Rose vestments? . . . You bet!

Gaudete in Domino semper. (Rejoice in the Lord always)

I really enjoy Gaudete Sunday, as indeed we are supposed to. What's not to like about rejoicing?!

It does make a difference having the 'proper' rose-coloured vestments. We will have beautiful flowers in church again tomorrow after a bare-looking sanctuary for the past couple of Sundays, and I'm sure we shall have some lovely joyful hymns too.

It does us all good to have this Sunday of joyful encouragement to persevere with our spiritual preparations for the arrival of Our Saviour at Christmas

It's very tempting to get out the decorations and the lights etc. etc. and get into the full swing of Christmas as many of our neighbours here seem to be doing already but we still have two more full weeks to wait. I am happy to focus on Advent for a while longer. We have our Advent wreath at home and shall light the rose-coloured candle tomorrow.

I do like the quote from Pope Benedict in the CTS Sunday Missal that introduces tomorrow's Mass (at least it does in my version of the Missal. I assume it is the same for all editions).

"What does 'the Lord is at hand' mean? In what sense must we understand this 'closeness' of God? The Church, illumined by the Holy Spirit, already at that time understood increasingly better that God's 'closeness' is not a question of space and time but rather of love: love brings people together! This coming Christmas will remind us of this fundamental truth of our faith and in front of the manger we shall be able to savour Christian joy contemplating in the newborn Jesus the Face of God who made himself close to us out of love."

NB. Photo above is of last year's wreath as we shan't light our 'rose' candle until tomorrow, although as it's past time for Vespers I suppose we could light it now.

Updating my blog list . . .

I have just discovered that this little blog appears on the blog list of two other Catholic bloggers.

I naturally wish to repay the compliment and have thus now added two more excellent blogs to my own list. Do please pop over to Porta Caeli and Linen on the Hedgerow and see what they have to say.

The Angelus . . .

I always consider myself very fortunate in that we can hear the Angelus bell of our local church from inside our house.

This evening ours was a very quiet household, not that we're particularly noisy at the best of times. I was sitting at the computer, the Pater Familias was similarly quiet and Our Eldest was not yet home from work.

6pm and the bell rang out clearly three times. Occasionally I also hear it at midday on my day off if I'm at home or in the garden or walking around locally.

I love this sound. It sums up so much for me in just the three rings of the bell.

I love that it reminds me of the continuity of our faith. I always picture the famous Millet painting of the workers in the field pausing in their work to pray this simple prayer.

I too, can easily pause in whatever I am doing to spend the few minutes it takes to pray the Angelus prayer.

I was prompted to do a little research as I know very little about the origins of the Angelus.

The prayer in the form we know it today dates from the first half of the Sixteenth Century but the practice of reciting the Hail Mary three times in a row daily dates from at least the Twelfth Century. St Anthony of Padua strongly recommended it, and St Bonaventure, amongst others.

The ringing of a bell was introduced at this time so that all the faithful would know that after Compline it was time to recite the Hail Mary.

Pope Sixtus IV in 1475 endowed the recitation of the Angelus at noon with an indulgence, and this was extended by Pope Leo X to those who recited it in the morning, at noon and in the evening.

It is of course particularly relevant during Advent as we prepare for Our Lord's coming at Christmas as it is a devotion based on the Annunciation, the message of the Incarnation delivered by the Angel to Mary.

Woohoo, it's arrived . . . !

I had a lovely surprise when I got home from work on Saturday - a parcel from CTS containing . . . . yes, you guessed it, my new Sunday Missal!

I had put this on my birthday list a few weeks ago although I knew it would not be available until now. I had my fingers crossed that it might have been ordered by someone and true enough the Pater Familias has come up trumps again.

I can't wait to have a really good look at it. It is a beautiful book and I shall treat it with great care whilst making sure I use it. I do believe books are for reading no matter how beautiful they might be.

Martyrs: English, Canonised, Beatified and otherwise important . . . !

I must admit to being a little confused today. (What's new, I hear some say!).

Several mentions have appeared in the blogosphere, on Twitter and in conversations generally, to The Feast of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

In July last year four new feast days were approved for the National Calendar in England and Wales.

The saints in question, naturally, all have special significance for England and Wales.

St Gregory the Great (3rd September), St Thomas Becket (29th December), The English Martyrs (4th May) and St Augustine of Canterbury (27th May).

When Saints' feast days are elevated to a National Calendar it means that feast takes precedence over the universal calendar of the Church which is why we are not celebrating the feast of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales today as we used to.

Simple, really. I hope I've got that right. That's how how I understand it to be.

So, what happens to the feast day of the 40 martyrs canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1973? I hear you say.

