Preparing for the feast of St Philip
For each of the last five evenings, after Mass we have prayed the novena prayers to St Philip in preparation for his feast day. They are simple and heartfelt, calling on our Holy Father’s aid for this little corner of the Lord’s vineyard which is never without need of help. The words of the hymns, written in his honour by old Fathers over the years, remind us of his life and his patronage of us in heaven. As part of those devotions we read from St Philip’s life, giving us a picture of the fruits as well as the cause of Our Holy Father’s sanctity throughout his long life. We pray to the Holy Spirit during the novena on account of the great closeness St Philip had to the third person of the Blessed Trinity. That proximity to the Holy Spirit changed the young Philip’s life, and remained for him as a Pentecostal fire for the rest of his life. From the moment in the catacombs in 1544 when the Holy Spirit appeared to him as a ball of fire and entered into his heart he was changed both spiritually and physically: his heart was enlarged so much that his ribs remained broken his entire life. Philip was taken over by the Spirit and his life was guided by the Holy Spirit’s promptings in an extraordinary way.
St Philip’s life is a good place to look for evidence of what that Holy Spirit can do in a soul that is well disposed to him. If, in St Philip’s life, we see compassion, courage and a hatred of sin, all tied to his profound devotion (particularly to the Mass) along with a radiant, beautiful joy, we see too the work the Holy Spirit wants to do in us. Although our Father enjoyed these spiritual gifts in an unusual and impressive way, we should certainly try to imitate much of what the Spirit did in him. We should imitate him in his prayerfulness, in his love of learning of the things of God, in his devotion to the Blessed Eucharist and in his zeal for winning souls for the Lord — this is what his Oratory, after all, is for — it is for making us into saints after the pattern Philip sets.
Feast days are given us as helps, useful steps on our journey to support and encourage us. Put Monday in your diary, come to the Mass for our Saint and ask him to help you in your own journey with God. Take him as your own special patron and entrust your cares to him. Perhaps we could all of us try a little bit more to allow that saint of “gentleness and kindness, cheerful in penance, and in precept winning” to steer the little ships of our lives. And if we do trust him as our friend and guide, we ca be confident that he, kindest and most cheerful of fathers, will help us along that journey to the place where he is now and forever.
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The Novena to St Philip continues each night until Sunday, when we begin celebrations of his feast with Solemn First Vespers at 5pm.
On Monday, we will welcome Abbot Cuthbert Brogan from St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, as our guest celebrant and preacher at the Solemn Pontifical Mass at 6pm.
Our Lady, Salus populi Romani and Queen of Heaven
There has been much in the media recently about the principal image of Our Lady in Rome, Our Lady Salus populi Romani, whose history of veneration by the popes goes back to St Gregory the Great, who brought the image into Rome. But this is only one of the titles given to the image of Our Lady, and for much of its history, it has been known as the image of Our Lady, Regina caeli, the Queen of Heaven, the title by which we invoke the Mother of God so often during the Easter season.
This season is marked by this Marian antiphon in a way that the other seasons are not, because it even replaces the Angelus three times a day. So it seems worth taking a look at the text of it. It is shorter and simpler than the others. We don’t have the poetry of the Salve regina, where Eve’s exiled children mourn and weep in a vale of tears. We don’t have the clever Hebrew-Latin pun of the Alma redemptoris mater (Alma is both Latin for “kind” and Hebrew for “virgin”). In fact, the text is extremely straightforward:
O Queen of heaven rejoice! alleluia:
For he whom thou didst merit to bear, alleluia,
Hath arisen as he said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
It seems we spend three quarters of this antiphon telling the Mother of God things she already knows. But we do that in all these antiphons, and not for her benefit. When we say, “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy; hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope!”, we are reminding ourselves that Mary is merciful, and a consolation to us in this life. When we call her “clement, loving and sweet”, it’s not an empty compliment, but another reminder for us. In the same way, as we speak to Mary so many times a day throughout Eastertide, we are reminded that her Son is risen from the dead, as he foretold, and that we are joyful about it.
