Back from Christus Rex XXVII - My Ninth

As always, my spiritual batteries are all recharged, having returned from the wonderful experience of walking and participating in the twenty-seventh annual Christus Rex Pilgrimage, adding my own minor oddities to what Fr Caldow called "the who's who of the Traddy Zoo". Many thanks especially to pilgrim friends of mine, David and Lyle, who between them were great supports, and to Fr Rowe, my erstwhile parish priest, whose private Masses I essayed to serve as always.

I had resolved to receive Holy Communion at each of the five High Masses in worship of the Five Sacred Wounds of Our Lord, which I was able to do, and to focus my devotion said the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds also. There is a pleasing symmetry about the gloriously sung and brilliantly executed Masses: the Requiem for deceased pilgrims at 7 pm at the Cathedral in Ballarat on Thursday evening beforehand; the Votive of the Holy Cross at 6 am (a rather early hour!) at the same on Friday morning; the Votive of Our Lady Help of Christians at 11 am in the pine glade at Campbelltown on Saturday; the Pontifical Mass at the faldstool coram episcopo of Christ the King at 3 pm on Sunday in Bendigo Cathedral; and the Votive of the Trinity at 9 am on Monday morning afterward.

I added a very pleasant coda to the pilgrimage, by driving back to Melbourne airport in a hire car, with stops at Malmsbury (whose Botanic Gardens and Viaduct are well worth looking at) and, my favourite, Hanging Rock – which I successfully climbed during a providential break in rain showers, though I didn't find poor Miranda.

Back from Christus Rex

Once again, I've walked as part of the Christus Rex Pilgrimage from Ballarat to Bendigo – this was my eighth. This year, the main trial was a plague of mosquitoes, particularly on the last day; I've never known mosquitoes like it. But of course the holy pilgrimage itself found its culmination and raison d'être in the solemn celebration of the traditional form of the Mass: a pre-pilgrimage Requiem High Mass on the Thursday evening at Ballarat Cathedral; the morning Votive High Mass of the Holy Cross, with commemoration of SS Simon and Jude, Apostles, early on the Friday morning; the beautiful midday Mass of Our Lady on Saturday; the afternoon Pontifical High Mass of Christ the King; and the Monday morning High Mass, this year of the Vigil of All Saints. In addition, as usual, I assisted my former parish priest, Fr Rowe, by serving his Low Mass on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday; this meant I missed a bit of each day's walk, which wasn't so bad! The camaraderie of the pilgrimage was itself a great blessing, as it affords me the chance to catch up with old friends I rarely see these days. I have already booked my accommodation for next year. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Tasmanian Pilgrimage

A small group of friends and I spent the weekend on a Lenten pilgrimage: on Saturday, we walked from St Joseph's Church in Hobart to St John's Church in Richmond (25 km); and on Sunday, another 28 km to St Patrick's Church, Colebrook. The three churches mentioned are all historic: St Joseph's, built 1841, was Hobart's original pro-cathedral; St John the Evangelist's, built 1837, is the oldest extant Catholic church in Australia; and St Patrick's, Colebrook, built 1857, is a perfect Pugin design.

Shelstone Saddle (our Saturday lunch stop) with Hobart in the distance

His Grace condescended to join us for the last hour of the walk into Richmond, and proceeded to celebrate Mass for us in the Ordinary Form; Hugh and Tony sang the Gregorian propers, just as they did the next day at Colebrook, where Fr Suresh sang a Missa cantata. En route, from time to time we said the Rosary (ten decades each day), sang hymns, conversed and enjoyed the pleasant weather and  scenery.

Simon and Lyle took turns in driving our support vehicle, which kept us supplied with water, plus food and drink for lunch, morning and afternoon tea. The pilgrimage could not have happened without the kind permission of the local parish priest, nor the support of other friends of mine who assisted us. David, who joined our band on the Sunday, lives locally, and helped plan the route.

A little before lunch on Sunday, with Gravelly Ridge to climb afterwards

It was a pity that a few others were unable to attend in the event, but c'est la vie. I must say that such a generous dose of unaccustomed fresh air, sunshine and exercise all agreed with me, and I cannot wait to strike out cross-country again. Being a Catholic affair, we quenched our hard-earned thirst and enjoyed a pleasant dinner together in a local pub each evening.

Colebrook was originally named Jerusalem, and so our little venture bore a somewhat grandiose title: a Lenten Pilgrimage to Tasmania's Jerusalem. All pilgrimages, large and small, are images of the progress of each Christian, and of the whole Church, through the desert of this world to the supernal City of God. As St Louis IX said as he lay dying, "We will go to Jerusalem".

