Go here for all photos of Pentecost at the Birmingham Oratory... Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there as one of my friends was making his first Holy Communion at the ICKSP in New Brighton... The Oratory is having an EF Mass everyday at 6pm during the octave of Pentecost, followed by Benediction, and devotions to St. Philip... Do come, it is so beautiful!! They are using some of the most beautiful Chasubles they have... The one that was used last night had the coat of arms of some obscure king on... And did I mention that is was beautiful?
Thanks to Br. Andrew C.O. (Yet again!) for these beautiful photos of the Chasuble used for Mass on the feast of Saints Philip and James, on Saturday May the 11th.
Oh, and while I'm on the topic of red vestments, there will be a Missa Cantata for the vigil of Pentecost at the Birmingham Oratory at 9am on Saturday the 18th of May... Do come if you possibly can, it will be "the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven"!! (I know it starts off in violet vestments... Or it used to, anyway!)
On Sunday, Hugh Owen, director of Kolbe Centre, gave a talk hosted by the Birmingham Oratory, on evolution.
Here are the main points:
1. Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette in1858; the year before Charles Darwin published his 'Origin of Species'. Our Lady told St. Bernadette that she was theImmaculate Conception. Now, if Adam and Eve were children of monkeys, they also would have been immaculate conceptions. So unless one calls Our Blessed Mother a liar, Adam and Eve had to be created, not conceived.
2. As Catholics, we take more of the Bible as literal than any other religion. So why then, should we not take the account of creation as it is literally told? When Jesus healed people, he commanded them to get better and they got better, just as when God commanded light to come into existence light came into existence. Also in the Gospel Jesus says, that if you do not accept Moses' words, how will you accept His words? As Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, can we doubt that they are true? Also, if you look at the genealogy of Jesus in St. Luke's gospel, he lists all of St. Joseph's ancestors, all the way back to Adam, who St. Luke tells us was "the son of God." If we are not to believe St. Luke in this, why should we believe him in anything.
3. Take a look at the laws of nature, specifically the 2nd law of thermodynamics. It states that everything goes from order to disorder... This is especially true of my bedroom!! So, in a universe that goes from order to disorder, (with only moms to set it right!) how would it be remotely possible that life could exist?
4. If you look at the human genome, about 100 mainly bad mutations are passed on from one generation to the next. This recent research in itself contradicts the argument of 'survival of the fittest'.
5. No Saints have ever had a vision of evolution. If evolution had taken place, you would have expected God to have given some Saint a vision of it. In fact, the recent elevation of St Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth century German Benedictine Abbess, to Church Doctor is a reminder that all the great mystical saints of the Catholic Church, without exception, upheld the traditional doctrine of creation, and the literal truth of Genesis 1-11.
In her mystical writings, St Hildegard described in detail what God revealed to her of the work of creation, especially with regard to the creation of Adam and Eve.
Today, most Catholic schools and universities give the impression that the first human beings "evolved " into consciousness, or were given consciousness at a "primitive" level of awareness. Many are being told that the 'Fall' consisted of man falling 'up' into consciousness which made sin inevitable. But St Hildegard reminds us that the Divinity reigned in the humanity of Adam before the Fall in the same kind of way that It reigned in the Sacred Humanity of Christ. In the Byzantine Vespers Verse for the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Church likens the Divine Holiness of Jesus to the Original Holiness of Adam:
"Through Your transfiguration, You turned Adam's nature to its original splendour, restoring its very elements to the glory and brilliance of Your Divinity. Wherefore we cry out to You, the Creator of All, glory be to You".
The creationist view is that, just because you have speciation (micro evolution), does not mean you have huge change in types of animals and plants (macro evolution).
Evolution makes no predictions...
"it becomes so pliable and vacuous as to fit all observations. The best definition of evolution I have come across is the equation:
nobody + nothing= everything.
If the evolution model were true, we would expect to see it in action. We would expect to see new elements, new stars, new species of plants and animals, etc. If the creation model were true, we would expect to see none of these changes and, in fact, we would expect species to go extinct and a general disintegration of the completed, created universe." ( Daylight Origins Science for Catholics magazine, Nov 2012).
For plenty more detail, and science, follow the link to kolbe above.
I thought I would end this post with something a bit less demanding...also, so you can't say I didn't listen to the other side of the debate...so here's an interview with Richard Dawkins:
This post is inspired by a Jehovah's witness who knocked on our door early this morning... We were slightly busy, so he didn't come in... I think the large Crucifix directly opposite the front door might have scared him off!
