Sunday Snipets - A Catholic Carnival

I sometimes discover things, mostly often of a trivial nature, that I slowly grow to love or enjoy more and more; whether it's my passion for scooters, my enjoyment of video games and other technologies, my love for music music or formal shirts (oh yes), I love to learn more and more about each of the things that I develop an interest in.

However, I often find myself moaning as I flick through a piece of music manuscript or the manual of a video game or phone which I'm desperately trying to work, wondering how on earth I will ever gain a true understanding of how to play the piece properly, how to get the character to do a double jump or how to send a text message. So to me, this makes my enthusiasm for my faith seem even more strange, because...

Our faith is based entirely on scripture, the biggest instruction manual ever set down; yet, although we may be frustrated by what's layed down for us, we Catholics don't say 'Well what the heck, let's just pack it in and forget these dumb rules' - no - because our cause is greater than that, our cause will not see us rewarded by points or pointless satisfaction, our cause will see us rejoicing in heaven with all the angels and saints praising God the Father. It is this image that motivates me to get stuck in to a good Bible that has ALL 73 books, fully untouched by the schemes of a 16th century attention seeker; because, with truly complete Bible, we can feel confident in the fact that we have everything we need to know what to do. 

He, who is the Word made Flesh, has given us so many gifts, both spiritual and physical; and the Holy Bible is one of them- so cherish it, hold it close to your heart, and never forget the Love that God has promised us; the love which he gave to us, in the form of a man.

God Bless You

James

From Rome: The Death of a Tyrant

Perhaps it is controversial of me to speak about the killing of Osama Bin Laden who was, until yesterday, the World's most wanted man. 


It is not, however, my opinion that I will be giving:


The Vatican said the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a man who sowed division and hatred and who caused "innumerable" deaths, should prompt serious reflection about one's responsibility before God, not rejoicing.

The Vatican statement May 2 came the day after President Barack Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden in an attack on his hideout in northwest Pakistan. In several U.S. cities, the news prompted street demonstrations and expressions of jubilation.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a brief written statement reacting to the news.

"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions to this end," Father Lombardi said.

"In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred," the spokesman said.

The Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, reported that Christian schools and other institutes were closed and churches put on guard in Pakistan's main cities out of fear of possible repercussions on the Christian minorities there. Pakistani Christians are often identified in extremist literature with the West and the United States.

Paul Bhatti, a government adviser for religious minorities in Pakistan, told Fides that "the situation is tense."

"In fact, there are strong fears of reactions -- senseless reactions -- against the Christian minorities. The government is giving the maximum attention to prevention measures," he said.

Father Mario Rodrigues, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pakistan, said after a meeting with government officials May 2: "They put us on alert, requesting the closure of our institutes and making available additional police personnel around the churches. The Christians of Pakistan are innocent victims in this and other situations. Any pretext is used to threaten them or launch an attack."

Rodrigues said some experts predicted that bin Laden's killing would weaken the Taliban and their ideologies, which could help diminish anti-Christian persecution in the long term. But he said radical Islamic groups were flourishing in Pakistan, and other extremist leaders could arise.

What is needed, he said, is a serious policy of interreligious tolerance at every level - cultural, social, political and legislative.


James

A is for Amice

The amice- a beautiful priestly vestment that is not seen as much as it used to be i.e. before the liturgical reforms of 1972. The amice consists of a plain rectangular piece of white cloth, accompanied by two white ribbons at each top corner which help keep it fastened around the shoulders. The beauty of the amice to me is on a much  symbolic level, as there is not much fascination to be drawn from a piece of cloth that is hidden under a bulk of vestments.


Sense in simplicity


The amice is/was used by priests to cover up their clothing before placing an alb on which, in those days ,would not have been made to fit snugly around the neck. This idea of the priest shielding his identity as a human being, as a child of the world before saying Mass is thought provoking. The amice is a sign, in this sense, of true commitment to God - the sign of a person who says truly, 'Thy will be done!' It is an outward sign of the priest's desire to be recognised as nothing more than a bridge from God to the people - he covers up everything that identifies him as being from outside the walls of the church and shows his willingness to devote himself entirely to Jesus Christ.

When the priest takes the amice, he first places it on his head for a few seconds before moving it to his shoulders, the vesting prayer which accompanied the action was this:

'Place upon my head, O Lord, the helmet of salvation, for fighting and overcoming all the wiles of the Devil: and for overcoming the savagery of all my enemies.'

I find this prayer so poignant that I find myself saying it more often than I wish. Sometimes a subtle nudge will cause me to utter the words, like putting on a hat, or throwing a towel round my neck on the way out of the gym; sometimes I might say it when I know I will face difficulty. Whenever I say it, I draw true strength from it, and it reminds me of the Holy Spirit's gift of courage that I have been blessed with. 

The amice - a lost, useless and unneeded tradition? Or an undiscovered reminder of divine promise?

Keep the faith,

James

It'll be alright in the end!

Rejoice, Oh people of the Lord! Glory fills our hearts - for Jesus Christ has risen indeed, ALLELUIA!

