...at St Elphege's, Wallington, possibly one of the ugliest churches in Britain,but with happy associations for me, and a large thriving parish with lots and lots of young families. Also older people whom I have known virtually all my life...and who know me...bought marmalade (cash raised goes to charity) from Mary T., exchanged greetings with Fr H. the parish priest, swapped news with various friends... chatted to a lady whose family I knew way way back...a Sunday Mass like this somehow gives a sense of having roots and seeing the Faith and the Mass as being deep in the life of every ordinary Catholic down all the centuries.
And no, that doesn't mean that the marmalade and the friendly chat after Mass were the central part of it all, quite the contrary. A modern church well-filled, a procession with Cross and candles,the back-and-forth of voices raised in familiar responses, a Host and Chalice held high by a priest, people shuffling forward for Communion, can be awesome in its very ordinariness.
1 comment:
That is what is so great about the Catholic Church, the everyday holiness that raises the mundane to the sacred.
Post a Comment