The last line is different. “Pray for us to God.” It’s not about Easter. We’re not telling her something that she already knows. We’re asking her to do something. Or…is it really that different? If we treat it in the same way as the first three lines, maybe we are telling the Queen of heaven to do something that she not only already knows but is already doing. This antiphon that we say and sing so many times throughout the season of Easter, then, is a joyful reminder of the Resurrection, and a joyful reminder that we have an advocate in heaven, looking out for us and pleading our cause, even as we go about our day and are busy with much more earthly things. Our Lady, Queen of heaven, pray for us.
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We were delighted to welcome the members of the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association who are in Oxford for their annual conference. They were given a presentation by Fr Benedict and one of our architects as our plans for our buildings are one of their case studies in excellence.
Habemus Papam!
The Fathers and Brothers received Pope Leo’s first Urbi et orbi blessing after singing the Te Deum in thanksgiving last night. It is a special privilege of the Pope to be able to bless everyone in the world all at once, as explained by the Cardinal Deacon:
“The Holy Father Leo grants, in the form established by the Church, an indulgence to all the faithful present and to those who receive his blessing by means of radio, television, and other technologies. Let us pray to God that he may long preserve the Pope as the shepherd of the Church and bestow peace and unity upon the whole world.”
Conclave
Today, the Cardinals go into Conclave, locked together in the Sistine Chapel, until they elect the next Pope, the successor of St Peter. It is a serious business, since so much hangs on who that man will be. In our church, as in many, many churches throughout the Catholic world, Masses have been offered Pro eligendo Summo Pontifice, with accompanying prayers from the faithful, that the Cardinals will choose the right man. There have been Masses offered in honour of the Holy Spirit, since it is understood that he has an important part to play in the process. But what is his role? It is easy to imagine that the Holy Spirit is solely responsible for the choice, but that might not account for the bad popes who have governed the Church from time to time.
Pope Francis, who revealed that Cardinal Ratzinger had been his candidate in 2005, was asked what he thought the Holy Spirit was saying to the Catholic Church through the election of Pope Benedict. He said that the Spirit was saying, “Here I am in charge. There is no room for manoeuvre.” Back in 1997, when Ratzinger was asked whether the Spirit was responsible for the choice of the new pope, he chuckled and said, “I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope… I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.”
Pope Benedict’s nuanced response is surely correct. He acknowledges the sense in which the Holy Spirit isn’t responsible: the electors have free will to choose whom they will. But at the same time, he also acknowledges the sense in which the Holy Spirit is responsible: the Spirit’s elastic, educative approach ultimately envelops the process and shields the barque of Peter from shipwreck. And certainly in the last centuries, the Church has been blessed with some outstanding holders of the Keys of Peter. Think of those men from the last couple of centuries, whose cause for beatification has been successfully pursued: Pius IX, Pius X, Pius XII (Venerable), John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II. The Alexander VI’s and Boniface VIIIs are all very much in the past.
The manner in which the Press reports on the choice and election of the new Vicar of Christ has been very much as if it were a political appointment. Hence the mantra from the Cardinals, “not a successor of Francis, but a successor of Peter,” which gives us hope that while the human element is indeed present — the Cardinals vote, debate, and deliberate — we should hold firmly to the belief that God works through their hearts and minds as they cast their votes.
When the new Pope emerges on the balcony of St Peter’s (whatever his theological colours) some of his supporters may think to themselves that the Holy Spirit has dramatically intervened and secured the best man for the job. Some of his critics, on the other hand, might think that the God has just withdrawn his wisdom and left the Cardinals to pick the wrong person.
Neither would be right, and both would be thinking not as God does but as human beings do. Instead, the decision of the cardinal electors will resound with the same unified but distinctive force as that declaration of the first apostles: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28)
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.
