...a great Procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Soho. I wasn't sure I was going to go...I was tired after a hectic week and getting into London can be difficult on Sundays as the trains aren't running properly...but I did make it, and when I arrived at St Patrick's church and padlocked my bike to the railings, I found I could barely get inside. The place was simply jammed - people kneeling on the floor, on the entrance, and in every corner. I found a tiny place beside a side-altar,but no, some one was already squashed in there already...
Mass was still going on. It was an International Mass - a great roar of voices saying the Our Father all together, but in different languages, terribly moving. A great united singing of the Agnus Dei. Long shuffling crowds going up to Communion. And then, as it ended, some brief instructions, and then we were slowly spilling out into the street, more or less in language groups, with a great crowd of Chinese at the front, then English speakers (or rather, singers - we all had hymn-sheets and the whole procession resounded with song), then the Spanish, with the Blessed Sacrament carried under a great canopy...
We went round half of Soho Square, then off to the left and down into the streets of clubs and restaurants, crowds gawping, traffic sidelined, police making way for us. Led by the Cross, and Newman's "Praise to the Holiest", and other glorious hymns - we sang each at least six times - we wound our way along a route through the crowded streets and down along Shaftesbury Avenue. Eaters and drinkers in pubs and cafes stopped and stared, took pictures. Upper windows were flung up, pedestrians stopped, asked each other what was going on. It was a large procession, and there were different groups of singers, with the Spanish doing something dramatic with hand-clapping way behind us, while the English group moved from Newman to "Praise my soul the king of Heaven" and "Love is His Way"...among us were some of Mother Teresa's nuns, hordes of young people in jeans, some older people like Auntie, a fully-equipped team of altar servers in cottas and cassock...and along the route Fr Alexander, in cassock and surplice and stole, quietly moved about, making sure the thing kept together. Climax at the (Anglican) church of St Giles, a glorious Benediction in the parish garden, a great movement of people cascading to thre ground as the Blessed Sacrament was brought in...Tantum Ergo Sacramentum...
After it all ended, the nice vicar of St Giles made a lovely speech, making us welcome, and teams of his parishioners appeared, with trays of wine. People lingered and talked, a Chinese group started a spontenous joyful singing of hymns in a corner of the Square, and I chatted to members of the SPES team, and arranged to meet for lunch with a friend, and invited people to the fund-raising event I'm helping to run on Friday...
I cycled back through a London just faintly being dusted with the faintest fizz of rain - it had held off all evening - and Whitehall in the lamplight, with little traffic, looked beautiful.
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We also had a lovely procession at Westminster after the Saturday evening Mass.We also had a group of off duty choristers to help lead the procession's singing. We came out, went down Morpeth Terrace, along Francis St and back up Ambrosden Avenue to the main door. In the wind it was not easy to keep the mine and the other thurible alight!!( written by organist librarians wife)
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