Saturday 22 December 2012

Bid Thou our sad divisions cease

In these final days before we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, Holy Church provides us with the Great 'O' Antiphons at vespers with which to recall and meditate upon the mystery of the coming of the Christ. Those who follow us on Facebook will have been listening to Charpentier's setting of these wonderful verses.



This evening we give praise to the Lord Who is King of the Gentiles.
Veni, Veni, Rex gentium,
veni, Redemptor omnium,
Ut salvas tuos famulos
Peccati sibi conscios.
In John Mason Neale's English adaptation of this verse, we make a solemn prayer for unity and for the coming of the Kingdom on Earth.
O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
 How appropriate this petition is for the Ordinariate which, formed in the heart of the Holy Father as in the Sacred Heart of Christ Himself, proclaims at one and the same time the command of unity and peace, but also that such unity must have as its source obedience to the "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace".


Let us pray, therefore, with great urgency in these final days of expectation for the coming of His Kingdom which shall know no end, that we may not indulge our laziness and apprehension in proclaiming the truth that Christ teaches us through His Church, rather becoming bold in this Year of Faith to hold fast to that which we have received.

We include a recording below from the Paderborn Cathedral Choir singing Veni, Veni Emmanuel. Let it never be said we do not appreciate the universality of the Church and seek only our own small corner. Do enjoy the German Latin. 


Thursday 20 December 2012

Grinding at the mill



Just in case the world does end tomorrow (yes, we know what Our Lord taught in Matthew 24:36) here’s something to celebrate the Parousia with.



Thursday 13 December 2012

Venite adoremus Dominum

The anniversary of the foundation of Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is near at hand and we bring to your attention the Festival of Carols being organised by the Friends of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in celebration of that anniversary. We hope to see many of our readers there as we give thanks to the Lord for the continuing witness of the Ordinariate to the world this coming Epiphanytide as we celebrate the revelation of the Lord to the Gentiles.



Wednesday 12 December 2012

Last things first


We have been somewhat remiss here in W1 – a number of weeks have passed since our last post and, in the meantime, we have celebrated the universal kingship of the Lord, and now find ourselves immersed in the penitential, yet hope-exuding, purple of Advent. In the wider world the Government continues on a damnable course towards mindless deification by taking upon itself the authority to redefine nature in the pursuit of 'equal marriage'. The established church has further mired itself in irrelevance by continuing to bar women from promotion to its upper ranks and the unconfirmed from administering the communion.


And yet, Christ remains King of kings and Lord of lords – it is more important than ever not to forget this. As Catholics, we place at the heart of our faith submission to the will of the Servant King, not least because He will come again to judge the quick and the dead, but out of love for Him who died for our salvation. The readings at Mass these past two Sundays and the Rector's sermons have focussed our minds on this judgment and the immediacy of the need to reconcile ourselves to the Lord and His paths and to turn away from our misdeeds.
This coming Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, brings a mid-way refreshment to our Advent preparations. But it is also a call to re-orientate ourselves to the Rising Sun Who comes at Christmas. As Catholics we have the most sublime means by which to answer this call in the confessional, through which God the Father of mercies reconciles us to Himself. This weekend provides a great opportunity to make use of this grace. And if you are not yet part of Holy Mother Church, see what you are missing out on.