MAUNDY THURSDAY.

 

Of the glorious body telling, O my tongue, its mysteries sing,

And the blood, all price excelling, Which the world’s eternal King,

In a noble womb once dwelling, Shed for this world’s ransoming.

Everything that is Divine in Christ Jesus is of GOD, everything that is human is of Mary. That ‘glorious body’ – of the GOD-MAN begins the final moments for our redemption, Mary, who had held that body for the shepherds and the Wise Men to worship, joins with us, for us to do the same. May Mary pray for us.



Given for us, for us descending, Of a virgin to proceed,

Man with man in converse blending, Scattered he the gospel seed,

Till his sojourn drew to ending, Which he closed in wondrous deed.

From the moment of his birth, St. Joseph watched over, protected and helped nurture the Lord. He helped the Lord in his skills to offer to the world the means of repentance and ‘converse blending’ to ‘scatter the gospel seed’. May St. Joseph pray for us.



At the last great supper lying Circled by his chosen band,

Duly with the law complying, First he finished its command,

Then, immortal food supplying, Gave himself by his own hand.

In accordance with the existing covenant of Moses and the Prophets, the Lord fulfils the requirements of that covenant….the Passover is prepared and he ‘finished its commend’. ‘with the law (of Moses and the Prophets) complying’ the Lord now prepares himself to be that final and new Passover –with ‘immortal food’



Word-made-flesh, by word he maketh Bread his very flesh to be;

Man in wine Christ’s blood partaketh: And if senses fail to see,

Faith alone the true heart waketh To behold the mystery.

This ‘immortal food’, bread and wine, by the words spoken by the ‘Word-made-flesh’ become the Body and Blood of what will be the New covenant. For if our ‘senses fail’ to recognise this ‘immortal food’ be ‘the glorious body’: our heart of faith tells us to recognise ‘the world’s eternal king’ who will be the NEW PASSOVER in the ‘wondrous deed’ of the Cross



Therefore we, before him bending, This great sacrament revere:

Types and shadows have their ending, For the newer rite is here;

Faith, our outward sense befriending, Makes the inward vision clear.

As the curtain of the Temple is torn in two, the Lord ‘finished the command’ the ‘newer rite is here’ which replaces the sacrifices of that Temple. The ‘types and shadows’ are revealed (through the open curtain) ‘to behold  the mystery’ – the mystery of the Sacrifice of the Lord ‘ given for us, for us descending’ ‘shed for this word’s ransoming’. The ‘newer rite’ of ‘wondrous deed’ on the Cross foreseen in the ‘great sacrament’ given ‘himself by his own hand’



Glory let us give and blessing To the Father and the Son,

Honour, might and praise addressing, While eternal ages run;

Ever too his love confessing, Who, from both, with both is one. Amen.

"Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacle of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. Men have found no better thing than this to do for kings at their crowning and for criminals going to the scaffold; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church; for the proclamation of a dogma or for a good crop of wheat; for the wisdom of the Parliament of a mighty nation or for a sick old woman afraid to die; for a schoolboy sitting an examination or for Columbus setting out to discover America; for the famine of whole provinces or for the soul of a dead lover; in thankfulness because my father did not die of pneumonia; for a village headman much tempted to return to fetich because the yams had failed; because the Turk was at the gates of Vienna; for the repentance of Margaret; for the settlement of a strike; for a son for a barren woman; for Captain so-and-so wounded and prisoner of war; while the lions roared in the nearby amphitheatre; on the beach at Dunkirk; while the hiss of scythes in the thick June grass came faintly through the windows of the church; tremulously, by an old monk on the fiftieth anniversary of his vows; furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all day in a prison camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonisation of S. Joan of Arc—one could fill many pages with the reasons why men have done this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. And best of all, week by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom, the pastors have done this just to make the plebs sancta Dei—the holy common people of God." (Dom Gregory Dix)

ALL THIS TO THE PRAISE OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY.

Wednesday in Holy Week (SPY WEDNESDAY)

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“ The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.” Matthew 26:14-25

A thought: Judas went of his own volition (there was no compulsion or force). He readily took the offering for his betrayal and,in exactly the same way, readily took the supernatural offering of His Lord. ' Surely it is not I' ?

The Collect:

O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever.

The Prayer over the People:

Grant your faithful, O Lord, we pray, to partake unceasingly of the paschal mysteries and to await with longing the gifts to come, that, persevering in the Sacraments of their rebirth, they may be led by Lenten works to newness of life. Through Christ our Lord.

The Act of Contrition:

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. 

I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.

Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.

Tuesday in Holy Week

Hear me, O islands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:1-6

A thought: When there is a feeling that enough is enough: God may as for more!

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” John 13: 21-33 + 36-38

A thought: When there is an enthusiasm to do more for God: it may turn out to be wrong or less than what is really being asked.

