Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Royal Wedding Prayer


The Royal Wedding.

His Royal Highness
Prince William of Wales, KG FRS
and
Catherine Middleton.

Prayer for the Royal Wedding.

Heavenly Father,
we ask your blessing
upon his Royal Highness, Prince William and Catherine
as they pledge their love for each other in marriage.
May your love unite them through their lives.
Grant them the strength to serve you,
our country and the Commonwealth
with integrity and faithfulness.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.


The Coat of Arms of Prince William.

On his 18th birthday,
Prince William was granted the sovereign's coat of arms
with three silver white labels to differentiate
and personalise his arms
from any other royal persons
who may also use it.
The three silver white labels are on the two lions,
the unicorn and across the top of the royal shield.

The central label bears a red scallop shell
which is taken from his mother's family coat of arms
where three silver white scallop shells are included.


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Surrexit! Alleluia!

Et valde mane...
And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week...
(Mk. 16:2)


Vespere autem sabbati ...
And in the end of the sabbath ...

quae lucescit in primam sabbati ...
when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week
came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary,
to see the sepulchre...
(Mt. 28:1)

Iesum quaeritis Nazarenum crucifixum
Surrexit.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He is risen.
(Mk. 16:6)

The Resurrection banner of the
Agnus Dei,
the Lamb of God
It was blessed after the early morning Mass of Easter.

The altar of the early Easter Morning Mass.

Iesum quaeritis Nazarenum crucifixum
Surrexit.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He is risen.
(Mk. 16:6)

Surrexit !

Vidi aquam...
The Easter morning Mass...
we are blessed with Easter Water...
Our Lord is present amongst us...
ancient chant ...
joyful Alleluias.
Christ is Risen.

Surrexit. Alleluia.

The welcome Easter Egg.

Easter Monday.
A day of recreation.

There is a clear open sky with sunshine,
the footpath is clear of puddles
and a dry doorstep is waiting ...

... during this Octave
the world is being put right again.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Paschal Vigil

The blessing of the Paschal Fire and of the Paschal Candle.

Lighting the Paschal Candle with a flame taken from the Paschal Fire.

Entering the Chapel. All other lights are extinguished.

The Deacon incenses the Pascal Candle.

Singing the Exultet.

The Paschal Candle is lowered into the water during the blessing of the Paschal Water.

Blessing the Paschal Water.

The Subdeacon sings the Epistle...

...and the Deacon sings the Gospel.

The Deacon incenses the Celebrant following the Gospel.



The world has changed.

Surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia!
The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia!


We wish our Parents, Families and Friends
the holy joy of Easter!

Our Holy Father
Pope Benedict XVI
Easter Sunday, 2011


At the conclusion of the homily of the Easter Vigil ,
speaking of Easter Sunday and all Sundays,
the Holy Father said:

The structure of the week is overturned.
No longer does it point towards the seventh day,
as the time to participate in God’s rest.
It sets out from the first day
as the day of encounter with the Risen Lord.

This encounter happens afresh
at every celebration of the Eucharist,
when the Lord enters anew into the midst of his disciples
and gives himself to them,
allows himself, so to speak,
to be touched by them,
sits down at table with them.

This change is utterly extraordinary,
considering that the Sabbath,
the seventh day seen as the day of encounter with God,
is so profoundly rooted in the Old Testament.

If we also bear in mind how much the movement
from work towards the rest-day corresponds to a natural rhythm,
the dramatic nature of this change is even more striking.

This revolutionary development
that occurred at the very the beginning of the Church’s history
can be explained only by the fact that
something utterly new happened that day.

The first day of the week was the third day after Jesus’ death.
It was the day when he showed himself to his disciples as the Risen Lord.
In truth, this encounter had something unsettling about it.

The world had changed.

This man who had died was now living with a life that was no longer threatened by any death.


A new form of life had been inaugurated,
a new dimension of creation.

The first day, according to the Genesis account,
is the day on which creation begins.

Now it was the day of creation in a new way,
it had become the day of the new creation.

We celebrate the first day.

And in so doing we celebrate God the Creator and his creation.
Yes, we believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
And we celebrate the God who was made man,
who suffered, died, was buried and rose again.
We celebrate the definitive victory of the Creator and of his creation.
We celebrate this day as the origin and the goal of our existence.
We celebrate it because now, thanks to the risen Lord,
it is definitively established that reason is stronger than unreason,
truth stronger than lies,
love stronger than death.

We celebrate the first day because we know
that the black line drawn across creation does not last for ever.

We celebrate it because we know
that those words from the end of the creation account
have now been definitively fulfilled:
“God saw everything that he had made,
and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31).

Amen.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Good Friday

Good Friday



Br. Alfonso Maria gives the morning wake up call. Since the ringing of bells is forbidden during this time a rattle is used.

Over the last week we've been making a flagpole for the pier. It has a large cross on the top which was fittingly blessed on Good Friday.

Getting it into it's base was not so easy!

Fr. Anthony Mary, F.SS.R. used the JCB.

...stretch!

Slowly does it.

All done.


************************

The Afternoon Liturgy.


Singing the Passion.

Oremus.





The veiled Crucifix enters the chapel.

Ecce Lignum!

Procession to the sepulchre.


The Sepuchre.



Thursday, April 21, 2011

Maundy Thursday.



Maundy Thursday.

Fifth Day of the Great Week
whereon was instituted the Lord's Supper.

Office of Tenebrae.

In monte Olivéti orávit ad Patrem...
At the Mount of Olives He prayed unto the Father:
O My Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from Me!
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.

Vigiláte, et oráte ...
Watch and pray,
that ye enter not into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
(Matins. Resp. 1.)


My Lord and My God!


And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke...

...and gave to his disciples and said: Take ye and eat. This is my body. Mat. 26:26

The procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Adoramus Te, Christe!

The stripping of the Altar.

After watching with Him for 3 hours, the adoration comes to a close.