How to pray (6)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
6. Pray with your soul and your body
If you were asked to picture someone praying, you’d probably imagine a person kneeling down with hands joined and eyes closed. There’s no rule that says we have to pray kneeling down, but having particular prayer postures (whatever they may be) as part of our prayer routine will help us to focus. Human beings are bodies and souls, so prayer is going to involve our bodies too. And sometimes when we can’t find the words to pray, we might find that we can express our prayer better with our bodies than with our minds. That said, prayer is above all about raising our hearts and minds to God. That means sharing with him honestly all our thoughts, feelings, memories and desires.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
How to pray (5)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
5. Keep things the same
Forming good prayer habits isn’t just about praying at the same time every day, but it’s also about forming a routine. Find a way of praying that works for you and stick to it. A routine doesn’t make things boring—it means we can skip the boring task of getting started and can give our attention to what really matters. A routine of prayer means we don’t have to think about prayer itself all the time, and can focus on God instead.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
We recently had the sisters of the Spiritual Family The Work to tea, to say farewell to one sister who is moving to another of their houses and to welcome another sister who is newly arrived in Oxford. The sisters live in Newman’s College in Littlemore, where they welcome pilgrims and visitors.
#oxfordoratory
August Music
Sunday 7 August Solemn Mass 11:00
19th Sunday of the Year
Missa Hic est praecursor Lobo
Credo quod Redemptor Lobo
Sic Deus dilexit mundum Gabrieli
Fugue in D major BWV 532ii Bach
Sunday 14 August Solemn Mass 11:00
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Missa Vidi speciosam Victoria
Assumpta est Maria Palestrina
Ave virgo sanctissma Guerrero
Fuga sopra il Magnificat BWV 733 Bach
Sunday 21 August Solemn Mass 11:00
21st Sunday of the Year
Missa Aeterna Christi munera Palestrina
Transfige dulcissime Biordi
O sacrum convivium d’Evry
Prelude in C BWV 547i Bach
Sunday 28 August Solemn Mass 11:00
22nd Sunday of the Year
Mass for five voices Byrd
Inclina Domine Sheppard
Sacris solemnis Sheppard
Prélude Op. 29 No. 1 Pierné
How to pray (4)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
4. Prepare a place
It’s easy to get distracted from prayer, so a great help in forming good prayer habits is to have a place for prayer where you can focus on God. You don’t need to build a chapel: it might be a particular part of your bedroom where you always pray. A crucifix or some other holy image can also help to focus on God. Don’t be put off by distractions. If there’s something you can’t help thinking about, turn it into a prayer by bringing it before God. He’ll know what to do with it.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
Br Alexander is visiting us from the Oratory in Philadelphia. He learnt how to subdeacon this weekend.
#oxfordoratory
Congratulations to Fr Rupert, clothed as a novice in the habit of St Philip today, the feast of Our Lady of Oxford.
#oxfordoratory
The Relic Chapel in 1908, newly fitted out with the contents of Grissell’s chapel, with our Lady of Oxford above the altar.
Prayer of Consecration to the Mother of Mercy
by Saint John Paul II
O Mother of Mercy, we entrust to your loving heart the entire people and Church of this land. Keep us from all injustice, division, violence and war. Protect us from temptation and slavery of sin and evil. Be with us! Help us to overcome doubt by faith, egoism by service, pride by meekness, and hatred by love. Help us to live the Gospel with the "folly" of the Cross, giving testimony to Christ who died on it, so that we may rise with your Son to the true life with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. O Mother of Christ, comfort and strengthen all those who suffer: the poor, the lonely, the frightened, the unloved, the oppressed and the forgotten. Bless us! Pray for us with St Joseph, and unite us in love. Grant peace to our divided earth and the light of hope to all. Show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus!
Novena Prayer
O Immaculate Virgin Mary,
Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother,
penetrated with the most lively confidence
in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession,
we your loving children implore you to obtain for us
the graces and favours we ask in these devotions,
if they be beneficial to our immortal souls,
and the souls for whom we pray.
(Here make your petitions.)
You know, O Mary,
how often our souls have been the sanctuaries of your Son,
who hates iniquity.
Obtain for us then a deep hatred of sin
and that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone,
so that our every thought, word and deed
may tend to his greater glory.
Obtain for us a spirit of prayer and self-denial,
that we may recover by penance what we have lost by sin,
and at length attain to that blessed abode
where you are the Queen of angels and of men.
Amen.
The devotions end with the Salve Regina.
#oxfordoratory
Devotion to Our Lady of Oxford began in the private chapel of Hartwell de la Garde Grissell on the High Street. When he died, he left his collection to our church. Many of the items in this photo are now in our relic chapel.
