Up early...

...to hurry to London for a talk on Premier Radio about Ash Wednesday, Lent, and the meaning of it all. The young team presenting the programme - all informal chat and rock-Gospel music - were terrific, we got on really well, and there was great interest in the whole subject. Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians are becoming increasingly interested in the Christian seasons, and no longer neccessarily discuss such topics as if coming from across a great divide. I saw the whole topic through new eyes, and while I was the one providing information ("Why 40 days, where do the ashes come from, what is the significance of it all, why are ashes linked to penitence?" and more...) it was they who somehow helped to bring its true meaning out...

Walked back towards Westminster Cathedral and dropped in - there was the most glorious singing coming from a side-chapel, and there, behold, were the children of the Westminster Cathedral Choir School, with teachers and parents, at a most beautiful traditional Ash Wednesday Mass. The boys looked very smart in their crimson uniforms, and there was an atmosphere of reverence. They sang beautifully for the distriubution of ashes, and for Communion, and all the parts of the Mass - the Pater Noster was especially fine - and there was dignity and a prayerful sense throughout, the voices joining in the responses and a quiet rustle of formal greetings at the Sign of Peace. I came away rather uplifted.

The new translation of the Mass is due to arrive in parishes soon. It's good, and will make a great difference to the depth of our faith: the trite phrasing we have known for too long gives way to a richer and more dignified tone throughout, to say nothing of greater accuracy. Because of the poor language that we have had to endure in recent decades, I was worried that the whole project of a vernacular liturgy might one day be banned again as it was for so many years. But as with so much that came from that Vatican Council from the 60s, we're getting the real fruits at last.