Anyway here is what I would have done if he had come in!
There is a knock at the door. I open the door.
Me: Hello!
JW: Hello, I am just giving out some magazines.
Me: Do you want to come in?
JW: Yes please. The JW gives me a magazine, and we go into into the main room.
Me: So, what religion are you?
JW: I am a Jehovah's Witness. What about you?
Me: I'm a Roman Catholic. Anyway, I believe that you use the New Word translation of the bible.
JW: Yes that's right.
Me: So how many Gods do you believe in?
JW: The same as you, one.
Me: Ok then, do you mind if I use the Knox translation of the Bible? You may not have heard of it before, but it was translated single-handedly by a priest in the 1940s, and in my opinion it is one of the best translations. Of course, if you would rather, I could use the older Douay-Rehmis translation or the Latin Vulgate? If my Greek where a lot better, I could use the Greek Septuagint.
JW: Looks a little shocked. The Knox translation will be fine.
Me: Ok, if we could have a little look at chapter 1 verse 1 of Saint John's gospel. We both get our bibles out.
Me: So in the Knox translation, it goes like this: "At the beginning of time the Word already was; and God had the Word abiding with him, and the Word was God." A more traditional translation goes like this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." But I believe that your translation goes like this: "In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." Is that right? JW: Yes that is right. Me: Right then, that is all fine except for the last 6 words, "and the Word was a god." You said yourself that you believe in only 1 God. But here your translation says that Our Lord Jesus is not true God, as he is, but rather a different god. JW: Looks puzzled. Err, well... Me: And also, calling God Jehovah is incorrect. Some scholars made the mistake of inserting the vowels of the word Adonai, used by the Jews to refer to God, between the consonants of the word YHWH, which resulted in the error.
JW: Gets up and makes toward the door. Well I really must be going now. Thank you. Goes out of the door slamming it behind him, and shakes the dust off his shoes as he leaves our drive!!!
At the moment, in England and Wales, we have the awesome privilege of being able to celebrate the great feast of Christ's Ascension into Heaven not once, but Twice!
First, with the Universal Church tomorrow, 40 days after Easter Sunday, and then, out of holy obedience to our Bishops here in Mary's Dowry, on Sunday.
All of this basically means not one, but two Solemn High Masses in the Extraordinary Form at the Birmingham Oratory.And if you've ever wondered what ascending into heaven might feel like, why don't you just come along and find out?!!
7pm Thursday May 9th
10.30am Sunday May12th
At Mass today, Father described the ancient tradition of the minor Rogation days leading up to Ascension Thursday....so mark tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday on your calendars!
As Father so eloquently put it, before the over enthusiastic liturgical pruning that occurred in the 1960s, these days were set aside traditionally to ask God to bless the harvest; a need we have lost sight of in a post industrial world. In the same way that the practice of Friday abstinence was dropped by the majority of Catholics as soon as it was no longer mandatory, so the loss of the Rogation days from the official liturgical calendar led inevitably to them becoming pretty much obsolete.
Yesterday, we travelled to Downside Abbey where an annual Solemn High Mass is celebrated. The relics of St John Roberts in this beautiful Minor Basilica are a powerful reminder that the seeds sown with his martydom have borne great fruit. A Benedictine monk, he established a community at Douai in France, which years later would flee the Revolution to re-establish itself in England, eventually at Downside. In the dark times in which he lived, could he ever have imagined that the harvest would be so great?
The word rogation comes from the Latin rogare....to ask. In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us whatever we ask the Father in his name will be given to us. We might not be able to imagine the harvest God has in mind for each of our lives...the results of our efforts might not be something we ever see, but "those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap". Bishop Fulton Sheen had a great quote about being in the Church when times seemed tough. He said it' s easy to be a Catholic when the culture around is in step with the Church, it's much harder to stand up and be counted when being Catholic goes against the prevailing secular values. He said"even dead bodies can float downstream"..... It's easy to go along when times are not challenging the Faith.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church and it was definitely spring time at Downside yesterday...time to get sowing and use the Rogation days to ask God with fasting and prayer to abundantly bless our harvest.
The Good News is I did bring my camera to take some photos.
The Bad News is that it didn't have a memory card in.
It was great to see some of my readers there, though! But don't worry, anonymity is always guaranteed and standards of personal privacy upheld on this blog Joe!
To those of you who didn't make it, there's always this Friday, same time, same place.
I'll post details nearer the time.