The Litany of Our Lady of Mercy
Lord, have mercy. R. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. R. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. R. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven. R. Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, R. Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, R. Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, R. Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, R. Pray for us.
Chosen daughter of the Father,
Glory of the Holy Spirit,
Virgin consecrated to God,
Virgin poor and humble,
Virgin gentle and obedient,
Handmaid of the Lord,
Helper of the Redeemer,
Our Mother,
Full of grace,
Fullness of virtue,
Chosen fruit of redemption,
Perfect disciple of Christ,
Untarnished image of the Church,
Blessed woman,
Woman of the new covenant,
Joy of Israel,
Honour of the human race,
Splendour of the Church,
Model of perfect commitment,
Mother of hope,
Mother of fidelity,
Mother of mercy,
Hope of slaves,
Strength of the suffering,
Help of sinners,
Relief in difficult times,
Model of fortitude,
Advocate of grace,
Champion of God's people,
Queen of love,
Queen of peace,
Queen of heaven,
Queen of the universe,
Our Lady of Oxford,
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, R. Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, R. Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God:
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Merciful Father and God of all consolation,
you have shown yourself to be wonderful
in the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ,
and have given her to us as the Mother of Mercy.
May all of us who venerate her with devotion,
always experience her powerful intercession
and enjoy your immense mercy.
Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
#oxfordoratory
This Saturday is the feast of Our Lady of Oxford, Mother of Mercy.
There will be the usual devotions to Our Lady of Oxford after the 10am Mass on Saturday and a procession and prayers to Our Lady after the 11am Solemn Mass on Sunday.
#oxfordoratory
How to pray (3)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
3. Spend time praying
God is always there waiting to listen to us, so we need to be ready to speak! Spending time in prayer might mean giving up time that we use for other things. Pick a time for prayer and set it aside. Treat it as the special time you have reserved for God, and remember that choosing a regular time will help to form a habit of praying. It is always good to spend the first and last moments of the day in God’s presence, which is why this book contains prayers for the morning and the evening. If you can afford it, there might be other moments you can spend with God. You might pass a church during your daily routine, or have a break in the middle or at the end of the day that you can give to God. Pick a time and offer it to God.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
Today we welcomed the newly-ordained Fr Albert from Blackfriars to celebrate the Solemn Mass.
#oxfordoratory
How to pray (2)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
2. Walk before you run
If your prayer time is going to fit into your routine, it has to be short enough to fit into your timetable. It is much better to have a short but regular time of prayer than to spend hours trying to catch up. Many people take on too much when they begin to pray, like someone beginning a new exercise routine with a marathon. But when they can’t keep up their new routine, they give up all together. Start slowly—walk before you run—and once you form a habit of praying regularly, your time of prayer can grow naturally.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
Congratulations to Fr Albert Robertson OP who was ordained priest in Blackfriars this Sunday!
Fr Nicholas preached at his first Mass the next day.
Fr Albert will celebrate the Solemn Mass for us this Sunday.
#oxfordoratory
July Music
Sunday 3 July Solemn Mass 11:00
14th Sunday of the Year
Missa Cara la vita mia de Monte
Populum humilem Lassus
Tu solus qui facis mirabilia Josquin
Fugue sur le nom Alain Duruflé
Sunday 10 July Solemn Mass 11:00
15th Sunday of the Year
Mass in the Dorian Mode Howells
Ad te, Domine, levavi Scarlatti
Ego sum panis vivus Byrd
Paean Howells
Sunday 17 July Solemn Mass 11:00
16th Sunday of the Year
Missa Beati omnes Gombert
Iustitiae Domini Mendelssohn
Ave verum Mozart
Prelude in C minor Mendelssohn
Sunday 24 July Solemn Mass 11:00
17th Sunday of the Year
Missa Primi toni Porta
Gaude Virgo Maria Porta
Salve Regina Obrecht
Offertoire sur les Grands Jeux Couperin
Sunday 31 July Solemn Mass 11:00
18th Sunday of the Year
Missa in illo tempore Monteverdi
Precatus est Moyses Palestrina
Adoramus te Christe Monteverdi
Tiento de falsas 2º tono Bruna
How to pray (1)
Our weekly reflections are paused for the summer, so in their place there will be a short extract from how to pray in ten easy steps. This guide is taken from The Oratory Prayer Book, a new prayer book of old prayers that we are publishing and will be available in the coming months.
1. Make prayer a habit
We very rarely have to be reminded to eat, drink or sleep. They are part of our daily routines. We do them out of habit. We always make sure there is time to do them each day because we don’t want to go without them. Prayer should be something special because it is time spent with someone important to us, not because it is something rare. If you want your friendship with God to grow, you need to spend time with him. Make a routine and form habits of praying at set times. Put prayer first so that it doesn’t get forgotten. Form a habit, and you won’t have to spend time thinking about praying every time you want to pray.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.
