With the Holy Father...

...the Church around the world today prayed in unity before the Blessed Sacrament.  He had organised it for 5pm, Rome time, and for us in Britain that meant 4pm - an ideal time, just completing a Sunday afternoon...

I went to morning Mass at Precious Blood Church, London Bridge -  it was the parish  First Communion Mass and a vast congregation, standing-room only.  There were a lot of friends-and-neighbours of the First Communicants, and  a number were all too obviously unfamiliar with being in church: a good deal of talking and Father made a plea for silence before Mass began. He preached extremely well - an easy, informal style, standing at the sanctuary steps... over the high altar are the words "Christus dilexit nos et lavit nos in sanguine suo"  and he asked for help to translate it. A child volunteered: the word "Christus" is obviously a fairly easy start...and together they did it, and as they did so, the congregation was hooked...

The children  behaved impeccably, the girls in white dresses and the boys in jackets-and-ties...the Mass ended with a great Blessed Sacrament procession surging out into the streets - we went  under the big railway viaduct, and along Borough High Street, past the War Memorial and down Union Street and so finally back to the church for Benediction... the girls strewed flowers before the Blessed Sacrament, the boys formed an honour guard, there was the usual muddle with singing as it's impossible to keep a straggly  crowd like that in unison, and several people said that next year we should have a brass band!  Then, after Tantum Ergo and a traditional Benediction, a terrific squash of people in the Parish Room where there was not only a celebration cake and lots of  snacks, but great platefuls of rice and chicken (this is a v. African and West Indian parish) and wine...

Then, later, after the clearing-up (including removal of  some chewing-gum from the carpet, ugh)...the quiet church, and the Blessed Sacrament, and a reminder that we were gathering there to pray in union with Pope Francis and the worldwide church: in America it was  11 in the morning, in Japan it was already night...

Then I went on to St Patrick's, Soho Square, because I had a longstanding commitment to go to the Procession there, too. I always love this Procession, because the Blessed Sacrament is taken right through Soho, and we give out little gifts of Miraculous Medals wrapped in Scripture verses. There are some wonderful encounters. "What is this? What is that parade about?" When I explain about the Blessed Sacrament, most people vaguely understand. One said "I'm a Catholic - but we don't have this in Ireland" (they do, they do, but evidently not enough, and not in his parish). Several others also said "I'm a Catholic..." but appeared unfamiliar with the idea of the Blessed Sacrament... light sort of dawning as I mentioned the Mass, and Holy Communion...

This Procession - a very large one, preceded by an International Mass in St Patrick's - always finishes with a grand Benediction in the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Fields, a nice ecumenical gesture. The Rector and his team made us all most welcome, and we all chatted agreeably over wine and fruit juices in the evening sunshine...

And then finally home. That was a lot of  procession and singing for one Sunday. But I loved it.