May Music
Sunday 4 May Solemn Mass 11:00
3rd Sunday of Easter
Missa “Puisque j’ay perdu” Lassus
Sicut cervus Palestrina
Regina Caeli Morales
Toccata in D BWV 912 Bach
Sunday 11 May Solemn Mass 11:00
4th Sunday of Easter
Missa Ave virgo sanctissima Esquivel
Deus, Deus meus Palestrina
Regina Caeli a 5 Victoria
Prelude and Fugue in G BWV541 Bach
Sunday 18 May Solemn Mass 11:00
5th Sunday of Easter
Missa Congratulamini mihi Lassus
Ardens est cor meum Dering
Caro mea vere est cibus Guerrero
Sunday 25 May Solemn Mass 11:00
6th Sunday of Easter
Missa brevis in C, KV 220 ‘Spatzen-Messe’ Mozart
Benedicite gentes Palestrina
Laudate Dominum Mozart
Allegro Moderato e serioso (Sonata I) Mendelssohn
Sunday 25 May Solemn Vespers 17:00
Our Holy Father St Philip Neri
Deus in adjutorium Croce
Magnificat primi toni Palestrina
Pangamus Nerio Sewell
Respice de caelo Sewell
Allegro assai vivace (Sonata I) Mendelssohn
Monday 26 May Solemn Mass 18:00
Our Holy Father St Philip Neri
Missa Papae Marcelli Palestrina
In spiritu humilitatis Croce
Jubilate Deo a 8 Gabrielli
Toccata in F BWV 540 Bach
Thursday 29 May Solemn Mass 18:00
The Ascension of the Lord
Missa La Corrente Foggia
O Rex Gloriae Palestrina
Ascendit Deus Phillips
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe
The gospel readings at Mass during the Easter Octave give us the Resurrection appearances of Christ after Easter: to the two women, to Mary Magdalene, to the Twelve, to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, at the sea of Galilee. Each is given to prove that he is truly risen, truly alive — he talks with them, eats with them, allows them to touch him. On Easter Sunday we read from St Peter’s great sermon in Acts, that the Lord appeared to those “who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead”.
The Lord’s insistence that the Apostles recognised he was truly, bodily risen and alive was not only for their benefit, but for ours too. Our whole Christian faith centres on the resurrection of Christ. Had he not been raised from the dead, he would be no more than another great prophet or teacher. At worst, he would be a fraud. The resurrection is the guarantee that he is, indeed, God, and his words and actions are those of God himself. It is the guarantee that we can trust those words, and therefore trust that he will lead us to the Father and everlasting life. As St Paul says, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain.”
You and I are not able to eat and drink with Jesus as the Apostles did. We cannot put our fingers into the wounds made by the nails in his hands. We know that he rose from the dead because the Apostles knew. We believe because they believed. That is why it is the faith of the Apostles in the resurrection of the Lord that is the foundation of our Catholic faith: the whole deposit rests on the Apostolic witness of St Peter, St James, St John, and the others.
This Apostolic witness has continued down the centuries through the ministry of the successors of the Apostles, the Bishops of the Church, and especially in the ministry of the Pope. He, and they, are called to confirm their brethren in the faith, and to feed and care for the Lord’s flock. They continue to announce to us, as St Mary Magdalene announced to St Peter, that the Lord is truly risen.
We pray this week for our late Holy Father, Pope Francis, offering the sacrifice of the Mass for him so that he might be raised to new life in God’s kingdom and given the reward of his labours. But we also thank God for the Apostolic witness of His Holiness, who proclaimed the Lord’s resurrection to the end of his life. And we pray too for the Cardinals who will soon enter the conclave to elect a new Successor of St Peter, that the Holy Spirit will guide their deliberations, and give us a good and holy Pope to continue the proclamation of the joy of the Gospel.
The Apostles are blessed because they saw the Lord; we have not seen him, yet we believe.
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“This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin.”
The beginning of the Easter Vigil.
