Pentecost

Consolátor óptime, Dulcis hospes ánimae, Dulce refrigérium

O Thou of comforters the best, O Thou the soul's delightful guest, The pilgrim's sweet relief.

We have been settling into our new house in an incredibly disruptive but exciting month of April. Now it is May, the wonderful month of Our Lady (and my birthday) and the sun has come out!

I'm afraid I simply haven't had the energy to post much recently. I feel incredibly edified by this Easter season, even though I felt a bit stuck in Lent for the first part... unfortunately despite such wonderful inspiration from the feasts of Ascension and now Pentecost, I feel unable to muster the brain power necessary to commit my thoughts to a decent post. I am sorry, and am sure that in a little while I will have the necessary energy to share some juicy Catholic titbits...

In the meantime perhaps you will enjoy some photos from today. On the left, Maddy is admiring two beautiful statues that a friend from church gave us. I will have to erect a couple of special shelves to accommodate them!

Everyone warned me that "moving house is the most stressful thing you will ever do!" But I'm afraid I didn't take these warnings very seriously, especially as they were in a similar vein to the warnings I received about marriage, having children, starting job etc etc, all which I have found wonderful and joyous! Now, of course, I have to agree that moving house really is a complete drag. Still, it was worth it, and we are sure to have many happy and wonderful years in our new home. In fact, we plan never to move house again!

The Oratory is truly looking splendid at this time of year. There are large red banners hanging down, all the candles blazing, reliquaries on the high altar, St Philip Neri tapestries (left) hanging inside and out... All in preparation for the feast of St Philip as well, of course. It is lovely to have his feast so close to Pentecost because he is an excellent example of the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life.

Also coming up everyday this week (Monday-Friday) are 8.30am Low Masses in the Extraordinary Form (1962, Tridentine) for the octave of Pentecost. And of course the traditional Roman feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday 22nd May, 8pm Solemn High Mass and Procession in the Extraordinary Form as well. This month certainly is crammed full of spiritual excitement at the Birmingham Oratory!