They haven't been forgotten. We now celebrate their feast with the 85 beatified Martyrs of the Reformation and other later martyrs. This includes such well-known saints as St Margaret Clitherow and St Cuthbert Mayne, on the feast of the English Martyrs on 4th May.

I knew I'd have an opportunity to post some of the photos I took last week at St Osmund's in Salisbury. They have a marvellous collection of stained glass windows portraying the English Martyrs. I hope you enjoy them. (As usual, 'double-click' on the photos to see a larger version)

I took several more photos and may upload a short slide show later if I have time.

A day off and a day out . . .

We had a lovely day out last week on my day off. We went to do a 'recce' of the holiday home that we've booked for Christmas.

We couldn't find anywhere available right in the New Forest where we wanted to be but found a very acceptable place not far from Salisbury which is a beautiful Cathedral city and not that far away to drive into the New Forest for exploring (weather permitting & fingers crossed!) on days out.

We don't take the opportunity often enough to have a day out as a couple, I think, and it was good to be just the two of us for a change.

We were lucky to have chosen a beautiful sunny day for our outing and having located the cottage, we then set off to explore Salisbury. I can't remember if I've visited the town before but I was very impressed. I think most Cathedral cities are very attractive with a good combination of historic buildings and modern amenities.

We strolled through the town and everyone seemed to be enjoying the sunshine -what a plethora of fantastic coffee shops and patisseries - my idea of heaven!

On my 'to do' list was also 'find the nearest Catholic church' so armed with my printout from the web we located the nearest Catholic Chapel in Downton (no Abbey in sight!) and also the beautiful Pugin church of St Osmund in the centre of Salisbury. We're hoping that we'll be able to go to Midnight Mass there on Christmas Eve.

The Cathedral has a very interesting exhibition of life-size sculptures of people dotted around the Cathedral (outside) and they were even to be found in the cloister and the quadrangle.

We didn't want to be too late getting home so set off on the return journey in the early afternoon. We found a lovely pub for a super very late lunch on the way home - one to remember for our trip in December.

The Comedian and the Archbishop . . .

Those of you who are familiar with Twitter will know there is an option to 'favourite' a Tweet. It can be used in various ways but I use it in the same way as I might 'bookmark' a web site or page so that I can easily find it when I want to come back to it later.

A while ago I had 'favourited' a link to a discussion between the comedian Frank Skinner and the Archbishop of Canterbury. I had heard favourable reports of this event and thought I'd come back to it when I had time to read it or listen to it in full.

If you haven't already heard it you'll find a link here both to the audio version or, if you prefer, a transcript of the discussion.

I do think it was well worth the half hour or so I spent reading the transcript. I was very taken with Frank Skinner's ability to talk about his faith and, even in the written word, the spark between the two men was apparent. I think there was a mutual respect between the two.

I wouldn't say I agreed with Frank Skinner on everything he mentioned but quite of lot of what he, and the Archbishop, said resonated with me. Here are a few examples . . .

- but when I go to church on a Sunday morning I feel like we are discussing the most profound important serious things in the middle of a children's playground, and I find it quite difficult often just to even hear what's being said in a homily, for example. In the Catholic church I imagine this is even worse, because we are not that big on contraception as you may have heard. So there are a lot of kids screaming and shouting. I think it's a real problem. I think it makes church - I love kids and I love kids being around - but I kind of go there to be inspired. I kind of go there to be given something by the priest that I will take away with me and it will get me through that week.

and . . .

- And my point is, I’m not sure and in fact I think faith, that kind of complete and utter blind faith, is a very dangerous thing. I see myself as a person of doubt, and I think doubt is absolutely at the centre of being a human being, and is important. I worry when I hear religious people who have no doubt, just fundamentalist beliefs, and I worry when I hear atheists who seem to have no doubt at all. I think that that is an essential part of being a human being. And I think that when Jesus is on the cross and says “my Lord, my Lord, why have you forsaken me?” that’s the moment when he completely becomes a human being - and then he can die because he's done the full works. So I don't think anyone in this church tonight who believes in God should feel bad if there are days when they find it very very hard to believe.

And even slightly . . .

I sometimes wonder if maybe it's not a bad thing that churches don't have as many people in as they used to. I’m quite keen on quality rather than quantity. There was a time when there was a big social pressure to go to church, so a lot of the people there didn’t really want to be there and weren’t that interested. I know it often looks like the people there are not that interested, but I often look around during a sermon - just for something to do really - and I look at the people and people are looking at their shoes but I think, you never know actually – someone can look bored but inside they might be thinking very profound spiritual thoughts about their life. I would never assume. I think anyone who’s at church now, unless they’re a child who’s been dragged along, are there because they’ve made that decision. There is certainly no social pressure to go to church. On the contrary. So it might be good to have less people who are more committed.

So if you've get a few moments to spare, have a look or listen and see what you think.