St Patrick's Church, Colebrook

Belated Christmas Present: a Postcommunion addressed to the Holy Spirit

While looking for the various Office and Masses in honour of St James conceded to Spain (the feast of the Translation of his body to Compostela, on the 30th of December; the feast of his Apparition as Santiago Matamoros on the 23rd of May; the Vigil, on the 24th of July, of his feast; and his feast itself, on the 25th of July, with an Octave ending on the 1st of August) – as I am planning to walk the Camino in four years' time, and am beginning to make remote preparations, spiritual and temporal – I made a most amazing discovery: amongst those Masses for use in the Spanish realms, in a special Votive Mass for pregnant women and those undergoing the pangs of childbirth, the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion are addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit respectively.

Now, there are plenty of orations addressed to God the Son (though of course most are addressed to God the Father), but this was the first I have ever come across, appointed for use in a Roman Rite liturgical book, addressed to God the Holy Ghost. Fellow students of the sacred liturgy, this is a belated Christmas gift to you.

Years ago, I read Jungmann's The Place of Christ in Liturgical Prayer, which confirmed that liturgical prayers, apart from some in the Armenian Rite, are hardly ever addressed to God the Holy Spirit. Now, the Third Person of the Trinity is certainly invoked in hymns and antiphons (such as the Veni Creator Spiritus and the Veni Sancte Spiritus of the Roman West, or the troparion O heavenly King of the Byzantine East), but prayers in the strict sense are nearly always addressed to either the First or, less often, the Second Person of the eternal Triune Godhead.

The Postcommunion that I came across is found in a book available online, entitled Missæ quæ in Hispania specialiter celebrantur, pro celebrantium commoditate congestæ (Barcinone [Barcelona], 1833), on page 83, where it is part of Alia Missa ad honorem gloriosæ Virginis pro Mulieribus prægnantibus, aut alias in partu laborantibus (Another [Votive] Mass in honour of the glorious Virgin for pregnant women, or for other women labouring in childbirth):

Beatissime Spiritus, per quem condita sunt universa: suppliciter tuas exaudire digneris famulas, pro quibus has tuæ porrigimus pietati preces: ut quemadmodum tuo felici, et sancto juvamine optant liberari; ita suffragiis beatissimæ Matris Dei, lumen gratiæ tuæ, in earum celeri expeditione infundere digneris. Qui cum Deo Patre, et eodem Filio vivis, et regnas Deus per omnia sæcula sæculorum. 

(Most blessed Spirit, through whom all was created: deign graciously to hear thy handmaids, for whom we suppliantly offer these prayers to thy piety: that in whatsoever way they hope to be delivered by thy happy and holy aid, even so, at the suffrages of the most blessed Mother of God, deign to pour forth with speedy expedition the light of thy grace into them. Who with God the Father, and the same Son, livest and reignest God, through all ages of ages.)

This prayer is rather too prolix and complex compared to the classic prayers of the Roman liturgy, but it is still most worthy of note.

In particular, I had often wondered (in that artless way of mine) as to how the closing doxology of a prayer to the Holy Ghost would be phrased – would it end "In whose unity the Father and the Son live and reign, God, world without end", or how? In the event, it appears that the ending used is all but identical to that used for prayers ad Filium, simply adding et (eodem) Filio and removing in unitate Spiritus Sancti.

In any case, I had best reiterate my long-term plan to walk from Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela in 2019 (hopefully, during Eastertide). Why then? Because I ought have amassed enough leave from work by then, and when three friends of mine walked that same pilgrim path in 1997, they set off in Easter Week and arrived in time for Pentecost, which seems a good plan to me also.

Back from Christus Rex

I have been keeping friends posted via email from my mobile phone about this year's Christus Rex Pilgrimage – my sixth – and will soon edit these and post them for blog readers to peruse. Suffice to say that it was marvellous, with High Mass each day (Thursday evening pre-pilgrimage Requiem; Friday Votive of the Holy Cross; Saturday Mass of Our Lady; Sunday Mass of Christ the King; Monday ferial Mass), and the chance to serve Low Mass daily (Fr Rowe's private Masses on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and Fr Mannes' Dominican Rite Mass on Monday), and to hear other Masses: in five days, I've  attended eleven all told, and been to Confession, so I feel spiritually recharged. The walking was good, too, and I've developed a real taste for it, despite the weather being quite warm. Rosaries were said – and I managed to read the day hours also; and of course it was great to catch up with friends.

