Everyone in the parish is exhausted after the inaugural Mass of 150th Anniversary. I was so delighted that everyone worked their socks of getting everything ready.
The music really was excellent, the church was full with people standing at the back, and the party afterwards was great fun.
I was so pleased that we chose the Extraordinary Form of Mass to begin a campaign of evangelisation, we had a few atheists, at least two Muslims, a number of Orthodox, quite a few Anglicans, especially amongst the singers and not a few agnostics and even blog readers as well as parishioners. It meant that people could come on their own level and still encounter God, even if it was just on the level of "God is beauty" and yes the music last night was extraordinarily beautiful. Some of the cavernous Brighton Anglican Church's might might put on Schubert regularly and do chant, probably not as competantly as us, when we do it well, but in the music last night in the intimacy of our church it was exquisite, the new Tom Bennett piece, that was truly special, difficult for some people but it worked so well in the EF - more on that later.
As people left they said things like, "Beautiful", "Moving", "Magnificent", "Thank you" (lots of those), several people said they wept because of the beauty.
I thought the good thing was it all hapened within 90 minutes!
At the moment we are waiting for picturess and sound to be processed.
7 comments:
Congratulations...! And well done for organising such a wonderful and beautiful liturgy for your parish's 150th celebrations!
I had planned to try and get to the Mass, but was too ill to travel... But I did offer some prayers for your intentions and for your parish.
I hope to visit one day, it looks like such a beautiful church and warm and vibrant parish.
God bless,
Dylan
Congratulations, Father. A real tour de force. I very much look forward to hearing all about it.
Father,
I am so pleased that the celebration was such a success. It sounds as though you all made a lasting impression on the wider community. May this continue to be so.
It was indeed beautiful, Fr. The EF Mass, together with the music, was a sort of profound catechesis and antidote to the 'banality' of everyday life that always seems to threaten belief in the Faith we share.
Without wanting to 'single out' any aspect of the Mass, I think Fr. Tim's homily was striking and well-received, particularly where he spoke of the holiness and sanctity of Holy Mother Church through the working of the Holy Ghost.
I think the Faith is often a very 'inarticulate' thing: difficult to ever 'put into words' or grasp. We have the Creeds of course and very clear expositions of what we as Catholics believe and profess but there is always that sense of our own human minds (and frailty) not fully comprehending the 'ineffable mysteries' of the Faith (e.g. who can ever truly grasp the incredible truth that Our Lady was Assumed into Heavenly glory - which presumably was similar to Enoch being 'translated' into Heaven?)
The Mass and the music offer us, I think, 'windows' into these truths where often words can fail.
God Bless you Fr and your (rather heroic!) commitment to the beauty of the Mass in the EF form: may it convert many to Holy Catholic Truth and sustain us in our lives towards final beatitude in God.
"...It meant that people could come on their own level..."
The Tridentine Mass makes Catholics.
Come as you are, leave as God wishes you to be.
*
And not a girl in sight!! Presume they'l be balt to take part in another celebration Mass sometime. Liz.
Sorry I missed it. By coincidence our parish in Göteborg also celebrates its 150th later in the year. I think there is something exciting planned too.
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