Good Friday morning, got up very early and decided to have a walk around the Park for the first time in many, many months (I hate the crowds). A guy with a large Pitt Bull had it off the lead alarming me (my dogs fight to the death as do Pit Bulls which is why I keep them on harness's all the time.) The young guy with the dog opined that his dog 'Could hold his own with mine in a fight', which drove me cray and I said so. Asked a passing Park Ranger about him having his dog off the lead but the guy was scared of the screaming foul mouthed young guy threatening to attack me and hurling curses and so drove on. Walked on listening to the abuse and threats feeling sad, bad start to Good Friday.' Felt deflated, could I not have handled things better? Stopped further up the park, praying for the young guy when he suddenly caught up with me. He humbly apologised several times to me profusely admitting he was in the wrong. I apologised several times too and admitted I too had lost me temper. All was well. I thought to myself what a wonderful start to the Season , the workings of grace! But I am not altogether sure if it was all grace. He mentioned that I was a very hard man with a reputation to fear...his father had been with him and I think warned him not to tangle with me. Hence the apologies. So perhaps a little bit of the Fear of God and a considerable amount of the Fear of Man. Namely me. Anyway all's well that ends well. It put me in a good mood for the day.
Got to Confession at midday. Waited and hour and a half to get in. Huge queque. Church unheated, tired cold. One person took half an hour in the box. Much grinding of teeth and thoughts of fleeing the scene. But I thought with an Easter Duty it may have been some great sinner away for years, so this calmed me a lot. The Father gave me the Stations of the Cross for Penance. The first time in my life given such a Penance. More grinding of teeth and rolling of eyes, for I had already been nearly two hours in that cold Church. Took to the internet to do the stations very grudgingly on my Smart Phone, for I have not done them in many many years. Ended up enjoying them hugely and loving it all to bits. The long wait and Penance were well, well worth it. Resolve do do the Stations regularly from now on as I took to it all like a duck to water. Big, big fan.
Back to Church after taking the dog a walk for half an hour. Church packed to the Rafters.. Slightly scared, I had already spent a very long time in Church and was not looking forward to another long, long stay. I checked my Missal, the Traditional Rite for 3pm looked like it might go on to mid night, pages and pages of it! Ended up loving every single Holy Minute of it Best Good Friday ever! The best things have a price tag, but the price tag in this case was well, well worth paying.
It was surprising to see there was no evidence of the required social distancing among those in the line of view, I don't know if they all wore masks. On the face of it, they should have tried to comply with the rules requested for attendance to avoid a big disappointment, like the police turning up and clearing out the Church. They will likely get off with a caution, but the Church will be on the police radar from now on. Only God knows how long this interference with our essential spiritual practises will go on. It is so disheartening.
Am I right in thinking that this was not Good Friday? On Good Friday in the Roman rite all the altars are stripped, no flowers. Was this really Good Friday? Not that it makes a difference. People were prohibited from worshiping.
On Holy Thursday our Priest in his homily asked for prayers for him and all Priests formerly of our Parish. This Priest is not well received in our Parish because he is from India and hard to understand . . .picture an Indian dialect with thick southern accent. So he had a bit of a pity party going on, telling us he wasn't appreciated or thanked etc. I felt so bad for him thinking he is just a human being like the rest of us . . .Priests have feelings, too. And he lost his Mom last year so he is probably very lonesome. So I went shopping yesterday and got him an Easter basket and filled it with goodies and a card . . .I will take it to Easter Vigil tonight and put in his room. I wonder, do others give their Priests baskets or cards? I never have done that but will make it a point from now on. I have been remiss in that. I know the covid has been a heavy cross for them, too.
Hi HH The video comes from a post on Sancta Familia facebook. Interesting comments some of which reflect Julia’s views.
A Happy and Blessed Easter. Somehow I thought the Vigil started at 9pm but go up and it had started at 7. Still got Communion. Maybe the Good Lord thought I needed the sleep. Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
Leaving for the Vigil in two hours! Singing in the choir tonight and again tomorrow a.m. I'm excited!
I think that it was Good Friday. There were no flowers on the altar. All the flowers were at the crucifix. Perhaps it's a Polish custom to have flowers at the veneration of the cross. I noticed a bunch of flowers (red roses) at the foot of the cross in the Good Friday ceremony that I watched online here. There's Mass in Polish in that church every Sunday. What stood out for me in the London video was seeing all those young people genuflect. Perhaps the Blessed Sacrament was in the tabernacle but even if it wasn't, it was nice seeing such reverence especially in young people.
What a thoughtful gesture. I'm sure the priest will be thrilled. If parishioners want priests who look and sound like them, the solution is to Foster vocations among their own children. My heart goes out to priests from abroad who are really foreign missionaries to us. Far from home, communicating in a foreign language to an ungrateful flock, they need extra Grace from God to persevere.