The Collect:

Almighty ever-living God, grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion that we may merit to receive your pardon. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Prayer over the People:

May your mercy, O God, cleanse the people that are subject to you from all seduction of former ways
and make them capable of new holiness. Through Christ our Lord.

Monday in Holy Week

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, 

“Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him. (John 12:  1-11)

A thought: 

It is SIX days before the moment the created world (including us) will be reconciled to the Father: He who made the whole of creation in SIX days, begins today the preparations for that moment. For He who created mankind on the SIXTH DAY will redeem mankind on the SIXTH DAY hence.

Just as the preparation for this moment is made at table: at Bethany (which means 'house of obedience') so our redemption continues to be renewed at table: at the Altar of the Church- the place of the obedient.

At this table, Jesus, Mary and Martha rejoice together with Lazarus , who has been raised from the dead: so to at the Altar of Heavenly Grace, we are joined by those who having remained obedient, live in the presence of Truth.

The Collect:

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, though in our weakness we fail, we may be revived through the Passion of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Prayer over the People:

May your protection, O Lord, we pray, defend the humble and keep ever safe those who trust in your mercy, that they may celebrate the paschal festivities not only with bodily observance but above all with purity of mind. Through Christ our Lord.

From HM the QUEEN

I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time. A time of disruption in the life of our country: a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all.

I want to thank everyone on the NHS front line, as well as care workers and those carrying out essential roles, who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all. I am sure the nation will join me in assuring you that what you do is appreciated and every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times.

I also want to thank those of you who are staying at home, thereby helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones. Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it.

I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.  

The moments when the United Kingdom has come together to applaud its care and essential workers will be remembered as an expression of our national spirit; and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children. 

Across the Commonwealth and around the world, we have seen heart-warming stories of people coming together to help others, be it through delivering food parcels and medicines, checking on neighbours, or converting businesses to help the relief effort.  

And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation.

It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do. 

While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed - and that success will belong to every one of us. 

We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.

But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all.

NEWSLETTER – Sunday 5th April 2020. Palm Sunday of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Each day this week, a post on here will be given to take us through Holy Week together.

Palm Sunday – Mass will be said privately at which Palms will be blessed. The Palms will be retained until we are allowed to travel.

Intention: for the parish


Monday in Holy Week- Mass will be said privately

Intention: Betty Brown (int)

Also known as: Fig Monday – The day on which Christ cursed the fig tree. People ate dried figs on this day to commemorate the miracle.


Tuesday in Holy Week – Mass will be said privately

Intention: Mr. Grey (RIP)

There is NO Chrism Mass at the Cathedral today


Wednesday in Holy Week – Mass will be said privately

Intention: private intention

Also known as Spy Wednesday – The day on which Judas Iscariot met with the Jewish priests and made plans for the betrayal, hence the name “spy.”

THE SACRED TRIDUUM

Maundy Thursday – Mass of the Last Supper will be said privately

Intention: for the parish

There is NO Watch at the Altar of Repose


Maundy:  from the Latin Vulgate version of John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” In Latin, the verse begins with Mandatum novum do vobis. The word “maundy” is a corruption of “mandatum” meaning commandment.


Good Friday – The Solemn Service (Mass of the Pre-sanctified) will be said privately (with reduced ceremonies)

– Here “good” hearkens back to Middle English in which the word denotes piety or holiness.


Holy Saturday – A quiet day, the perfect Sabbath of Christ in which He descended into the limbo of Hell and delivered the saints of the Old Testament


The Easter Vigil – will be said privately (with reduced ceremonies)

Intention: for the Parish


Easter Day – Mass will be said privately

Intention: for the parish

Over these very unusual days: let us be together in prayer at home but in particular to join with our Archbishop, Cardinal Nichols as he offers the Holy Mass and  Rites of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum. 


https://rcdow.org.uk/news/live-streams-from-westminster-cathedral/

PALM SUNDAY of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The church continues to be closed for all acts of public worship.

Holy Mass will be said privately at 8.30am at which the Palms will be blessed.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR COLLECTING THE PALMS:

At the recommendation of His Eminence, the Archbishop, the Blessed Palms will be stored for you to collect at a later date when travel is made easier.




READINGS:

Gospel: Matthew 21: 1-11


of the Mass

1st Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7

2nd Reading: Philippians 2:6-11

The Passion: Matthew 26:14-27:66


Or


Exodus: 15:27, 16:1-7 Matthew 21:1-8


of the Mass

Epistle: Phil 2:5-11

Passion: Matthew 26 and 27


What can you do at home for Palm Sunday?


The readings for the Blessing of Palms and for the Mass of the Passion are given above. In England, pussy willow and hazel (catkins) were used to decorate church and homes. On your daily walks see if there is any available for you to use:

Increase the faith of those who place their hope in you, O God, and graciously hear the prayers of those who call on you, that we, who today hold high these branches to hail Christ in his triumph, may bear fruit for you by good works accomplished in him. 

Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

R. Amen.