Venite Prandete

  THE ‘O’ ANTIPHONS O EMMANUEL 23rd DECEMBER FAMILY CEREMONY: The family, together, say the Great Antiphon, followed by The Magnificat, and repeat the Antiphon at the close of evening prayer, or Vespers. ANTIPHON O EMMANUEL, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster. O EMMANUEL, our King and Lawgiver, the desire of the nations and the saviour thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God. MAGNIFICAT My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour. For He hath regarded the humility of His handmaiden: For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is from generation unto generations upon them that fear Him. He hath shewed might in His arm. He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts. He hath cut down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the h...

  THE ‘O’ ANTIPHONS O RADIX JESSE 19th DECEMBER Icon of the Tree of Jesse (1) The Epistle for today provides: Thus saith the Lord God: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears; but He shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of His loins: and faith the girdle of His reins. FAMILY CEREMONY: The family, together, say the Great Antiphon, followed by The Magnificat, and repeat the Antiphon at the close of ...

DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF SS PETER AND PAUL 18th NOVEMBER THE TOMB OF SAINT PETER Michaelangelo, "The Crucifixion of St Peter". Above, self-portrait of Michaelangelo as a witness in the crowd (detail). Christian tradition and historical writings tell us that the saints Peter and Paul journeyed to Rome where they preached Christ’s message during the Roman persecutions. An ancient Christian story relates that Peter fled Rome to escape Nero, whose persecution had escalated dramatically following the great fire, blamed on the Christians, who were deemed to be superstitious and troublesome to Roman comity. On his way out of Rome, along the Appian Way, it is said that Peter met Christ walking in the other direction, towards Rome. Peter asked the Lord: “Quo vadis?” (“Where are you going?”); to which Christ relied: “I am going to Rome to be crucified again”. Ashamed to have once again failed to defend Christ, Peter turned back to Rome and there met his fate. An ancient Roman chur...

  ‘IN ACT THY BED-VOW BROKE” THE DESTRUCTION OF GLASTONBURY 15th NOVEMBER I have taken today’s commemoration from the Reformation executions at Glastonbury Tor, as related by Claire Asquith in her book, “Shadowplay, the hidden beliefs and coded politics of William Shakespeare”*: “On 15 November 1539, a procession would its way up Glastonbury Tor, a steep, conical hill overlooking the peatlands of Somerset in the south-west of England. The journey over the windy ridges was arduous, for the crowds struggled to drag with them three men tied to sledge-like wooden frames. On the top of the hill stood a newly constructed gallows; nearby was a fire, knives and a cauldron. Though some of the spectators would have been jeering, many would have been aghast, not only at the barbarity, but at the sacrilege of what they were witnessing. Glastonbury was the most ancient and sacred Christian site in Britain. Long ago, when it was still surrounded by sea, it was called Yniswitren, the Island of G...

ST LUKE, THE EVANGELIST; FEAST DAY 18th OCTOBER St Luke is famous as the close friend of Our Lady, one who never was an Apostle of Jesus, but who was a faithful follower and companion of St Paul in his travels, who called him, "the beloved physician". He was a doctor and is known as the artist who painted early icons of Our Lady. Luke’s Gospel was not the first to be written – his was the third and, as the follower of St Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, he is seen as the Evangelist to the gentiles. There have been recent popular books by which the Gospels are presented as naïve histories, the content of which are degraded by reason that they are lacking the evidential controls which a skeptic would consider fundamental to attesting their veracity. These popular books focus on the foundation of the Christian belief - a challenge to our perception of the word of God. Brant Pitre, in his Book, “The Case for Jesus; the Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ” *addressed the ch...

MICHAELMAS – FEAST OF ST MICHAEL, 29th SEPTEMBER St MICHAEL THE PROTECTOR "St Michael", by Michaelangelo, on Castel San' Angelo. “But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people.” Daniel 12:1 St Michael is our protector, throughout our life, and at the moment of our death when he accompanies the soul on our journey. It is St Michael who will sound the trumpet on Judgement Day and escort the souls to the presence of God. He is part of a fraternity of Archangels that include Gabriel, Raphael and others. Catholics, from the early Church, carried through the Jewish tradition of identifying St Michael as the guardian of God’s people on earth. He is mighty among the angels – the leader of God’s heavenly host - but his power lies in his humility and his submission to God’s will. The Apocalypse depicts him as the commander of the heavenly host of angels as they battle Satan and his spirits, who, driven by pride, rebel against ...