Thirty Years in the Church of Rome

Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Today being Pentecost Sunday, I will drive down to Hobart and M.C. the Missa cantata at Sacred Heart. Today being Pentecost Sunday, I mark the thirtieth anniversary of my Baptism, Confirmation and first Communion on this same beloved feast in 1987, albeit that Pentecost fell on the 7th of June that year (I keep the anniversary on the feast itself, but will also celebrate on Whit Wednesday of this week, being the exact date). In all but a few words, I repeat what I wrote last year: while I have very little to show for thirty years as a Catholic Christian, that is because of my sins and backsliding; but grace is greater than all, so I must give all glory to God for having blessed me so abundantly with the grace of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus our Lord. Te Deum laudamus!

Ninth Anniversary

I began this blog (which hasn't been kept up very often for a long time now) nine years ago, on the feast of that great monastic saint, Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified (Ὅσιος Σάββας ὁ Ἡγιασμένος), to whom I have since learnt is attributed the Typicon or set of directions for the liturgical rites of the Byzantine Liturgy – how appropriate for unworthy me, who often acts as M.C., directs a choir, prays the Office, etc. I was delighted to find his commemoration among the texts of the EF Mass today. May anything of good blogged here be attributed to Divine Providence through his intercession; may all the bad be forgiven me by the Lord at his prayers.

I was recently privileged to serve Mass for Fr Pius, who has recently moved to Tasmania to found a traditional Benedictine monastery with the blessing of our beloved Archbishop; to this end, I turn in prayer to St Sabbas, himself a great founder of monasteries, in the words of another famous monastic founder, Abbot Guéranger, from his masterwork The Liturgical Year (Vol. I, p. 337):

O Sabas, “thou man of desires” (Dan. x, 11)! in thy expectation of that Lord, who has bid His servants watch until He come (cf. Matt. xxiv. 42), thou didst withdraw into the desert, fearing lest the turmoil of the world might distract thy mind from its God. Have pity on us who are living in the world, and are so occupied in the affairs of that world, and yet who have received the commandment, which thou didst so take to heart, of keeping ourselves in readiness for the coming of our Saviour and our Judge. Pray for us, that when He comes we may be worthy to go out to meet Him (cf. Matt. xxv, 6). Remember also the monastic state, of which thou art one of the brightest ornaments; raise it up again from its ruins; let its children be men of prayer and faith, as of old; let thy spirit be among them, and the Church thus regain, by thy intercession, all the glory which is reflected on her from the sublime perfection of this holy state.

Amen, so be it!

Twenty-Nine Years in the Church of Rome

Today being Pentecost Sunday, I motored down to Hobart (as I usually do each first day of the week) and M.C.'d the Missa cantata at Sacred Heart. Today being Pentecost Sunday, I mark the anniversary of my Baptism, Confirmation and first Communion on this same beloved feast in 1987. While I have perhaps little to show for twenty-nine years in the Church of Rome, that is because of my sins and backsliding: but grace is greater than all, so I must give all glory to God for having blessed me so abundantly with the grace of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus our Lord. Te Deum laudamus!

Sixth Anniversary

I began this blog six years ago, on the commemoration of St Sabbas; I then entrusted whatever good may come of this to his intercession, which I feel has not been profitless - thank you, dear saint! Dear readers, forgive any faults I may have committed, and do pray for me.

I have been busy this week with various matters, but foresee many new blessings in 2014. Now, I'd best get to sleep so as to arise in time for early Mass at Carmel.

24th Anniversary

I was baptized, confirmed and houselled on Pentecost Sunday, 1987.

Each year, I keep the anniversary on the feast day rather than the actual date (which was the 7th of June); and I pray the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to have mercy on me a sinner and fill me full of gifts and graces, that I may be saved.  What a backslider I've been!  Thank God for confession.

For all God's goodness, unmeritable and unrepayable, I say a heartfelt Gloria Patri; for that most precious gift of divine faith infused into my soul, whereby I cannot but believe, I repeat the Apostles' Creed; for all needful petitions, Kyrie eleïson, Pater and Ave.

I implore, too, the intercessions of St Joshua (my namesake), of St Stephen (my confirmation saint) and of St Sabbas (patron of this blog).

To-day I served Mass at my local parish (looking across from the north side of the sanctuary toward the southern, where the font stands in which I was made a Christian).  By order of the Bishops, the new translations of the Eucharistic Prayers have now come into use from this day onwards, so we were treated to the Roman Canon in a faithful, reverent version – and the sermon was all about the Canon too, as a gift of the Spirit itself, re-gifted us in this form!

Very kindly, Father made mention of this significance of this feast for me; of your charity, dear reader, I beg you to spare a pray for me.

23rd Anniversary

Pentecost Sunday morning 2010, marks the 23rd anniversary of my Baptism, Confirmation and first Communion.  Glory be to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

(To be accurate, I received the Sacraments of Initiation on Pentecost Sunday, 7th of June 1987, but I think it more fitting to keep the anniversary on the feast day rather than on the actual date.)

May He Who began the good work in me bring it to completion.  Amen.

First Anniversary

A year ago I began this blog - please consult my first entry, explaining its purpose and name, and commending it to the heavenly patronage of St Sabbas, whose feast falls each year on this the 5th of December.  

(He has a church in Rome, San Saba Abate on the Aventine, founded by Greek monks in the 7th century: their monastery died out, but his church, rebuilt in the 15th, remains; the good people of the area still celebrate his cult, not just on his feast, but also on the Sunday in the third week of August, with Mass and a typical Italian procession and festa.)

In his honour, and to pray for myself, for this blog (?!) and my readers, I will hear Mass at the Pro. this afternoon; I hope to go to confession at the other Pro., St Joachim's, the current stand-in for the Cathedral (which is being rebuilt), earlier in the day...

May the intercession, we beseech, Lord, of blessed Abbot Sabbas commend us: that, what by our merits we cannot achieve, by his patronage we may attain.  Through...

P.S. As I only turned on my site meter some six days later, I would say that I've had about 13,000 visits in the past year, with a linear progression in readership each month.