Travel Journal: 9th January

Again, I just wanted to sleep in... I eventually headed downstairs to breakfast, and then off (via a rather expensive taxi) to Mass at Mother of Perpetual Succour Catholic Oratory, for the Feast of the Holy Family (which I have thus kept twice, whereas I missed the Epiphany entirely this year).  

Low Mass was offered up by the famous, redoubtable Fr Rizzo, F.S.S.P., who is manning the Christchurch Latin Mass scene until the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer finally get their new men ordained and then send one out here (Fr Marshall having decided to join the Latin Mass apostolate in Melbourne).

As I recall has long been his practice, while Fr arranged the veiled chalice on the altar and went to open the missal before beginning Mass, he briefly instructed us as to the significance of this feast.  There were two servers, the usual notices, together with the Epistle and Gospel in English, read out before the sermon, and the Third Confiteor – thanks be, since I am used to this from Fr Rowe's Masses in Perth, and tend to say it secretly to myself out of habit if it is omitted, as it is in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney.  

After Mass, there were the Leonine Prayers, then a special blessing of families from the Ritual, together with an aspersion with Epiphany water – for this, the ciborium was brought forth from the tabernacle, so the blessing was coram Sanctissimo, made more solemn by being before the Sacrament simply exposed – and thirdly the "Hail Queen of heaven" heartily sung out for a recessional.

Finally, after a brief retreat to the sacristy, Fr Rizzo returned to bless an engaged couple, using the approved formula from the Ritual.  All this took just an hour.

Worship done, I was glad to meet some of the parishioners, and renew my acquaintance with others: several recognized me from the Christus Rex Pilgrimage.  Fr Rizzo was personable as ever.  We all had a cup of tea and some cake in the adjoining house, and then I was invited to visit some live Kiwis...

Chris and Nancy, plus several of their children (Greg, Ruth and Hannah) very kindly took me back to their home at Rangiora, about 30 km outside of Christchurch, for lunch, and I ended up spending a very happy afternoon with them and several other visitors, including Br Paul, F.Ss.R., and Daniel, who's about to return to Ezechiel House in Sydney to complete his first year of studies with the F.S.S.P., ere he go to the U.S.A. for the remaining six years of seminary training.

Br Paul kindly dropped me off at my hotel at about six o'clock, and before dinner I took a long walk around the local Botanic Gardens.  Another beaut day.

Relics of St Philip Neri

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer have given a glimpse of their Roman pilgrimage, including visiting the Chiesa Nuova, and venerating the relics of St Philip Neri...

Have a good look at these images.  I hope to behold them with my own eyes, come September.

Psallite Sapienter in Christchurch

Fr Clement was kind enough to thank me for singing at his Pentecost Missa cantata this morning, referring to the motto of this blog: "Sing wisely".   I replied that I was sorry to have instead inflicted a dose of psallite insaniter upon the congregation - for, apart from a very competent organist, I alone was the choir this morning! For the record, I psalm-toned the propers (more or less) a capella, sang the Sequence, the Missa de Angelis and Credo III all accompanied on the organ (the people, about 30 being present, joining in), and beforehand we had the Pentecost Vesper hymn Veni Creator, while at the Offertory I sang the Ave maris stella and Regina caeli, and for Communion the Adoro te and the Ave verum (the last being accompanied). For a recessional there was a very nice setting of the Veni Creator in English, but one wholly unknown to me.  (I should add that Br Paul, Fr Clement's fellow Son of the Most Holy Redeemer, was the M.C. at the Mass.)

Fr's preaching was very clear and very helpful, starting from the observation that in the Old Testament the Feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt Sinai. But the Old Law, being a list of rules without the grace to keep them, was a ministry of death as the Apostle says; for the law came by Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ (St John i). It was for Christ to establish the New Law, written in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Who gives us the grace to keep the commandments with love, not with servile fear as of old. Hence Augustine could boldly say, Ama, et fac quod vis - "Love, and do what you will": because if we truly love God then we will only ever freely choose to do good, virtuous things. 

To serve the Lord out of fear alone may seem a secure way, but in fact it is very insecure, and oft leads to slips into sin and finally hypocrisy: for we did not receive a Spirit of timidity, as St Paul says, and to turn from love to fear is to lapse into Old Testament ways, when things were tough and even cruel. Fr Clement very importantly noted that such a lapse into Old Testament law-keeping in fear is probably the spiritual reason behind such terrible abuses of children as have been revealed to have taken place in Ireland in the early to mid-twentieth century: the fault was not liberalism or moralism (they didn't even have the dialogue Mass then, after all!) but what would be termed rigorism and Jansenism, issuing in cruelty and hypocrisy that covered up shameful deeds completely at odds with the sweet yoke and light burden of Jesus Christ.

F.Ss.R in Christchurch

Wasting time over breakfast &c. nearly led me to be late for Mass, but in the event my map-reading bore fruit, and I arrived right on the stroke of 10 am at the Oratory of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Rutland Street, St Albans. (I later learnt the amusing coincidence from the celebrant that he had been a member of the Plymouth Brethren prior to his conversion, and that the present chapel used to belong to the same sect.) The congregation of about 25 were singing "O purest of creatures" as an entrance hymn; Low Mass with two servers followed.