I am writing to you tonight from the kitchen table; it was here this morning as I arose for the 5:30am Easter Vigil that I found an array of chocolate and confectionery, laid out by the more festive members of the family, for us all to share in. After a large afternoon nap, from which I have awoken to gorge on more chocolate, I am beginning now to feel somewhat slightly nauseous and, once again, very tired.


The Lenten fast was happily broken.


But I cast my mind back two millennia ago to the events that were taking place in the Holy Land. Early in the morning, several distraught women were on their way to anoint the body of the crucified Jesus as, due to the laws of the Sabbath, they could not the day before. As they approached the tomb where the stone had been rolled over, a violent earthquake shook the ground and an angel appeared to them, telling them that, 'He has risen!' (Alleluia!)



I can only begin to imagine how those women must have felt on that fateful morning. I mean, it was nice to see chocolate on the kitchen table this morning, and that brought a smile to my face, but just think about what joy, and fear, must have filled the hearts of those disciples as they arrived at the empty tomb to find an angel telling them that He wasn't there, that He had risen.

Today is the day when it was all alright again.When God, who had sacrificed His only Son to save humankind, saw him rise from the tomb and conquer death once and for all. It brings a wry smile to my face to think how angry the devil must have been when Jesus gave him a good kicking once and for all, His death and resurrection being a living testament to the fact that death had finally lost its sting. Jesus' death and resurrection is also a great reminder and encouragement for God's people to put their complete trust in God because, no matter how low or down in the dumps things can get, no matter how awful things may seem, if we let God do His stuff - It'll al be alright in the end! Alleluia!

Through the resurrection of His Son, God has granted us healing. May He fulfil His promises, and bless you with eternal life.

Amen, alleluia, ALLELUIA!!!

James

Two planks of wood

It was almost Eleven O'Clock, the parishioners from SMM's had gathered with our Anglican brothers and sisters to walk in witness to Jesus' Passion through the streets of Dovecot, Liverpool. We were heckled, we were stared at, we were given strange looks and awkward smiles by people who were passing by, and yet we held our heads upright in prayer and dignity as a crowd followed what seemed to the onlookers as two planks of wood.

The crowd follow the procession of cross, clergy and servers

Yet how strange that so many people only recognise those two planks of wood as 'another symbol' of another 'misguided bunch of people'.  Well how very sad. And I mean that when I say it. How very sad that people living so close to us in the developed world do not yet know the power of Christ's death and resurrection, how sad that they are so consumed by what the world tells them to do that they are blinded from the greatest love story ever told. Since the world has become even more secular, we have allowed evil to creep into our society that we as Christians should be defending, and yet we stand so often in silence. We stand in silence as people savage the Faith with their pre-fabricated lies, we stand in silence as people are suffering on our streets, we stand in silence as innocent children are denied safety due to war, famine and abortion, we stand in silence as humankind tries to play God. And the silence is deafening. Perhaps we are just another bunch of hypocrites, if we are prepared to walk behind a cross saying 'this is what we believe in' when some of us are just too lazy or too desperate to be liked by the world to stand up and say 'hold on, wait a minute - this is wrong!' But by firmly saying we believe, by truly walking with Jesus Christ, we affirm everything that he teaches us, we affirm the clear message that comes from the Gospel. We open our hearts to the love that is He who hung on a cross and say 'yes' to God. 

When I look closer at what happened on this day 2000 years ago, I can see why people call us strange. We hail as our King a man who does not wear a crown of gold but a crown of thorns. We call a man Our Lord, who is not clothed and covered in regal garments and jewels, but who is stripped naked and smeared in the spittle of those that mock Him instead of venerating Him. His hands are not burdened by an orb and sceptre, but by two bloody nails. I call this Man my God, I must be mad. No. I have never loved, no will I ever love anyone as much as Him who hung there and died a bloody death for me; me being a poor man crippled with sin. And when people call me 'mad' or criticise the faith, or any faith for that matter, the sight of those two planks of wood is the only thing that stops me from giving them a piece of my mind. We must always remember that no matter how much darkness there is in the world, it will never be enough to extinguish the smallest flame of our faith, and the burning fire of love that was lit on a hill in Jerusalem all that time ago.

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Walk of Witness Slideshow with Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSXkJdI765I

Music by Martin Fletcher Jnr. Please contact me for more details about his CD

AMEN

Night had Fallen

I am not an emotional person. Yet, as I see our Blessed Lord being carried away from an altar in the arms of a priest, with a choir singing a poignantly foreboding hymn, I am moved to tears. Each Maundy Thursday, we process around church at the end of Solemn Mass and the sense of tragedy in peoples' faces is evident 2000 years after the bloodiest, most painful  love story was ever fulfilled. Christ's people share in the grief that He expressed in the garden of Gethsemane, as he was left alone and crying.

After an hour of watching the Blessed Sacrament was taken away from the altar of repose and locked behind the heavy iron door of a safe, in a harsh, unfurnished tabernacle; a small flame on the outside being the only reminder of what greatness is stored within.

