Saturday, May 25, 2019

At the Dominican church...

...on Haverstock Hill,  a Rosary Garden, dedicated to the Luminous Mysteries, was blessed yesterday evening, following a glorious sung Mass in the church.Children from the Rosary Primary School sang beautifully, a lovely Ave Maria soaring up at Communion...and then the children themselves trooped up, very reverently,  to receive Communion or a blessing,  a touching sight.

The heart of the new garden is a rather fine statue - Our Lady of Cana. This of course is the second Luminous Mystery, and is peculiarly important for our times, with the denigration of marriage and the muddle over the importance and significance of male and female.

At night the garden is illuminated - truly luminous...

Following all this, a reception was held in the parish hall, with lots of food and wine, friends to meet, lots of good conversations, a celebratory spirit. The hall is to be transformed, in due course, with major renovations, and to become the John Paul Centre, welcoming people to the shrine...

1 comment:

Pelerin said...

Thank you Joanna for giving the link to this church which in turn links to the EWTN film which shows much of the beauty of this magnificent church.

It reminded me of a visit I paid several years ago to a church on the outskirts of Paris which was about to be demolished. It was not old, only about a hundred years I believe, but it had seen better days and a new one had been built next door. I was shown round by the sacristan who pointed out the beautiful stone carving above the altar showing Our Lady giving the Rosary to St Dominic. I asked what was going to happen to that carving once the church had been demolished and he replied that it would probably end up in a museum. Very sad.

Incidentally the new church which I also visited resembled a hospital operating theatre - all white and clinical - such a contrast to the prayerful atmosphere I found in the old church despite its dilapidation.