Venite Prandete

  THE ROGATION PROCESSION AND LITANY TUESDAY 11th MAY Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week are minor Rogation Days preceding the Ascension, on Thursday. If unable to participate in the prayers and procession, then one can participate by fasting and prayer – especially the Litany of the Saints. The Gospel of today is from Luke 11:5-13: At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him; and he from within should answer and say” Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask and it shall be given to you; seek ...

  ROGATION PROCESSION AND MASS TUESDAY 11th MAY Tuesday is the Rogation Day of the eve of the Ascension – a day when traditional parishes embark upon the Rogation Mass and procession, giving thanks to God for our many blessings, (in days past giving thanks for the harvest) and seeking God’s blessing and protection from illness and misfortune, (historically, for protection against plague and famine). The history set out below of the Rogation processions is taken from Eamon Duffy, “The Stripping of the Altars, Traditional Religion in England, c.1400-c. 1580.” (1), where he quotes George Herbert, writing in the 1630’s, as capturing the dimensions of the traditional Rogantide in the context of the “archetypal parish gatherings, the processions and especially the Rogantide processions”: ‘Particularly [the country Parson] loves procession, and maintains it, because there are contained therein four manifest advantages; first, a blessing of God for the fruits of the field; secondly, justic...

  THE GOOD SHEPHERD Second Sunday after Easter 18th April The Second Sunday after Easter is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”. The Gospel of the day is John 10: 11-16: “At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep. But the hireling and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep: and the hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd and I know mine and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” The Epistle is that of Peter 2: 21-25: “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps, who did no sin, n...

  WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK SPY WEDNESDAY AND THE STORY OF JUDAS 31st MARCH Giotto, "The Kiss of Judas" Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. Today is traditionally called “Spy Wednesday” because Judas approached the chief priests with the intention to betray Christ on this day: Matthew 26: 14-25: One of the twelve, a man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: “What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say: “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” “Go to so-and-so in the city,” He said ‘ and say to him: “The Master says, ‘My time is near. It is at your house that I am keeping Passover with my disciples.’ “ The disciples did what Jesus had told them and prepared the Passover. When evening came He was at table with the twelve disciples. And whil...

  THE MAUNDY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LAST SUPPER THE WASHING OF THE FEET Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper" at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan. Maundy Thursday is so called because of the ceremony of the washing of the feet – which ordinarily takes place after the Homily. The word “Maundy” comes from the directive of Our Lord, set out in the Gospel of St John (13,34), “to love one another as I have loved you” - “Mandatum”, a command. The love we are commanded to bear, to love as Christ loved us, is pointed out by St Paul as a love “even unto death on the Cross” – a selfless abandonment to the love of God and for each other. The Mandatum, the commandment, extends to His loving humility, exemplified by Our Lord in His act of washing the feet of His disciples, the Master in an act of complete servility to the disciples, His students. The symbolism of the washing of the feet is also redolent of the nature of the priestly vocation – one of complete service. Fathe...

  MAUNDY THURSDAY THE CHRISM MASS 1st APRIL The Chrism Mass is the spectacular concelebration of all the priests of the Diocese, who gather together in the Cathedral to renew their priestly vows, thus renewing their commitment to God and their flock, at the Maundy Thursday Mass where the Chrism oils are consecrated for the Sacraments. The renewal of priestly vows on this day is a result of the institution of the priesthood of the Apostles by Our Lord on this day, the day of the Last Supper; the Epistle of the evening Mass, (St Paul to the Corinthians, 11.20-32), provides: “For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and giving thanks, broke and said: Take ye and eat: this is My Body, which shall be delivered for you. This do for the commemoration of me. In like manner, also the chalice, after He had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in My Blood. This do ye, as often as...

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY; 7th FEBRUARY The period of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima is a preparatory period for the fasting and penance of Lent. The liturgy today emphasizes humility – not a self-conscious piety, not a superiority in one’s idea of holiness, but a realization that one is ultimately judged in the revealing light of absolute Truth, free of all justifications and rationalisations. It is this humility that becomes a strength in one’s battle to attain salvation. The Epistle for today is from the Second letter of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 11.19-33; 12.1-9, where St Paul concludes with these words: “For such a one I will glory: but for myself I will glory nothing but in my infirmities. For, though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish: for I will say the truth: but I forbear, lest any man think of me above that which he seeth in me, or anything he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given ...