As we commemorate the night when Jesus was betrayed and thrown into prison, the Blessed Sacrament has the heavy iron door of a safe slammed to close it in, in complete darkness.

Even the sanctuary had been stripped completely, as is custom on Holy Thursday. Nothing remained. The icy black of an empty church surrounded the altar, from which the layers of sacred linen were removed to reveal a naked slab of marble. The fading smell of incense was the only reminder of the celebration that had taken place before hand.  

  The deserted table from which Jesus had left after supper shines out in the darkness of the empty upper room       

Everything seems to pale into insignificance when you walk past an empty tabernacle to go and get changed. As the lights go out on an empty and saddened church, one begins to think about the horrors which will come tomorrow as the King of Kings dies a criminal's death as we watch in prayerful silence, and then, with nothing left to say or give, we walk away.

I sat in the Temple day after day and you never laid hands on me...

Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away

(Mat 26: 55-56)

Breath of the Spirit

Tonight I experienced, and actively took part in, the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Unfortunately, due to the purgatorial state of the Archbishop's hip, we were not blessed with our Metropolitan, however we did find a happy replacement in Vincent Malone (His Lordship).



His Lordship with an Irish Penny whistle/Crozier hybrid, carried excellently this evening by vimpa girl Laura Cunliffe.


I say I 'actively took part' as those that currently serve at the Altar in the Archdiocese were permitted to serve at this very Mass (I say serve, I really mean stand there in a group of hundreds of munchkins who constantly ask you for the time and tug on the sleeve of your cassock saying in an extremely scouse accent 'where are we now?! pointing desperately at their order of ceremonies. I do digress.) It was a real honour to take part and to witness the consecration of the oils of Sick, Catechumens and Chrism which will be used within the Archdiocese. What really struck me during the consecrations was the Bishop breathing into the container of the sacred Chrism and thus giving it the breath of God. It was a true reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our own mortal bodies, just like Jesus describes when he says 'Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?' (Cor 6:19) The idea of the Holy Spirit moving within us is something that gives me shivers (of the good variety) when I think about it - you know that tingling sensation that you get down the back of your neck? So much so that I have began to attribute that very feeling to the movement of the Holy Spirit.


A bishop breathes into the flask of sacred Chrism

The very thought that wee have so much power within us is awesome, and yet how often do we fail to direct it towards God? How often are we distracted by insignificant things when we should be focussed completely on God? I myself am completely guilty of this; even tonight as I walked into the sacristy to vest, I was too busy inwardly criticising the state of some lady altar servers in their albs (looking like 10 pound sausages in  3 pound skins) as opposed to truly steadying my mind for the great mystery that I was about to bear witness to. This goes to show how we human beings, even those who confess the faith which comes to us from the apostles, are prepared to look no further than the weary mortal frames of our brothers and sisters. It is by no means 'cheesy' to suggest that 'it's not what's on the outside its what's on the inside' because it is about what's in the inside - The Holy Spirit, a third of the triune divine essence of God. That lies within- and who are we sinners to contest other people based on their looks when the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God is working miracles within them. Perhaps this is a strange thing to take away from a Chrism Mass but, as I mentioned in my Pange Lingua video-link, the Lord will always show us what he wants us to see.

ON A LITURGICAL NOTE


Perhaps this contradicts everything I've just written but it has to be said, all things considered this is as liturgical blog and I have failed to mention liturgy once so far.

I was disgusted to see that the cathedral has abandoned their former use of cassocks and cottas and has instead chosen to go with awful white zip up albs which are the epitome of Vatican II. I was also disgusted to see of the MCs parading up and down the sacristy screaming, and I mean SCREAMING at the altar servers to be quiet and then allowing another gormless MC to come through behind him and address the troops, I must remember to remind them that the sergeant major/officer relationship does not work well in a liturgical setting. I was happy to hear the MC who didn't shout come over to me at the end of Mass saying "I haven't seen a cassock like that since I was in Rome" I, knowing that the answer should have been yes, said "Is that a good thing?" To which he replied, "No. Albs are much more functionable." (which isn't even a word) I politely replied, "Perhaps, but it does have the opportunity to make one look like a half dressed priest". I suppose he was the one who fatally pushed for the abandonment of the former vestments but hey-ho, I was happy enough to be the only one dressed properly.

I was delighted to see my friends from Animate were there who I love beyond all measure!! After several photographic attempts by the amazing Fr. Peter Morgan, the two cornerstone members of the group were finally pictured with me in the cathedral. Becky looked the height of beauty and Ferg looked just as...well...he's got the Holy Spirit in him, and that's what matters!

Becky, Myself and Ferg (whose sunglasses were the piece de resistance of his very liturgically correct suit).

Animate, I know that you will be one of the few/only people to see this post, so I'll take the opportunity to say  I love you!!

I shall be back tomorrow for a Maundy Thursday update.

Keep the faith,

James

PS: A special mention goes out to Martin who was there tonight and who has taken over something or other at Lowe House. Martin- you're a cool guy :)