For a New Priest
Easter Thursday, First Mass of Fr Bede Mary Dear Father Bede, Dear Reverend Fathers, Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are still recovering, as it were, from the stunning event that took place yesterday in Sandy Bay, our eyes squinting as it were before the light. We are somewhat like the apostles and the […]
St Cecilia April Triduum
This month’s triduum takes place during the Easter Octave, an occasion on which we rejoice in the glory of our Risen Saviour. This is not a week for mourning and penance but for rejoicing with the universal Church. It is an opportunity, as we continue to pray for the great intentions dear to us all, […]
The Day That Never Passes
Easter Sunday Like the disciples of Emmaus, we often find ourselves thinking: if only it hadn’t happened that way, it would have all been so glorious. It doesn’t occur to us till much later, and it often takes the help of one more enlightened than we, that actually what happened was supposed to happen. It […]
Easter is Just the Beginning
Paschal Vigil On this holy night, the most ancient and the mother of all the Church’s vigils we have been given an abundance of sacred texts to ponder and contemplate. We have also been provided with numerous symbols, in particular light, water and oil, all speaking to us of God’s immense love, pouring out innumerable […]
The True Normal
Good Friday The passion of our Blessed Saviour leaves no one indifferent. The divine catastrophe inspires any number of sentiments, among which sorrow, compassion and shame are the foremost. We feel sorrow for the shear sight of the spectacle. An innocent man put through a form of execution that is comprised of some of the […]
Vessels of Clay
Maundy Thursday This evening in communion with the Church around the world we enter into what we call the Sacred Paschal Triduum. We commemorate on this night the Last Supper, in which our blessed Lord left us the living memorial of His passion, death and resurrection. Unlike other great men who have died memorable deaths, […]
Paradise on Earth
Palm Sunday The Christian life is of its very nature drawn in two directions that are easily opposed. The one is austere, based on the necessity we find ourselves in of imitating Our Lord, of carrying our cross behind Him to Calvary. The other is a jubilant celebration of the victory of God over Satan, […]
The Urtext of All Texts
Passion Sunday Last week we meditated upon those words of Our Blessed Saviour by St Luke: this is my Body given for you. In today’s communion verse we find it again, this time in the version St Paul gives in his first epistle to the Corinthians: this is my Body which will be handed over […]
My Body, Your Choice
10 March 2024 Fourth Sunday of Lent – Laetare This past week the world was profoundly saddened to learn that the eldest daughter of the Church, France that is, has inscribed in its constitution a woman’s right to abortion. What that means is that now not only is abortion legal in France, but that it […]