Celebrating the feast of our local martyrs.
“The executions took place at Oxford in July 1589. The two priests were each dragged through the streets on a horse-drawn hurdle. The first to die was Fr George Nichols. Having been refused permission to address the crowd, he made his profession of faith. He made it clear that he was being executed merely because he was a priest. Climbing the ladder to the gallows, he made the sign of the cross on each rung and kissed it. Then he was thrown off to his death.
“Fr Richard Yaxley was the next to die. He embraced the body of his dead colleague, then climbed the ladder and started to make his own profession of faith. But, before he could finish, he too was pushed off.
“It was now Thomas Belson’s turn to die. He hugged the bodies of the two priests and prayed that he would share their courage. He climbed the ladder, started his profession of faith and, like Fr Yaxley, was executed before he could finish. He was twenty-six years old.
“Finally, it was the turn of Humphrey Prichard, the servant from the Catherine Wheel. At the top of the ladder, he told the crowd that he died for ‘being a Catholic and faithful Christian of Holy Church’. A Puritan minister mocked him for being ignorant. Prichard replied that ‘what I cannot explain by mouth, I am ready and prepared to explain and testify to you at the cost of my blood.’ Whereupon he was thrown from the ladder.
“The priests were decapitated and quartered, their heads and quarters being parboiled in a cauldron. Their remains were then fixed to the wall of Oxford Castle, where they were mutilated by Puritan extremists. A couple of days later, the remains were fixed to the town gates. The right arm of Fr Nichols is reported to have swivelled round of its own accord. Some said it pointed accusingly at the city.” (From ‘Thames Valley Papists’ by Tony Hadland)
#oxfordoratory
Fr Benedict has been unpacking loads of great new books for our bookshop.
#oxfordoratory
Romanità
It is a much-quoted line of Cicero which says that to be ignorant of the past is to ever remain a child. Memory and learning the lessons of the past is part of what it is to be mature. It is true of our faith, too. Remembering particularly the wonders the Lord has done is a constant refrain in the Old Testament and, for Catholics, being faithful to that which was handed down to us from the Apostles requires of us a remembrance of things past. But this requires not just a mere remarking upon the past as we might do in a museum, observing artefacts. Rather, the past of which we speak, the Tradition of the Church, informs the present and the future, because we live it in the now.
At Vespers this evening the Church prays, in the hymn for Peter and Paul, “O happy Rome, which was consecrated by the glorious blood of the two Princes!” They are called princes not because of any earthly power or stately glory at the time — the state put them to death — but on account of their faith and their share in the glory and kingship of Christ, sealed by the shedding of their blood.
It is not just out of pietas to these Apostles, these Princes of the Church of Rome, that our particularly Roman Catholic traditions and heritage is important. We speak of the importance of a Romanità in what we do in church not out of some sort of mawkish sentimentality. Rather, it is a statement and a participation in what has gone before us. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis a few years ago reminded us that: “To be modern, some believe that it is necessary to break away from the roots. And this is their ruin, because the roots, the tradition, are the guarantee of the future.” To be fearful of our tradition, to be anxious at the presence of the past is a fear that our ways, our innovations, our blowing with trends and fads — which at times seem attractive — might be curtailed. Tradition, its practices and above all its Sacred Teachings, free us. They strengthen our unity in faith, and they give us a trajectory.
Our Catholic remembering sees itself crowned in the Mass, when we not only remember and recall the sacrifice of sacrifices of our Lord and Saviour, but by our “hyper-remembering”, by action of the Lord made present again we participate in that sacrifice again. We receive its merits afresh, applied now. Our past, made present now, saves us.
Romanità is not just a particular decorative taste or an affinity for a kind of music (it includes those things and we must celebrate them). It is moreover an active participation in the faith and the sacrifice and the mysteries of those who have gone before us, who have sought to follow Christ in his way — and in the case of Saints Peter and Paul even to death. It is our tribe, our identity and culture. It is the way we express our fidelity to the Lord and to his teachings, passed down from these men who planted the faith at the centre of the world in the city of Rome.
We must learn about our Roman Catholic tradition. We must embrace it as our culture, as the roots from which we draw much to help us live well now. But it is so much more than just a source of inspiration. It is our participation in what St Peter and St Paul died for. It is our sharing in the life and work of all the other saints we hear of in the Roman Canon, or who were buried in the Catacombs, down to St Philip and his holy friends, or any of those great saints of the Church. With an active participation in that treasury of faith, we can face the future with confidence.
These reflections are sent out each Wednesday to all those on our mailing list. Click here to sign up to our mailing list, and receive our Sunday E-newsletter and these reflections straight to your inbox.