Almost Finished

While in Rome on pilgrimage, four of us, during our visit to Santa Maria Maggiore, decided to go to confession. A little later, we compared penances, feeling a rather hard done by… a young lady had been told to say her Rosary every day for a week for a certain intention; one of our priests had been told to offer up his Breviary every day for a week for a similar cause; and Mike and I, upon learning that each of us had been told to offer up the Rosary for such and such an intention (I got "sincerity"), daily – for a month – felt uniquely put-upon.

I recall that, according to that devout book, The Secret of the Rosary, St Dominic assigned just such a lengthy penance to a pious Roman matron, who was in the habit of doing the rounds of the Seven Churches every day. Like her, I own to feeling more than a little discomfited!

Doubtless the … son of St Dominic in question (for the confessors at St Mary Major are Blackfriars) had been a-reading some such "manual of penance". I am now nearly finished fulfilling this penance – at least I have thereby got back to saying the Rosary. Perhaps that was the desired result.

Moral of the story: when on pilgrimage with no less than three priests, don't think to shop elsewhere. Or at the least, avoid the confessionals of Friars Preachers like the plague.

Off to Western Australia, the Holy Land, and Italy...

Very early on Friday morning I will fly off to Perth via Melbourne. I'll have the weekend in Western Australia – my first return visit since I moved back to Tasmania for work in 2009 – and then, together with a large group of fellow pilgrims, I will fly via Dubai to Amman, and travel from there into the Holy Land. After two weeks or so, we will fly on to Rome via Istanbul, and, after a week or so in Italy, at last return home (I will get back in the evening of the 1st of February). Of your charity, please pray that the trip proves safe and spiritually rewarding; I will remember all friends and readers in prayer at the holy places.

I may or may not have the chance to blog about all this, but hope to do so.

Pilgrimage Mementos

Three special blessings of this year's Christus Rex Pilgrimage: the first blessings of two new priests – that of Bendigo's Fr Ashley Caldow on Friday (who was ordained on the 14th of September) and that of Ballarat's Fr James Kerr on Saturday (ordained on the 6th of September) – and the chance to attend what must be a first for this pilgrimage, the wedding on the Monday morning after (that is, yester-day the 28th of October) of two pilgrims, Jacob and Esther.

I say ad multis annos to all of them, and wish for them what my old parish priest, Bp Jarrett, told me ages ago: that happily married couples are the best role models and supports to the vocation of priests, and holy priests happy in their vocation are likewise the best examples and helps to husband and wife.

The two new priests kindly distributed holy cards as mementos of their ordination, seeking prayers; it strikes me that perhaps married couples ought do the same thing, and not merely provide a booklet for the wedding – for prayer is the great underpinning of all.

Returning crowned with triumph from the fray

A pilgrimage is symbolic of life's journey, that hard march we pray may lead from earth to heaven by God's grace, won for us by Christ on Calvary, Who promises immarcescible crowns to those who, taking up their crosses and following Him, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, are proven faithful to Him Who is always faithful, persevering by grace until the end, and who shall be found in Him at the last.

In the scheme of things, the merely natural achievement of walking a certain distance is a minor matter; but, supernaturally speaking (for even to pick up a pin for the love of God is a great act), to join in prayer and penance, to rejoice in and to proclaim the Catholic Faith, to be instructed by sermons and sanctified by the sacraments – all of which blessings the Christus Rex Pilgrimage makes available – is beneficial indeed.

I stole the title of this post from an beautiful Eucharistic hymn, translated by Caswall from the 1686 Cluniac Breviary's Hoste dum victo triumphans: 'tis the Patriarch Abraham, our father in faith, who was returning after defeating kings in battle; and was met by the Priest-King Melchisedech, prefiguring the supreme and eternal High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ the King.

But I dare to apply the words to all the Christus Rex pilgrims, hopefully now nearly all back to their homes (as I am to mine, having returned a few hours ago): for, if not slaying enemy potentates, we certainly conquered the long miles from Ballarat to Bendigo, whether we walked every step or not, and shared in the triumphant celebration of the feast of the Kingship of Christ, Who lives and reigns world without end; and whatever hardships – lack of sleep, hard ground, blisters, the sun, the wind, the rain, long stretches of roadside to tread – we accepted in penance, we pray may avail somewhat for the remission of the punishment due to sins, and also avail as suffrages to help expiate the sins of others: and we met our Eucharistic Lord, in the Communion, in the Sacrifice, and in the person of His priests, the ministers of His that do His will.

