 

Today, this blog and others are taking part in a somewhat unprecedented event. This post is going to appear on a good number of lay blogs in the UK, in an attempt to demonstrate the depth of support among the laity, for authentic Catholic teaching as expressed in the Magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church.

You may have seen the recent letter from more than 450 priests in support of the Church’s teaching on marriage.

We would like to invite you to sign the letter below, to be sent to the press in support of them, and to encourage others to sign it.

To sign, please leave your name and your diocese in the comments box below, or if you prefer email them to me or to one of the coordinators:
Mark Lambert (mark@landbtechnical.com) or Andrew Plasom-Scott (andrewplasom_scott@me.com)

We hope to demonstrate a groundswell of support for the priests who have stood firmly by us and Christ, a love of the Church, and a desire for sound doctrine and catechesis.

The Letter:


Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, wish to endorse and support the letter signed by over 450 priests in the recent edition of the Catholic Herald.

As laity, we all know from our own family experiences, or those of our friends and neighbours, the harrowing trauma of divorce and separation, and we sympathise with all those in such situations.

It is precisely for that reason that we believe that the Church must continue to proclaim the truth about marriage, given us by Christ in the Gospels, with clarity and charity in a world that struggles to understand it.

For the sake of those in irregular unions, for the sake of those abandoned and living in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and above all for the sake of the next generation, it is essential that the Church continues to make it quite clear that sacramental marriage is indissoluble until death.

We pray, and expect, that our hierarchy will represent us, and the Church’s unwavering teaching, at the Synod this autumn.

Yours faithfully, 

A Day Out In London Town . . .

I haven't managed to get up to London for quite a while but today I put that right and had a lovely relaxing few hours in town.

I had two main things I wanted to do and I achieve them both easily. Firstly  I wanted to attend Mass at Westminster Cathedral and then to have a potter in the Catholic bookshops nearby.

I have so many photos of the Cathedral I didn't bother taking one today but I wish I had done so as it was such a glorious day.  As the saying goes, 'here's one I took earlier'. A very grey day, what a shame.

On previous trips I've usually managed to reach the cathedral just in time to see the 'Hawk Man' walking away with his charge but today not only was he in  full view but they were both very happy to pose for a photo or two.

And what a splendid hawk he is too . . .

I managed a good 'haul' in the CTS Bookshop plus a few bits and pieces in St Paul's so made my way home fairly early to enjoy some of the sunshine at home.

Some of the very useful booklets I bought for the parish:

We pass this iconic building every trip but I still think it is majestic.

Not bad taken from a moving train and through a far-from-clean window.  I love travelling on the train by myself, especially in the middle of the day when  it's quiet and I can sit and day dream.  I especially enjoy the transition from city grime to the green belt of the Surrey suburbs.

Nearly home here . . .

As I exit the station at my home stop the first thing that greets me is the bell tower of the local church.

They still ring the Angelus bell here and it's lovely to hear it at home on a quiet day, especially in the warm weather when the windows are open - it's as clear as a bell! (sorry, I couldn't resist that!)

New guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham . . .

It's my day off today and I just checked my Facebook news feed (as you do :-)) and what jumped out at me was the link to the new Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in the Ordinariate.

I'm off out to meet a friend for coffee and a catch-up session (again, the way you do!) but I had to just quickly skim the text of the guidelines as I had a feeling it would be good news.

Very briefly, a few points that stood out for me;

• The celebration of the Mass Ad Orientem is commended where the dynamic of the building allows for it.

• The Roman Canon is highly commended for use, not just on Sundays or solemnities.

This one, is a particular bug bear of mine so three cheers for the Ordinariate;

• "Preserving silence and due reverence before the tabernacle, and in the Church before and after liturgical worship is the duty of both the clergy and the faithful."

• The public, sung celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours before Mass and other times.

• Confession available before Mass.

• The Lectionary to be used is the RSV (Catholic, Second Edition) unless the congregation is predominantly a diocesan one.

And so much more . . .  You can read it all here.

I'll digest it all later but my first impressions are that the Ordinariate 'really get it!

A day off and a day out . . .

Today was my day off and as  I hadn't been up to London for ages I decided I'd have a day out and go to Mass at Westminster Cathedral and a mooch around the Catholic bookshops nearby.

In the cathedral I bumped into one of the Friars of the Renewal that I know from his visits to the parish.  Then after the beautiful Mass when I was browsing in the bookshops I bumped into one of the priests from a neighbouring parish at home.  The Catholic world is a small one!

As well as attending Mass, I love to spend some time with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.  It's amazing how close to the Lord one feels and how easily one forgets that the busy, bustling world is carrying on as usual just yards away.  Fantastic!

As I was on the train home, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds and I arrived home to see the garden bathed in sunshine.  I wanted to post a photo on Twitter of our camellia which has burst into bloom recently but for some reason Twitter wasn't cooperating so I thought I'd post a few snaps here . . .

One good thing about this long cold spell and the delay of the onset of Spring is that all the spring bulbs have lasted for ages.  These little tête-à-tête daffodils have been in bloom for weeks.