Low Mass for Trinity Sunday

Since the choir was all either absent or sick (as I am, with a cold), we had no sung Mass today, alas; on the positive side, the 9.15 am Mass only took 45 minutes including hymns at start and end, and Leonine prayers, which was good, especially for Fr Rowe, who's hurt his foot and was limping.

I did miss singing the glorious Introit for the feast, which I first learnt from my dear old choirmaster, Bede Dunne, back in Hobart when I was part of the Gregorian schola there in the mid-1990's:



It has always interested me how the Introit, Offertory and Communion today are all based on Tobit xii, 6 - reiterating the glorious truth that God the Trinity loves us and hath wrought for us mercy:

Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas atque indivisa Unitas: confitebimur ei, quia fecit nobiscum misericordiam suam.

Benedictus sit Deus Pater, unigenitusque Dei Filius, Sanctus quoque Spiritus: quia fecit nobiscum misericordiam suam.

Benedicimus Deum cæli, et coram omnibus viventibus confitebimur ei, quia fecit nobiscum misericordiam suam.

(It is unsurprising that the Gradual and Alleluia are likewise from the Canticle of the Three Youths in Daniel iii.)

The Trinity Preface, said or sung, is always marvellous, and I have many green Sundays coming on which to enjoy it...

On an Eastern note, I took with me to Mass my copy of The [Byzantine] Divine Liturgy Explained, to pray its fine prayers after Communion, and as ever I savoured therein one of my favourite lines, a doxology from one of those prayers:

Σὺ γὰρ εἶ τὸ ὄντως ἐφετόν, καὶ ἀνέκφραστος εὐφροσύνη τῶν ἀγαπώντων σε, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ σὲ ὑμνεῖ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

(For Thou art the One truly sought for, and the unutterable gladness of those that love Thee, Christ our God, and Thee the whole creation hymneth unto the ages. Amen.)

After the 11.15 am Mass and necessary packing up, I chaffeured Fr, as agreed, since he needed someone to drive him down to Mandurah in his own car, to give him a chance to have a nap on the way. It took just over 45 minutes, and when we got there I dropped Fr off to take communion to a shut-in (giving me a chance to finish Matins almost, which BTW has fine readings from SS Fulgentius and Gregory Nazianzen). We then drove over to Gerard's house, where a roast beef lunch was waiting for us - on the way, Fr finished off Matins for me with its Te Deum and collect. That, apart from the Divine Mercy chaplet, was as much prayer as we managed to fit in!

Fr Rowe was to drive on to Bunbury for the 6 pm Mass there, but Gerard instead took me to the train station, where I caught the 3.07 train to Perth. It took just under an hour, and gave me a chance to say Lauds and the Little Hours (Athanasian Creed at Prime, yay!), plus get in a little reading of my own.

Now I'm off to visit a relative of mine...

Roadtrip! - Part III

I started back from Bunbury, chauffeuring a priest carrying the Bl Sacrament...

After driving hard, and saying a Rosary, plus listening to the 3rd Lesson of Matins and praying the ensuing Te Deum, all the while by these and other unspoken prayers trying to keep recollected and prayerful in presence of the Sanctissimum Fr was carrying on his person, we reached Mandurah at half-past one, and Fr brought the Sacrament to the shut-in that he visits there. It was good to waste a little time, watching a cat wandering about the adjoining units and admiring the gardens.

The weather, since my return West, has been refreshingly cool, with sunshine between occasional showers, just how I like it.

Anyhow, after the visit, Fr and I then stopped off for a late sandwich and cuppa at Gerald's house, together with two of Fr's far-flung parishioners who happened by. It was about three o'clock by the time we drove on via Pinjarra and the SW Hwy, going back the way we came.

Just before 4pm, we stopped off at the Schoenstatt Shrine to pay a visit. Fr caught up on his Breviary, and I prayed my Novena prayers for what turned out to be the 10th day! So that makes a fitting end to my petition to Our Lady, who is venerated so specially at that quiet peaceful prayerful shrine. We then followed the Albany Hwy into Perth, and I deposited Fr Rowe at the Pro-Cathedral at about 5.20pm, leaving him there to set up for his 6.30pm Mass. After quietly praying the Litany of St Philip Neri and Vespers in the church, I finally turned for home.

My housemates and I have just had dinner, and I think it's time to turn in for the night. A very good but tiring addendum to my holiday this overnight foray has been.

P.S. This was my fourth such ferrying of Fr Rowe back and forth to Bunbury; I first did this in late October and late November 2007, before I began blogging, and before Fr had the Kelmscott Mass.