This pilgrimage, I think I especially felt the importance of the support of the priests who supported us along the way (ten in all, plus the Bishops of Ballarat and Bendigo who blessed the beginning and completion of our way, and Bishop Elliot, who sang the Pontifical High Mass on Sunday). Fr Mannes, O.P., whom I've known for years, and of course Fr Rowe, my parish priest when I lived in Western Australia, not to mention all the others by name, from whose kindness and wise words I derived no little profit, were very good to see again – and I took the opportunity to serve Fr Rowe's Low Masses each day of the pilgrimage, as well as to have him hear my confession; on the Sunday, I even had the privilege of serving Fr Arthur's Low Mass as well. 

(As an aside, since I've M.C.'d Missæ cantatæ each month for ages, but haven't had the chance to serve at Low Mass for ages, for the first two such I unthinkingly knelt on the same side as the Missal, forgetting that at Low Mass the rule is always to be on the opposite side, while when M.C. at sung Mass one stands by the Missal in order to assist the priest. Ah well.)

Since I did spend more time than heretofore acting as a server, I didn't walk every stage of each day; which worked out well, since on Friday afternoon my good walking shoes, just repaired in order to employ them on the pilgrimage, were soaked by a downpour, which meant I had to switch to my too-tight reserve pair from then on (which made my little toes blister), and also I suffered the ill effects of a slightly upset stomach...

However, I increasingly recognize that everyone plays their part and rightly so: do not the volunteers who cook, clean, drive cars towing portaloos and do all else not merit quite as much as the walkers? and do not those who form the choir that sang so marvellously both chant and polyphony at our daily High Masses (the music was sublime: Palestrina's Sicut cervus featured both on Sunday and at this morning's Mass, and it was most moving), and those who practised, prepared and then served at those solemn rites, not likewise gain great reward for all their pains?

This has been my fifth pilgrimage; I spoke with two seasoned pilgrims who participated in the first, and I am committed to every year returning till I too have done twenty or more! It really is the spiritual (and also social) highlight of the year, I feel: a sort of retreat on the move; but also a time of good cheer (and beer: I did enjoy the usual refreshments at the Newstead pub on the Saturday night, chatting with Tony, Vicki, Lyle, Nicholas my very distant relative, and so on and so forth). So many good people I know come along, and who live scattered across Australia and beyond, whom I rarely see otherwise; catching up with them is great.

This pilgrimage, also, having not walked every step, I had the leftover energy to do what I fear I have too long neglected, and that is to return to the Roman Breviary, and read the full Office each day, including today (I must turn to Vespers soon), and I pray hereafter... I also have resolved to go to daily Mass again, something that, because of the need to arise and hear Mass at an early hour before work, I have fallen away from, yet which I know I need to sustain me. Do pray I may keep this year's Christus Rex resolutions!

A beautiful and unexpected coda to the pilgrimage was the revelation that Monday's High Mass at Bendigo Cathedral was to be a nuptial Mass – for two of the pilgrims, Jacob and Esther, having courted and become engaged beforehand, had arranged to celebrate their wedding on the day after the feast of Christ the King: and what a delight I felt, along with all the other pilgrims who attended, to join with their family and friends in celebrating their holy union.

As always, the five days (including travelling to Ballarat on Thursday, registering as a pilgrim, and then unexpectedly having dinner with my old friends Anna and Anthony, together with Simon and Anna and their girls) have passed too quickly, but as McAuley's hymn puts it, "to that world we must return, / sharing in its hope and labour, / bringing to it Christ's concern / for our neighbour".

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

To-morrow, free from work (Adam's curse), I head off to Ballarat to join those longing to go on pilgrimage: just after six o'clock on Friday morning, we will gather together, assemble in the Cathedral to be blessed, then march off, the Church militant in miniature... God willing, weary miles later, we will reach Bendigo, and its Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, mid-afternoon on Sunday, where His Lordship Bishop Elliot will sing Pontifical Mass at the faldstool in honour of Christ the King.

Please pray for all those participating, and join with our prayers and penances for the greater glory of God, the salvation of souls, the liberty and exaltation of our Holy Mother the Church and the extension to all hearts and lands of the reign of Christ the King, the Prince of Peace. In particular, pray for the curbing of the recent devastating bushfires, for those cruelly afflicted thereby, and for those fighting them; and for the effectual suppression of the wickedness of those dupes of Satan currently promoting immoral laws for unnatural unions, various forms of murder, and the like; and that those who would fain compass their own and society's destruction be brought to a better mind, converted and saved.

