Continuity...

...and people pouring out of churches into the London streets, with smudges of ash on their foreheads.

I went to St Patrick's, Soho Square: it's a busy church and on days like this there are two lunchtime Masses. People were coming out of the 12.30 as I arrived for thr 1.05.  This latter Mass was celebrated by Fr James Bradley of the Ordinariate, and Fr Alexander, the parish priest, came in to help with the distribution of ashes and with Holy Communion.  Ash Wednesday is a solemn day,  and not one on which we are meant to feel cosy and comfortable, but there is something reassurring about the way it comes around again, each year, with Lent beginning and and the message of repentance and spiritual renewal  re-echoing...

Later I was due to give a talk to the St Patrick's Evangelisation School, so I had a quick  cup of coffee, worked on  my New Laptop, tackling some emails, thenm headed back to St P's. Then "Feasts and Seasons" to SPES, explaining how the Church's calendar works, and how the traditions and customs have arrived over the centuries...the London Tube station that commemorates the Incarnation, the significance of the link between the Polish word for "lady" and the French word for "bread" - and how both are linked to Bethlehem...and more, and more...

BTW, if any group wants me to come and give a talk on this subject, just send a Comment to this blog, with an email address at which I can contact you. I love to explain about the Church's feasts and seasons, and have found that youth groups, Confirmation classes, schools, women's groups, Catenians, and parish groups all enjoy it...

The media is full of speculation about the next Pope, and the internet is buzzing.  Meanwhile the real lobbying will  happen when all the Cardinals gather, and factions and groupings will emerge.

For the first time, mobile phones and twittering and so on will make the whole procedure seriously leaky unless all concerned behave like men and keep their discussions private and conduct themselves honourably...