Honour of serving God

What return shall I make to You for this grace? For it is not given every man to forsake all things, to renounce the world, and undertake the religious life. Is it anything great that I should serve You Whom every creature is bound to serve?

It should not seem much to me; instead it should appear great and wonderful that You condescend to receive into Your service one who is so poor and unworthy. It is a great honour, a great glory to serve You and to despise all things for Your sake. They who give themselves gladly to Your most holy service will possess great grace. They who cast aside all carnal delights for Your love will find the most sweet consolation of the Holy Ghost.

Imitation of Christ III Ch 10

Ave Maris Stella

Ave Maris Stella




Hail thou star of ocean
Portal of the sky,
Ever virgin Mother,
Of the Lord Most High.

O! by Gabriel's Ave,
Uttered long ago,
Eva's name reversing,
Established peace below.

Break the captives' fetters,
Light on blindness pour,
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.



Show thyself a Mother,
Offer Him our sighs,
Who for us incarnate
Did not thee despise.

Virgin of all virgins
To thy shelter take us,
Gentlest of the gentle
Chaste and gentle make us.

Still, as on we journey,
Help our weak endeavor,
Till with thee and Jesus
We rejoice forever.


Through the highest heaven,
To the almighty Three
Father, Son, and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.


-- Posted From Wend's iPod Touch WiFi (4.5Mb/s)
Virgin Media Broadband

West Heath High Mass

We had a lovely evening yesterday at the accommodation of the kind parishioners of St John Fisher Parish in South Birmingham. The Church is actually situated at the beginning of Cofton Rd. At the other end is, you guessed it, Cofton Park; where Pope Benedict will beatify Newman on September 19th. So there is certainly an air of excitement, and Fr Jan Nowotnik who was subdeacon last night, is Deputy Local Liturgy Organiser for the Papal Visit. Bodes well, doesn't it?

Go to my LMS Blog for more info on the occasion.

EF High Mass this Friday!

St John Fisher RC Church
West Heath, Birmingham
Friday, 9th July 2010 at 7pm
(followed by Buffet and blessing of new Garden)

Fr George Grynowski would like to welcome everyone to a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite at his Parish Church in West Heath, South Birmingham, for its Patronal feast (which differs in the old calender and therefore gives his parishioners the chance to celebrate it twice!) From the website:

Dominating the 45 bus terminus at West Heath, Birmingham is the Catholic Church of St. John Fisher. Even though it rises from below road level, the lofty octagonal building is impressive from every angle, even from the nearby Lickey Hills. The predominant feature is a large octagonal dome surmounted by a large bronze cross. This copper dome has now toned to a soft green tint, a pleasing contrast to the honey coloured brickwork. Over the main entrance the large statue of St. John Fisher offers a blessing to all who enter, pass by or are waiting for the bus!

Parish of St. John Fisher, West Heath was founded on 30th September 1956. The first parish priest, Fr. Philip Smith, celebrated Mass at Turves Green School and later at Archbishop Masterson School for Girls. Work on the new church building commenced on 5th March 1962 with Fr. Smith cutting the first sod. The foundation stone was laid by Archbishop Grimshaw on 25th June that year.The church was opened on 31st March 1964 and consecrated by Archbishop Dwyer on 22nd June 1972, the [new rite] feast of St. John Fisher.

I hope you will be able to attend and support this great celebration, but also important initiative: a Traditional Latin Mass in a normal Parish Church, with all ministers being parish priests from the Deanery. This is the 3-year anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, and the Holy Father's wish for the faithful to benefit from the full riches of this Mass. It will be a time of reflection and what better way to show our support for the Pope than by attending this Mass!

Directions to St John Fisher, West Heath
1 Cofton Road,
West Heath
Birmingham
West Midlands
B31 3QT

SsJohnFisher

Urgent Message Latin Masses next week and beyond...

Next week, Tues 29th July, it will be the holy day of obligation St Peter & Paul Feast. Fr George Grynowski will be offering a

Low Mass 1pm
St John Fisher
West Heath


I CAN CONFIRM A MASS AT THE ORATORY @ 11am ! ! Also at back of Church for tickets to the Papal beatification (which Valero says, is "just a Mass and a 1min proclamation that he's going to heaven"!)

Also at the West Heath Catholic Parish on July 9th, their patronal feast will be high Mass celebrated with a new 3 piece red Mass Set, and 3 parish priests all serving the same deanery (Birmingham South) which includes the site of Newman's burial and site of Papal Mass on Sept 19th at 10am in Cofton Park. I hope we get a ticket.


