Candlemas...

...and last night as I walked home from visiting a beloved elderly relative, I realised I was seeing something not seen for weeks...stars glittering in the night sky. A clear night, no thick layer of cloud! No rain!  And Candlemas Day dawned bright, clear, and with crisp cold air and a blue sky.

The church was full for the CandleMass, and there were great stacked boxes of candles to the side of the sanctuary, blessed by Fr Chris to be used for sanctuary lamps etc throughout the coming year. The Sunday School children paraded off to their class behind their processional cross, holding their lighted candles as we all sung the Gloria (Missa de Angelis) each of us with lighted candle too  and the whole congregation drawn together, and drawn up to the sanctuary and to God...

Next Sunday will also be a special one for this church, as Mgr Keith Newton is coming to administer Baptism and Confirmation. The catechist - you can guess who it is - is a little nervous, hoping that all the candidates are confident and knowledgeable (well...and prayerful, of course...and their catechist too) ...we have one final session of preparation, which will probably focus on the details of the ceremonies...  Much discussion at the previous session, about Confirmation names: some have still to choose one. On the other hand, there was evidence of considerable knowledge when it came to some of the doctrine, Scripture etc we have been discussing over recent weeks. The ANCHOR programme is warmly recommended...

In the afternoon, to St Anne Line Church in South Woodford, Essex, for a most interesting lecture about this heroic woman, and about Shakespeare and the hidden messages in his plays, about Catholicism and persecution, and the feeling among the people at that time...The speaker made a  good case for Anne Line being the inspiration for more than one of his female characters...