2nd Sunday of Lent . . .

I always find it interesting when the Gospel is one of those very well known passages that we think we know well, as in today's account of the Transfiguration in St Luke's Gospel. Usually I find, that there is something in the homily that makes me look at it from a different aspect. Today at Mass our PP was talking to the children about the Gospel account and rather than concentrating on the vision of glory shown to the disciples, he chose to emphasise the words of God the Father, 'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.'

These words echo the words of God the Father at Our Lord's Baptism in the Jordan, 'This is my beloved.'

On both occasions we are reminded of who Jesus is; this man being baptised by John and this same man at the top of Mount Tabor, is of course the Son of God.

In a way, the words and the instruction to 'listen to him' are linked to the vision of glory because it only by listening to the words of Jesus and following them that we stand a chance of experiencing that glory for ourselves.

Multi-tasking . . .

I wonder, were you watching this today?

Or maybe, this was the focus in your house?

Maybe you took the opportunity whilst the menfolk were otherwise engaged to go out for a bit of this?

. . . and possibly some of this too?


Well, I did that thing that we women are supposed to be good at and managed to do a bit of 'all of the above'. I say, 'supposed' to be good at, as the Pater Familias always thinks it's a great joke and a bit of an 'urban myth'!

I had to make a few journeys in the car and managed to get a fair of idea of what was happening in the sporting arena today thanks to good old Radio Five Live. Then naturally, having to go to the shopping centre, I had to stop for the obligatory cappuccino! Once home, I managed to sit at the computer with the pop-out screen of the live streaming of the Rugby whilst still listening to the radio and dipping in now and again to the live text commentary of the football. Phew, it can be very confusing, especially when you have calls on your mobile and Skype at the same time!

What struck me about all of this, was the fact that the Rugby was all about the game, the teams, Twickenham etc. but the focus on the Chelsea/City match was all about action off the pitch. All eyes were trained on the pre-match handshake. Look at the photo above. I wonder what the young mascot made of it all.

"You type . . . she speaks" A bit of nonsense on my day off!

I just received this by email from my sister-in-law. It's great fun - just type in any text and the programme will generate the vocal. You can even change the voice just as you would on a Satnav. Follow the link here and have a few minutes' fun with the demonstration.

Chocolate you can eat during Lent . . . surely, that's not the point?

Thanks to Londiniensis on Twitter today for the 'heads up' on this article in today's Telegraph, and the link to this blog whose author makes some interesting comments about fasting in Lent.

Anyone who dips into my blog from time to time will know that just the mere mention of the word 'chocolate' makes my ears prick up! Naturally then, I was keen to investigate further.

A chocolate you can eat without getting fat ? . . . and it tastes like the real thing? - Surely, it's too good to be true! I skimmed the 'science bit' and gather that the new 'miracle product' consisits of nearly 2/3 water - no wonder then that the calories are drastically reduced.

But . . . and it's a big but as they say - Why do we fast in Lent? Not to lose weight, even if that is sometimes a beneficial side-effect (she says, hopefully :-)) Surely fasting in Lent is all about penance, discipline and self-denial.

Going without chocolate or some other favourite treat surely comes under the heading of abstinence rather than fasting, anyway, I would have said. Fasting, according to my understanding means managing with less food overall (once again incidentally, possibly resulting in weight loss, though of course this is not the aim.)

There should be some fruits of our fasting and abstinence however. Hopefully, by 'accompanying' Our Lord during his 40 days of fasting in the wilderness and experiencing, albeit in an infinitesimal way, some of the temptations that were placed before Him, it will help us to grow spiritually and generally be better people by the end of Lent. Here's hoping anway!

Got to dash now and iron my hair shirt!

One Word Comment - a 'meme' of sorts . . .

As seen on Mulier Fortis' blog.

Please be kind in your comments. I'm a fragile little thing and don't handle abuse well! :0)

"Let's see how forthcoming my blog buddies are. Leave a ONE word comment that you think best describes me. It can only be one word. No more than one word. Then copy & paste this post on your blog so I can leave a word about you. This should be interesting."

'The sun has got his hat on . . . '

What a fantastic day it was in 'Sunny Surrey' today!

I somehow feel a little bit guilty about being happy on Ash Wednesday. But then again, we are told in today's Gospel, 'When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do . . . '

The weather forecast at the beginning of the week was rain/sleet/snow all week. I don't mind the experts getting it wrong when we end up with a glorious day like today. The sun certainly did 'have his hat on' in this part of the world - all day.

Coming out of Mass this morning, I decided I'd go to the local garden centre and buy some pansies to cheer up the garden. Naturally, they were doing a roaring trade as this must be the first decent day we've had so far this year.