7pm High Mass
1962 Missal
Fr G Grynowski (middle of above photo) celebrates in his parish Church of St John Fisher for it's Patrons;
Ss JOHN FISHER & THOMAS MORE

Cloister Chapel Singers
Missa de Angelis
Credo III
Plainchant propers for Ss John Fisher & Thomas More

Please do support this wonderful parish event. It will be followed by a blessing of a new garden at the Parish, in the traditional Rite, followed by tea wine and refreshments cakes etc.

We are a witness to the Traditional Movement just in attendance, and with the 3 year report of Summorum Pontificum and the Pope's visit coinciding with the anniversary on the 14th. Maybe His Holiness should celebrate a Mass in EF to celebrate!

P.s. Clarification from the Oratory: "Jack Valero is strictly correct about the beatification Mass although
I think the declaration of beatification is timed for about 70 seconds! Strictly speaking, beatification is nothing more than a permission for local or limited cult. It does not, unlike canonisation, make any theological claim that the beatus is, in fact, in heaven. It is not (again, unlike canonisation) an infallible act of the Church. Having JHN beatified does mean a great deal to us, of course! This distinction might seem insignificant, but it is important. For example, it makes it possible to accept the second miracle for canonisation, even though it happened before the beatification. JHN either is in heaven or he isn't, there is no question of more or less! The important thing is that the second miracle took place as a result of the public cult, and that it took place after the Pope's declaration of an intention to beatify. All we have to do is get a dispensation for that public cult because it took place before it had been formally and publicly announced i.e. at a beatification ceremony."

Pope coming to Birmingham!

© Copyright Roger A Smith

The news channels are abuzz with the confirmation that the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman on Sunday September 19th 2010 will be held at Cofton Park near Rednall (the burial site of Newman at the Oratory Retreat House) just south of Birmingham. It seems like an obvious choice with clear historical links to the Oratory Community and Newman himself.

On the way to work this morning the local radio station BBC WM (West Midlands) had picked up on the story that Cofton Park was being considered (it turned out the Archdiocese was just waiting for the final decision to be made by Birmingham City Council before announcing it). Listeners were ringing in, with some complaining that the tax payers shouldn't have to foot the bill for such an event. I was able to ring in and point out that it is not part of the State Visit, and therefore funded entirely by the Catholic Church and the donations from the Faithful. I didn't expect to be asked a question involving the 'paedophile controversy' and tried to avoid it!

Gravesite at Rednal

Then on the way home from work BBC WM had Peter Jennings on the line, who is the spokesman for the Archdiocese, who explained that the venue is smaller than Coventry Airport, accommodating about 70,000 people rather than nearly 200,000. This point I think should not take precedence when we are considering the dignity of the Mass and the event itself of a Beatification ceremony, not a concert. According to Jennings the Vatican had a delegation who looked around Cofton Park yesterday afternoon, and promptly asked the council permission to have the Beatification here. I know that some will express horror that all the money and planning that went into the Coventry Airport venue was wasted, but Jennings expressed the hope that Coventry council will provide their planning framework to Birmingham so that things aren't starting from scratch.

Peter Jennings also went on to say that the Vatican will be officially announcing the Pope's Itinerary on July 5th. Anna Arco on her blog has even suggested the Pope wants to make a private visit to Birmingham Oratory to see Newman's rooms. What an exciting turn of events, and how nice to see the Oratory in a positive light after all the negative media attention in recent weeks.

Bl John Henry Newman, Priest

The Congregation for Divine Worship has published the text for the Divine Office of the prospective Bl John Henry Newman, Priest of the Birmingham Oratory. More info, with the complete text in Latin and English, has been published on the site for the Holy Name of Jesus (I'm not sure of the original source). The Feast Day will be October 9th, the date when Newman was received into the Church by Bl Dominic Barbari at Littlemore in 1845.

Let us Pray:
O God, who bestowed on the Priest John Henry Newman
the grace to follow your kindly light
and find peace in your Church;
graciously grant that,
through his intercession and example,
we may be led out of shadows and images
into the fulness of your truth.
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
Amen

Sacred Heart Rebuff

Where were we? The Sacred Heart. A Protestant reader once asked me to explain this devotion, which may be seen as a novelty, and in particular what it means to 'make reparation' to it.

I have never got around to answering this, mea culpa, but as often happens in life, someone else I found has gone to the trouble. H/T Roman Christendom

Hipstamatic Day 2

Relaxin on the Beeeeach!

Hipstamatic iPhone

I just love the iPhone App Hipstamatic. It is an emulator which turns your simple 1MPix cameraphone into an 80s Hipstamatic 100 camera. I barely remember the original format, but love the way you can recompense for the iPhone's poor quality digital camera, and turn it into a classic piece of stylish analogue equipment!

Lens: Kaimal Mark II
Film: BlacKeys Ultrachrome B&W
Flash: Off