Please try and make it if you can to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour on the Cannock Road this evening for what should be an Extraordinarily beautiful Mass honouring all the Holy Angels.
If you can't make it, remember to send your Guardian Angels.
Adoration, followed by Benediction, begins at 5.30.
There is so much we have to thank God's invisible helpers for, and so many hidden ways in which they guard and guide us each day. Tonight's Holy Mass will be a chance to honour them and join them in adoring and glorifying our Heavenly Father....
And who knows, there might even be some photos.....
Please join in a novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots, asking Our Blessed Mother's Eastertide intervention for problems being encountered in efforts to promote the Extraordinary Form of the Holy Mass.
Please go to Linen on the Hedgerow for more details, the Novena begins today through to April 30 (next Tuesday), here is a copy of the prayer:
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, Mother
who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need, Mother whose
hands never cease to serve your beloved children because they are moved
by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart, cast
your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist
in my life. You know very well how desperate I am, my pain and how I am bound by these knots. Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the
lives of his children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life.
No one, not even the Evil One himself, can take it away from your
precious care. In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone. Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with Your Son
and My Liberator, Jesus, take into your hands today this knot...(please remove the obstacles faced in this project) I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all, You are my hope. O my Lady, you are the only consolation God gives me, the
fortification of my feeble strength, the enrichment of my destitution
and with Christ the freedom from my chains. Hear my plea. Keep me, guide me, protect me, o safe refuge! Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me
Pope Francis has a great devotion to Our Lady under this title and helped spread the devotion in Argentina, having brought back a picture of Our Lady Undoer of Knots from Bavaria when he was a student. He also recently presented Pope Emeritus, Benedict the sixteenth with a chalice on which was engraved an image of Our Lady Undoer of knots...so under this title, Our Lady really is a bridge between our two Holy Fathers. I will be praying for both of them, as well as for Richard's special intention in this Novena.
I think the post title says it all, really.
2 of my friends, servers trained by the awesome Friars of the Immaculate and the Institue of Christ the King in New Brighton are coming to serve,while I,hopefully having remembered to bring my camera, for once, will take some photographs.
Evidence that God is alive and with us even in the darkest parts of the Black Country!
If you can't make it, please send your Guardian Angels.
Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata!
And Thankyou Father Stephen.
(Photos coming soon?.....!)
With all the talk of the poor at the moment, I was thinking how poor we all are in terms of the liturgy not actually belonging to us. I have been looking at an amazing book 'The liturgy and the Angels' by Erik Peterson which helps put things in their proper perspective. Here are some quotes:
'The church is exactly described in a Coptic homily as'the place of consolation and of the assembling of angels. The Church is the place where cherubim and seraphim congregate'.
When St John Chrysostom says that the holy angels are present with Christ during the celebration of the Eucharist, as soldiers accompany their king, he makes clear why they appear at holy Mass. They help to make the public character of the Eucharist obvious. As the emperor, appearing in the company of his bodyguard, manifests publicly his political authority, so Christ, accompanied by his bodyguard of angels, manifests publicly his politico-religious authority. If the angels are present at the singing of the psalter, at the solemnisation of a marriage, or at the election of a bishop, at the renunciation of the Devil during baptism or at the reception of asoul into the heavenly city, this shows every time that the singing of the psalter, contracting of marriage, election of a bishop, baptism or consummation of life, are all public acts-acts of the Church- and not private transactions. This is not a 'publicity' which has been lent in some manner by the state to the Church; but something which has belonged to the Church from the beginning because she acknowledges a Lord who, being a heavenly King, ssesses also a heavenly 'publicity'. And so....the relationship of the ecclesia to the heavenly polis is also a political relationship, and it is for this reason that the angels must continually appear in the liturgical acts of the Church ....The prayer of the earthly as of the heavenly Church is public, the prayer of a polis which subsists as a civic community, not really upon earth, but in heaven.'
'...the mystical life of the Church can only develop in close connection with the liturgy of the Church'
'...the Church is no purely human religious society. The angels and saints in heaven belong to her as well. Seen in this light, the Church's worship is no merely human occasion. The angels and the entire universe take part in it. The songs of the Church are the counterparts of heavenly songs, and, corresponding to the manner of participation in the heavenly song, the spiritual life of the Church is incorporated in that of heaven.'
I don't want to copy out the whole book, and I haven't read it all yet anyway, just to give an idea. Jesus said that the poor would always be with us and it is true and very sad that even in the Church we have such an impoverished understanding of the Holy Catholic Church.