I managed to do quite a bit of 'tidying up' in the front garden and now we have some lovely big pots of pansies all ready to burst into colour at the first sign of any more sunshine. Photos to follow once they've had a chance to settle in. Oh, God is good!

I hope you enjoy the video. It's the obvious choice :-)

Ash Wednesday . . .

I wonder how many parishes still produce their own palm ash by burning last year's palms? I imagine the local 'Elf 'n' Safety' brigade would have a few things to say about you setting up your brazier in the middle of the church car park and setting to with a little conflagration!

Or, do the majority receive their ashes in nice neat little packets from a church supplies company? Either way, it doesn't really matter, I suppose. They are just as valid a sign of our repentance and intention to persevere with our Lenten endeavours whether the ashes are 'home-grown' or 'mass produced'.

I went on my own to Mass this morning as the Pater Familias is still in foreign parts and Number One Son decided to use up a day of his outstanding leave and go up to St Bede's, Clapham Park for Mass.

This year, Ash Wednesday falls during Half-Term for our local schools so it was good to see a fair number of children at Mass too. They would normally receive their Ashes at school.

Like most of the signs and symbols used in the liturgy during the Church's year, the imposition of ashes has a visual impact which produces an emotional response. That's one of the purpose of symbols, after all, I suppose. It is very impressive to see queues of people returning from the sanctuary step with the sign of the cross marked in ash on their forehead. And when it is your turn and you stand before the priest yourself, those words, 'Memento homo . . . ' or whatever form is used, I find profoundly moving.

Now that's what I call a pancake!

I couldn't resist posting a photo of Number One Son's pancake this evening. You name it . . . it's in there - banana, cream, ice-cream and chocolate sauce! Believe it or not he managed to put away another similar one straight afterwards. I think he takes the 'Gras' bit of Mardi Gras a bit too literally! :-)

Have you been shriven yet?

Have you been shriven yet? Ever since I first learned about the origins of the term 'Shrove Tuesday' I have difficulty in not smiling when I think about it. It's not that there's anything particularly amusing about the meaning of the word, to have your sins forgiven; it's just the word itself. It always makes me think of that film, 'Honey, I shrunk the kids' I can just hear, 'Honey, I've shriven the kids'. It sounds as if it has something to do with shrinking.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. In common with many parishes, we usually have a penitential service in Lent to encourage as many people as possible to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession and it is usually well attended too. Most years this happens towards the end of Lent so that we are ready for the Great Feast of Easter. (Less time for backsliders like me to get into serious trouble again!)

Thinking again of the origins of Shrove Tuesday, I wonder whether people were expected to go to Confession again before Easter (6 weeks is a long time to avoid sin!) or whether they were just inspired to try extra hard during Lent having started with 'a clean slate' so to speak after being shriven before Ash Wednesday.

Or maybe, it was placed at this time because of the excesses of Mardi Gras!

Of course in this country, we don't have the tradition of Carnival or Mardi Gras in the same way as they have in some parts of Europe or Rio. Shrove Tuesday in the UK is very tame in comparison - after all what is wildly excessive about eating a few pancakes!!

Mind you, after a few pancakes and finishing off all the chocolates before Ash Wednesday I can see why it's called Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras)!

More on 'lurve' . . .

Looking back on my post the other day on St Valentine's Day, I thought I might have come across as a bit 'holier than thou' so just to put the record straight here are a few quotes I found on the subject of 'lurve'. Mostly humorous (at least they made me smile!) but some are just plain ol' sentimental. That to me is what St Valentine's Day is all about.

I hope you have the sort of Valentines' Day you'd wish for; be it a romantic evening in, a slap-up dinner out somewhere grand or maybe even decorating the spare room together or perhaps just ignoring it altogether - each to their own.

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon. ~Author Unknown

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll

Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia. ~Judith Viorst, Redbook, 1975

Love is a game that two can play and both win. ~Eva Gabor

Without love, the rich and poor live in the same house. ~Author Unknown

We don't believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack. ~Marie Ebner Von Eschenbach

Sometimes we make love with our eyes. Sometimes we make love with our hands. Sometimes we make love with our bodies. Always we make love with our hearts. ~Author Unknown

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. ~Rose Franken

I've always said, love wouldn't be blind if the braille weren't so damned much fun. ~Armistead Maupin,

What do you do when Valentine's Day falls on Match Day?

I was chatting to 'Number Two Son' on the phone this evening. You know, the usual sort of mother/son thing - What have you been up to this week? Any plans for the weekend? etc. We were talking about Valentine's Day and I reminded him that the Pater Familias is away on a business trip at the moment so Valentine's Day will be a non-event in our house this year (or maybe postponed?)

