He Appeared to Simon

In today's Gospel the disciples return from Emmaus to Jerusalem to tell of their encounter with the risen Lord, they are told he has appeared to Simon, and he appears again.
Part of the Easterday Papal Liturgy is the opening of the icon of the Saviour before the Pope. The role of the Pope is the witness to the Risen Christ, pray for him that he might strengthen the brethren.

Another of Petar Zrinjski's videos.  

Reform!

The report of the paedophile scandals are certainly being heavily massaged by the media but they are real scandals, they point to the filth that is in the Church. One of the biggest pieces of filth are sins of Marcial Maciel Degollado. Jason Berry piece on how far this corruption reached truly is shocking.
I suspect that neither the New York nor London Times will push Berry's arguement because Pope Benedict is obviously the broom that has swept this piece of filth out of the Church.
Father Tim has a very good post on this story, in which he reminds us that the corruption of the Borgias is still present in the God's Church.

The Church is in constant need of reform, Pope Benedict is the great reformer. As a priest it strikes me that reforming the clergy is crucial. Priests and Bishops must become Christ's men, the reform of the liturgy is central to the reform of the clergy. I don't think we priests are bad, most are pretty saintly, but I think as we have seen in the Irish scandals Bishops (and priests) seem more concerned about protecting the institution they have created rather than the proclaiming Christ. The great problem with Liberalism is that it is so Churchy, it sees the Church in sociological terms, at best; at worst, as in the case of Maciel, it becomes a power base, in both cases it is Christless Church, where the priest really preaches himself. Ultimately it is a dethroning of God, violation of the First Commandment: "Nuestro Padre", the Legionaries called Maciel and he encouraged it, is the worst example but it is pretty bad when Father invents his own doctrines and liturgies.

Christ has to be everything to a priest, serving Christ has to be central, bringing men and women to Christ has to be our very life, our nourishment, our oxygen. The Year for Priests has focussed on deepening priestly spirituality but it is the Liturgy that is crucial in the Benedictine reform. From a correct understanding of the Liturgy springs orthodoxy and asceticism.

I think we are beginning to see a secular led Reform in the Church. I am quite sure some of the attacks are almost Satanic but through it God is calling for exactly what the Pope is working for: a reform of the Liturgy and of the priesthood and of the whole Church. God hates hypocrisy as much as the NYT and the secular media feign to do so, but it is the Pope's reforms that will eventually bring about the change.

God Bless Our Pope!

Freedom has replaced slavery

The unimaginable has happened, that which is only perceivable by Faith: Life has Triumphed over Death, Weakness has conquered Strength, Love is victor over Hatred.
The Resurrection has changed everything, the whole world is different, mankind is changed, the material world has changed. Nothing is the same or ever can be the same!
Obedience to God has supplanted disobedience, self-sacrifice crushes self-centredness. The old man is replaced by the new.
Grace has crushed selfishness. The prison of original sin has been destroyed Man is free of his selfish gene, able to live for others. Freedom has replaced slavery.

p.s. I hope you are still partying out there!

PSHE Clause Scrapped!

In the first bit of horse trading in the lead up to the Gemeral Election, the Government have agreed to delete their clauses on Personal, Social Health and Economic education (PSHE) contained in their Children, Schools and Families Bill.

see John Smeaton
I can't help thinking that whilst we on the blogosphere expressed anxiety about this, it was an issue that our bishops were remarkably cool about. One can only surmise that they knew this would happen, which most probably says a lot for their political acumen, yet unfortunately it will leave the Church open to charges by her critics that strings have been pulled behind the scenes.

Baroque Easter Joy!

Rigati

Lully
Graziani

Rocco Buttiglione on the Today Programme

Professor Rocco Buttiglione, president of the Italian Christian Democratic Party did his best to speak on the Today Programme, it was met in typical BBC style, listen here.
Signor Buttiglione may well have read this article by Massimo Introvigne.

Christus Resurrexit Sicut Dixit, Alleluia

A BLESSED AND HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL

Rain forced us to have the pascal fire on the church steps, at the second Lumen Christi the candle went out so we had to go back to the fire to relight it.

I know it is not strictly rubrical but here we keep the electric lights off until the offertory, call me an old reactionary, but I don't consider "the electricity"liturgical. So the Exultet, the readings are done in the light that has come from the Paschal Candle. At the Gloria the Big Six are lit and the candles are lit on the altars.
I didn't quitye know what to do now we have moved the font back to the rear of the church. We processed down to baptistry, I invited the faithful to follow on so they where gathered around, the font was blessed and we renewed our baptismal promises there and I threw vast quantities of baptismal everywhere and processed around the church sprinkling everyone more or less individually during the Vidi Aquam.

The choir was on good form, we decided to sing the graduals in place of the responsorial psalms, which worked well. They are getting really quite good at chant.

Despite it being a wet and foul night, again the numbers were noticeably up on previous years. I'll be interested hear about the rest of the world, I had a few emails from different parts of Ireland, who said the church's were unusually full this year