Pentecost Last Year

Last year, I began Pentecost Sunday, the 25th anniversary of my baptism &c., by serving Fr Rowe's Low Mass at a very early hour, alongside many other priests and servers saying Masses at temporary altars, in a tent in a field somewhere in France (for an image of a like scene from 2005, see this photo): for I was on the Chartres Pilgrimage. Having found the pace and the heat and the burden of the first day's march too much (nearly 40 km), I had resolved to cease and desist, realizing I wasn't up to the standard; so after Mass, I packed up and watched the great pilgrim host depart, before arranging to get to the local train station (thanks to the kindness of the French volunteers), and then heading on to Chartres via Paris (again, given directions thanks to a fellow pilgrim who was also unable to continue). Having arrived at Chartres somewhat after midday, I dragged myself to my accommodation, booked an extra night, at last had a shower! said my prayers, ate some of the rations I'd shouldered in my day pack, and turned in: I think I slept for eighteen hours. That was my Pentecost in 2012.

Being a little tired, and having this evening attended the vigil Mass, I think I shall sleep in tomorrow, as seems fitting...

Pray for the Chartres pilgrims: it is a very tough slog, and I can but salute them in their fervour and commitment. Pray too for France, once more cutting off her nose to spite her face. Christendom, awake!

High Mass coram Episcopo

High Mass of Christ the King was sung last Sunday at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, in presence of His Lordship Les Tomlinson, Bishop of Sandhurst, at the conclusion of the XXII Christus Rex pilgrimage.  The choir sang Palestrina's Missa brevis, with motets including Lauda Jerusalem Dominum and Sicut cervus.

The view down the nave as the procession entered

Censing of the altar; note bishop at his throne

Ecce Tabernaculum Dei cum Hominibus

Behold, the Tabernacle of God with men! – as once the Israelites, en route to the Promised Land, erected at each encampment the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle of God's Presence with them, so Christians in their life's journey to heaven have with them Emmanuel, God Incarnate, not only present in his grace and mercy, but made really present on every altar and therefore dwelling amongst us in every tabernacle, each living heart of our churches; and just so the Christus Rex pilgrims, when on Saturday lacking a church for the celebration of High Mass, set up a costly pavilion for the altar, upon which the solemnities of the Sacrifice are enacted, Christ revealing himself in splendour and entering our hearts when the Divine Mysteries are offered, consecrated and received.

 Awaiting the sacred ministers...

The Gospel of the Mass

(There was also a humbler tent – out of view down the "nave" of this forest glade on the Epistle side – for the choir and organ: yes, we brought an organ along.)

Some observed that the only thing lacking was pennants flying from the corners of this splendid tent, with the lion rampant of Christus Rex upon them; as for myself, I kept expecting Aslan to appear, strolling between the pine trees, but of course He appears in our world under a different form to that seen in Narnia...

Pilgrimage Photos

Just to whet the appetite: here are three shots from the Christus Rex Pilgrimage.

About to depart from the Cathedral in Ballarat, at about 7:30 am Friday morning:

Mass on Friday, in St Augustine's, Cresswell:

Mass on Monday morning, in Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo:

Back from Christus Rex

As always, I return refreshed and recharged from the annual Christus Rex Pilgrimage: what camaraderie, what singing, what chanting, what prayers, what sermons, what High Masses – yes, and what tiredness, what early mornings, what aching feet...  (Note to self: next year, take Thursday off work as well, so I get to Ballarat a good deal earlier than half nine at night!)

It was particularly pleasant to meet up with my old friend and erstwhile parish priest, Fr Rowe; and it was a deeply felt honour for me that he had me serve his private Masses on the three days of the pilgrimage (which provided an additional benefit, since it entailed remaining behind during one leg of  each day's march, and afterward being driven to the head of the pilgrim column that had moved off in the mean time, shaving several kilometres off the trek each day).

There is more, much more, to say about the pilgrimage, but I will sign off for now with a humorous note: another priest, after saying his private Mass on the Friday, revealed that he had forgotten the Christian name of the new Bishop of Ballarat (in whose diocese we were), and in desperation made dog-Latin of his surname – saying "Birdo" in the Canon!

Off on Pilgrimage

Thanks be that the Christus Rex Pilgrimage here in Australia is a great deal easier than the Paris to Chartres Pilgrimage!  I depart on Thursday evening for Ballarat via Melbourne, in order to be ready to begin at the Cathedral in Ballarat at 6:30 am on Friday... God willing, matters conclude in Bendigo with High Mass on Sunday afternoon; then we celebrate that evening, and depart the next morning (after Mass and brunch). I return home on Monday evening.