His reply? . . . 'Well, I'll be at the match tomorrow'

He then sent me the link to this great video. It's an answer to that perennial question, 'What do you do when Valentine's Day falls on Match Day?' I hope it makes you smile.

I was born . . .

I saw this first on Matthew Warner 's blog 'Fallible Blogma' but I've since seen it appearing elsewhere around the blogosphere.

Still, it's too good not to share.

Isn't it great to see so many young people who care about this issue?

What Catholic Women Want for Valentine's Day

This article caught my eye on EWTN. It covers all sorts of topics to do with Valentine's Day, and looks at responses given by a number of women to the question in the title - What would you like for Valentines' Day? The replies varied greatly from; material gifts, to being taken out somewhere for a meal, spending 'quality time' with one's husband and so on.

What strikes me, and not just in this article but generally about celebrating St Valentine's Day is this:

Everywhere you go and everything you see, hear or read about the celebration, seems to be about what women would like, or might expect to receive as gifts.

I always thought St Valentine's Day was about celebrating love between a couple. To me that means we women should also be thinking about how to show our love and appreciation for our husband. You don't often see articles such as, 'What are you going to give your husband for Valentine's Day?' or adverts saying, 'Don't forget ladies, make sure you remember the special man in YOUR life on Valentines' Day!'

Just a thought!

EWTN.com - What Catholic Women Want for Valentine's Day

That Tebow ad . . .

For any of you (like me) who are not into Football (NFL) as opposed to 'soccer' as the Americans call it, here is the much hyped 'Tebow' advert shown before the Superbowl game yesterday.

I know I expect a lot people know zilch about American Football (well, believe me, you can't know less than me!), and to a British audience this looks really 'cheesy' but on the other hand, can you imagine a Pro-Life advert being given air time in the middle of the FA cup final, the Six Nations or The Ashes?

Of course there is not any obvious reference to the Pro-Life movement in the advertisement itself - it's all very 'squeaky clean' but to most Americans, I would imagine, due to the publicity beforehand they would have been well aware of the fact that Tebow's mother had ignored the advice of doctors to have an abortion when pregnant with Tebow and living overseas at the time. This would be enough to endorse the Pro-Life message, I think. Plus of course the 'Focus on the Family' credit at the end.

I couldn't bear to post the ad that actually ran during the game which was similar to this but had a different ending when the miracle baby, Tim (Tebow), tackled his 'Mom' bringing her to the ground. It just doesn't translate well to British audiences, I feel, (at least not to this particular Briton!).

Roll on Spring!

I was getting fed up with the picture of the snow at the top of my blog. It was making me feel depressed every time I looked at it and I was sitting shivering at my keyboard!

The new picture was taken at Alderley Edge in Cheshire a couple of years ago, at around this time of year - probably about 3 weeks later in the year. Actually yesterday was a lovely sunny day here and I was hoping to take a few photos for the blog but didn't manage to fit it in after all.

Looking around the garden now that the snow has gone, there are signs of life - lots of bulbs appearing. I love this time of year when we begin to see the new growth after a long, grey winter.

Among the earliest bulbs to flower in our garden are a little clump of daffodils right by the front door. It really cheers you up when you put your key in the door. They are always out well before St David's Day. Here's a photo taken in February last year.

There was a lot going on this morning . . .

Today being the First Friday of the month, our PP celebrated Mass of the Sacred Heart concluding with that lovely old traditional hymn, 'Sweet Heart of Jesus'.

'Sweet heart of Jesus, we implore,

O make us love thee more and more.'

As it is also the Memorial of St Agatha, we also remembered her today. Although the note in the Missal tells us very little about this Virgin and Martyr (and probably just as well, when you read of the torture and mutilation she suffered for her faith!), she must have been very special to be the subject of such widespread devotion in the early Church, and to be mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass. St Agatha is now venerated as the patron saint of those suffering from diseases of the breast.

Well, I think we all did very well with our multi-tasking at Mass today - what with the Mass of the Sacred Heart, the Memorial of St Agatha and the readings of the day with the story of the Beheading of John the Baptist, we managed to cover quite a bit of ground in just over half an hour!

A 'Grand' Day Out . . .

I had a day off yesterday and had A 'Grand' Day Out (with apologies to Nick Park!)

The weather in this part of the world was not fantastic and it was a cold, windy and quite foggy day 'beside the seaside, beside the sea.' Nevertheless we had a great day. We took lunch in a rather 'Grand' hotel on the south coast, well-known for hosting certain conferences.

In the summer, the town is 'buzzing' but on a cold and blustery day like yesterday, only a few brave souls were to be seen 'strolling along the prom, prom, prom'.