Fr Clement Mary, F.Ss.R., is a Scotsman, and read Mass with excellent diction and pronunciation, since his accent better fits the continental vowels - I hope one day to hear Mark, the Scots blogger now soon to join the F.S.S.P., likewise praying at God's altar. It was not a dialogue Mass (the servers alone responded); before preaching, Fr read the Epistle and Gospel in English (for the Epistle and Sermon, he wore a biretta, having laid aside the maniple as usual, and read the Gospel bareheaded; before the sermon, we all said a Hail Mary); there was a Third Confiteor; and the Leonine Prayers were read kneeling after Mass. The final hymn was the Redemptorist favourite, "Mary from thy sacred image" - a fine old Dutch copy of the Icon of Perpetual Succour hung as an altarpiece.

Mass, as I had surmised, was of the Sunday after Ascension; it was noteworthy how to-day's Epistle is full of the best advice on the moral life (Luther rudely noted that "whoever arranged the readings from the Epistles was 'a friend of works'"), and very neatly divides up into the Little Chapters to be read at Terce, Sext and None this day.

The sermon itself reminded me in the best way of Fr Rowe's clear doctrinal preaching, adducing many useful examples from the saints: as the Dove of the Holy Ghost visibly appearing at the ear of Popes St Gregory the Great and Gregory VII, indicating their gracing with the Gift of Wisdom; and the illapse of the Spirit's ball of fire into the heart of St Philip Neri, permanently expanding his heart, fulfilling beyond measure his fervent prayers to be made a fit instrument of the Holy Ghost, to the extent that he trembled with joy and Divine love, needing to beg God to abate His consolations, lest he die. We ought have the greatest of devotion to the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, Equal to the Father and the Son: if we be in the state of grace, Love dwells in our souls, is the Soul of our soul, and thus (as St Teresa of Avila avers) we have no reason to seek after transient things and vain, seeing as nothing outside can compare with our heart's Treasure: we each of us are, like St Ignatius of Antioch, to be surnamed Theophorus, "God-bearer" - hence, grieve not the Spirit! He it is Who perfects our knowledge and love of Christ, and is the Sanctifier and Lifegiver. Thus the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles prayed, and only when He came was the work of saving souls made active and fruitful: all had been prepared by Our Lord, but it was expedient that He return to heaven, that the Holy Ghost come and fulfil all things.

Fr Clement was very pleasant to speak with at the parish cup of tea afterward, and explained that, several of their singers being away, it would be appreciated if I bolstered the choir for their sung Mass for Pentecost! (The Propers will be recto tono, it seems; but he wants me to sing the Sequence; the Ordinary will be good ol' de Angelis and I expect Credo III.) Veni, Sancte Spiritus! As Pentecost is very dear to me, this is a wonderful thing to be asked to assist in.

Confession

After work, it was good to stop off at the Redemptorist Monastery, say the penitential prayer of St Simeon Metaphrastes, and make my humble confession; and afterward to pray the Little Hours and Vespers in their church.  It struck me that the collect of to-day, the feast of St Callistus I, Pope and Martyr, was highly appropriate, as I repeated it at Terce, Sext, None and Vespers:

Deus, qui nos conspicis ex nostra infirmitate deficere: ad amorem tuum nos misericorditer per sanctorum tuorum exempla restaura.  Per...

God, Who seest us (by reason of our infirmity) to fall and fail, to Thy love mercifully (by the example of Thy saints) restore us.  Through...

Yes, it is through the One Mediator, the Saint of Saints, Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord, that God our Lord restores us to supernatural life when we fall from His grace and fail; but, since the Divine Will delights in working through secondary causes, it is by the example of the righteous made perfect, those saved by Christ who have gone before us, that we are moved to repentance and to hope and to cooperation with grace.  May St Callistus be praised and blessed, for this holy Pope and courageous martyr gives us cause, by his triumphant witness to his Divine Master and ours, to trust that we too shall run the great race, finish the course, keep the faith, and win the prize of victory laid up for us in heaven (cf. II Tim. iv, 7) through Christ our Lord.

Blessed be St Alphonsus, too, for giving us his Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer - and now too the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.  I might even visit Christchurch sometime...

What a Beaut and Catholic Custom

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer have just held a triduum in honour of Our Lady's Assumption - or, rather, of her death, repose in the tomb, and subsequent taking up into heaven - in accordance with the Redemptorist traditions and the teachings of St Alphonsus: all of which, coming from southern Italy, seem redolent of Greek influences.  The Eastern term Pascha of the Theotokos comes irresistibly to mind!  

On the 13th, they erected a magnificent and festive catafalque in their chapel, complete with statue of Our Lady "fallen asleep in the Lord" (cf. the Epitaphion of the Theotokos), gathered about her in imitation of the Apostles, and had Mass in honour of Our Lady Refuge of Sinners; on the 14th, they meditated on her repose in the tomb, and celebrated the Vigil Mass of the Assumption (in violet vestments, of course), followed by Benediction; and on the triumphant 15th, her image removed from the catafalque now dressed with countless flowers, they celebrated her bodily resurrection and passage into heavenly glory with a splendid High Mass.  

I had read that like triduums of Masses had been held of old in some places in Italy, but never realized that these wonderful and very Eastern customs are still kept up.  All praise to these zealous religious!