Last night, our little schola met as usual for practice, followed by Compline and Benediction: but, very appropriately, we interposed a Procession within the church, singing Christus vincit, that marvellous litanic prayer of petition and praise, which by coincidence, or rather, by Providence, is just such as we sing while on the Christus Rex Pilgrimage. Viva Christo Rey!

Travel Advice, Please

Having resolved to attend next year's Paris to Chartres Pilgrimage, I am now casting about for ideas for places to visit in la belle France and environs.  (I do have cause to cross the border into southern Germany for a start.)

I think at least a few days in a good monastery will be high on my agenda.

Any and all suggestions may be left in the comments box.

God bless the Trappists

God bless the Trappists of the Abbey of Our Lady of Scourmont – better known as the producers of that most holy refreshment, Chimay beer.

I was careful, ere I partook, to pray the prayer for the blessing of beer, that this beverage may aid me "in body and in soul"; here is the original Latin (which I adapt for lay use):


V/. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R/. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
V/. Dominus vobiscum.
R/. Et cum spiritu tuo.


Oremus.


Benedic, Domine, creaturam istam cerevisiæ, quam ex adipe frumenti producere dignatus es: ut sit remedium salutare humano generi, et præsta per invocationem nominis tui sancti; ut, quicumque ex ea biberint, sanitatem corpus et animæ tutelam percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

Given the great time I had on the recent Christus Rex Pilgrimage, I have stored up the courage to attempt the Paris to Chartres Pilgimage next year, and have applied for the necessary time off work in order to do so.

How good it is that that pilgrimage is from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres; how good it is to have at hand the blessings of Notre-Dame de Scourmont.  Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus!

P.S.  The good monks make cheese as well as beer; this inspired me to cut some brie to nibble with my drink, ne potus noceat.

Pilgrimage and All Saints

Salvator mundi, salva nos omnes: sancta Dei Genitrix, Virgo semper Maria, ora pro nobis: precibus quoque sanctorum Apostolorum, Martyrum et Confessorum atque sanctarum Virginum suppliciter petimus, ut a malis omnibus eruamur bonisque omnibus nunc et semper perfrui mereamur.

(Saviour of the world, save us all: Holy Mother of God, ever-Virgin Mary, pray for us: and by the prayers of the holy Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors, and of the holy Virgins, bowing down we beg, that we may be delivered from all evils and now and ever may deserve to enjoy all goods.)

—Dominican Magnificat Antiphon for 2nd Vespers of All Saints

Some of my last memories of this year's Christus Rex pilgrimage are from Monday morning, the day after its conclusion – High Mass of the Vigil of All Saints was sung in the Cathedral, and then, while the choir sang on with choice motets, Fr Mannes offered a Dominican Rite Low Mass (also of the Vigil) at the Blessed Sacrament altar.

I do prefer the Dominican Rite to the Roman for Low Mass – though I would not for one minute subtract from the greater external glory and inspiring majesty of Solemn High Mass.  It is a good day when one can hear several Masses.

Mass, foretaste of the glory of heaven!  Fr Mannes ably preached to us pilgrims on the Sunday morning, reminding us that if pilgrimage not progress us in the spiritual life, it is worthless and to be shunned.  Our advance toward the Cathedral, symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem, the goal of our life's pilgrimage, reminds us that we are called to be saints, for nothing impure shall enter heaven.  Well then was the Monday Mass that of the Vigil of All Saints, reminding us that we are not yet made perfect, not yet rejoicing in the consummation of all things in Christ – just as even this morning's Mass, back in my home town, back at Carmel, being of All Saints, yet reminded us that we have a real communion with heaven, but are still on earth, still on our pilgrimage.

All ye holy men and women, intercede for us!

Fr Corrigan's Blessing

I was very grateful, while on pilgrimage, to be able to receive the blessing of a new priest, the well-known Fr John Corrigan (see his blog), who was, as he informed us, but six weeks and two days ordained.  As they say in Germany, one should travel far to get the blessing of a new priest – certainly, having walked over 70 km by that stage of the pilgrimage, I did!

He quite spontaneously prayed a special blessing for this blog, that it be a form of spiritual witness and edification: to which I add a hearty Amen, all unworthy as my efforts are.  As I said in my very first blog post, what else could I hope for?

Please pray for Fr Corrigan, "a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech": ad multos annos!