How about this for a pudding? Panacotta with basil ice-cream - I know, but it was delicious.


In fact we were the only guests in the dining room for most of the time. Mid-week at the beginning of February is probably not 'high season', I would guess. The elegant bar/lounge area was quite busy with business men and women looking very professional, eyes glued to the screens of their laptops, and fingers flying across keyboards (free wi-fi - yay!). Maybe it was a bloggers conference!

The meal was delicious and the service excellent. Unlike poor Wallace and Grommit we had no need to go anywhere near as far as the moon to find plenty of delicious cheese!


And back home in time for tea as they say in all the best story books. Oh, it's good to live the good life now and again.

Candles and more candles!

Hayes and Finch (or Ormsby, Vanpoulles or whoever is your parish supplier of candles) must be doing a roaring trade at this time of year! This week we've had two successive feast days where candles figured prominently. Pity the poor sacristan who forgot to put their order in on time!

The Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) is a beautiful feast. The touching story of Simeon and his 'Nunc Dimittus' never fails to move me. It always takes me back to my childhood when as an Anglican I used to accompany my mother to Evensong on a Sunday evening and we sang both the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittus.

We had the blessing of candles before Mass and a short procession; well at least we gathered at the back of church and processed to our seats. It's difficult to process much more than this in our church building.

Then today we celebrated the Memorial of St Blaise. I know that it's an optional Memorial but we have always kept it in our parish and we had the traditional blessing of throats with crossed candles.

I'm so lucky that I'm able to go to Mass during the week. It has really helped me to have a better understanding of the Church's year and the liturgical cycle. Of course 'the Mass is the Mass' but Masses during the week definitely have a different nature, somehow. I find it easier to absorb the readings and there are certainly less distractions so gradually over the course of the year, the various feast days add to my understanding and knowledge of my faith.

Things that struck me . . .

Ever since I first read the text of the Holy Father's address to our Bishops on their ad Limina visit I've wanted to just make a few comments.

On first reading one or two points stood out for me and I thought I'd just mention those. A bit like when meditating on a text in Lectio Divina and some word or phrase comes to mind, I was struck by the following:

If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice.

Naturally this makes sense and surely no reasonable person could argue with this statement.

Why then, do we find even within our country and within our dioceses, deaneries and even parishes there sometimes seem to be several different 'voices' claiming to represent the truth? It's no wonder that some of us are confused, if one source of authority says one thing and in another place, one hears a completely different interpretation of the truth.

Make it your concern, then, to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church's mission.

This to me is about catechesis. How can we pass on the faith 'comprehensively and accurately' if that same faith has not been taught comprehensively in the first place. There are many gifted lay people, parents, teachers and others who are in a position to help our children in the development and understanding of the faith, and who are keen to do so but they find themselves lacking the understanding themselves as a result of poor catechesis when they were young. Hopefully this is an encouragement to look critically at catechetical schemes used in schools and parishes and to ensure that our children are 'equipped to hand on the faith' to the next generation.

It is important to recognise dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate.

And here's the crux of it:

It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church's Magisterium which sets us free.

There's no argument here. This is it. Recognition of this truth is a sign of our spiritual maturity.

And a final point that struck me:

Help them (the lay faithful) to avoid any temptation to view clergy as mere functionaries but rather to rejoice in the gift of priestly ministry, a gift that can never be taken for granted.

Our priest is not just someone who is there for baptisms, weddings and funerals; to visit the sick and celebrate the sacraments. We sometimes need to be reminded that 'Father' is among us as 'alter Christus'. When you really think about it, it is quite an amazing privilege for all of us and one that I know I am guilty of sometimes taking for granted.

Pope Benedict's address covers so many important areas, I could go on and on but I think I've probably said more than enough! Please excuse my unscholarly efforts. I am just an ordinary Catholic in the pew, and a convert at that, so I'm certainly no authority!

More later . . .

Naturally everyone is commenting on Our Holy Father's address to our bishops on their ad Limina visit to Rome. I wanted to add my three ha'pence too, for what it's worth, but have got more important things to do this evening - Girls' Night Out - Woohoo!

I've mentioned before that the wives in our Team of Our Lady try and have a night out once a month in between our regular Team meetings. The men had their Curry Night last week so it's our turn tonight.

We're very well behaved, naturally (!), but it's great to have a chance to just be ourselves and to natter away - where does the time go to on these occasions?

We are just five - a good number as it's difficult to get a word in edgeways once we start - any more of us and some just wouldn't get a look in!

We're not particularly bothered what's on the menu, or what the pub/restaurant is like (within reason) we just want to relax and do what women do when they're left to their own devices.

So, hopefully, a slightly more serious post in the next day or two.