...all more like Christmas than Holy Week. But no one seemed to mind...people were arriving at Westminster Cathedral for the Chrism Mass just after 10 am, and the Mass wasn't due to start till noon. The traditional group of us gathered in the piazza with our "Thank you to our priests" sign - members of the Assn of Catholic Women, together with young people from St Patrick's, Soho Square, and various other supporters. We handed out prayer-cards bearing a thank-you message to priests as they arrived. As always, there are far, far more priests than one imagines...we hear so much about a clergy shortage, but when they arrive for a big gathering like this, you realise that there are still huge numbers, and still they kept arriving...
The priests vest in the Cathedral Hall and then walk in procession up Ambrosden Avenue, filing into the cathedral...This year it seemed even more crowded than ever. With a friend, I squeezed in at the very back, but I was desperate to sit down, and eventually found a place in St Patrick's chapel where my feet could rest, if not actually thaw out. All of us in these side-chapels could hear all of the Mass, the beautiful prayers for the blessing of the oils, and of course the superb music, led by the Cathedral's fine choir, and we knelt and stood etc along with the rest of the congregation.
Afterwards, we hurried to the Hall to give out the remaining cards, and then finally desposited our placard in the bookshop (St Paul's, in Morpeth Terrace - bless them!) from where I will collect it early tomorrow morning in order to take it to St George's Cathedral, Southwark, for their Chrism Mass - and then went for some hot soup.
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2 comments:
God bless you and the rest of the ladies for showing such affection and appreciation for our priests. I can assure you they are very grateful. Father Hunwicke even wrote about it in his blog.
I echo that. I only recently found out it was started by you and Mulier Fortis, so thank you.
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