Pope Francis
Four nights ago, in the gloom of the night that had just fallen, and under the light of the Paschal Candle, we began a solemn vigil. We retold the history of our salvation through the words of the scriptures culminating in the Gospel with those wondrous words, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen.” Those words usher in a new reality in our lives: that Christ’s Resurrection changes everything. That Paschal vigil truly begins, however, with one word, sung by the deacon before the Easter candle, “Rejoice!” We rejoice in hope, we rejoice in the promise made simply in the very fact of the the Risen Christ.
On Easter Sunday afternoon in Rome, Pope Francis gave some prophetic words before he pronounced what would be his last Urbi et Orbi blessing, his blessing to the city of Rome and to the world. His message said, “The Resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope. For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion… All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey. Together with the risen Jesus, they become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of Life.”
As we know, the next morning he was to set out on his own last journey, to stand before the same merciful and just judge before whom we all will stand, please God, filled with that hope which is no longer an illusion but is fulfilled in a person, in Our Lord Jesus Christ. The pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio was not without controversy. His approach to Catholics attached to more traditional forms of the Church’s worship was certainly regrettable, and caused deep hurt to many.
His words were often delivered in his customary informal style. They were all too often portrayed by papal commentators and journalists to be indicative of a liberal agenda, a modernising of an arcane institution, of a change in policy. Pope Francis, however, like any priest, was a servant of the truth, and that truth found in Christ Jesus and in his teaching is ever new but ever constant, and cannot be changed in the way the world would want it to. In the last analysis we might wonder what really has changed? Certainly none of the Church’s doctrine, but perhaps there has been a growth in other ways. It should be a badge of honour for a pope that he did nothing new, but said old truths in new ways.
Perhaps, after all, the core of the message of Pope Francis was a desire for the world to become changed, to become more aligned to the Good News of Christ rather than the other way around. Inspired by his predecessor, Pope Benedict, he advocated the inherent dignity of all people, he championed the forgotten, migrants, those who are most fragile and those on the margins. He advocated peace — the peace of Christ — as one of the necessary criteria for human flourishing and through his own public person-to-person encounters he often made himself a sign of compassion and welcome and love whilst, in essence, being doctrinally conservative — as all popes should be.
But he did also give new expression to ancient truth. Ten years ago, he decreed an extraordinary Jubilee, the Jubilee of Mercy for the whole Church — our own church was one of those throughout the world to have a Holy Door that year. He saw at the beginning of his pontificate a need for the world to know again the mercy God extends to us sinners. He gave a renewed call to come to the Sacrament of Confession, to penance for our sins and for us to grow in the virtues by way of “the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.” Seeing our God as a merciful God incarnate in the Lord Jesus was, for Pope Francis, central to our growth in holiness and in spreading the Gospel.
And that spread of the Gospel was, of course, to be communicated through the joy of knowing Christ. As with Pope St John Paul II and Pope Benedict before him, central to his teaching was that our Christian life should be infectious by the manner in which we live it, and that joy is the sign of God’s life in us. In his letter on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the late Pope encouraged all of us to become missionaries of the Heart of Jesus — if we marvel and wonder at and rejoice in the love given to us in the Heart of Jesus, then we have to show that wonder and joy in the witness we give to others.
We are in the midst of nine days of mourning for our late Pope. These are not days for building up legacies, nor for wondering what will come next and who will succeed him. In these days we should pray for a poor sinner who — whilst he did much good and inspired many — was imperfect as a man and imperfect as a Pope, because there is only one who is perfect: Jesus Christ. We pray that God will give him a merciful judgement and — in the words of St John Henry Newman whom he canonised — now that the fever of life is over and his work is done, may God in his mercy give him safe lodging, a holy rest and peace at the last.
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.
There will be an additional Mass at 6pm tonight for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis.
A Solemn Requiem Mass will be celebrated at a later date.
O God, whose nature is always to forgive and to show mercy, we humbly implore you for your servant Francis, whom you have called this day to journey to you, and, since he hoped and believed in you, grant that he may be led to our true homeland to delight in its everlasting joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee.
Because by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.
Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.
#oxfordoratory
Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum, et dedit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen.
Christ became obedient for us unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name.
The entry of the deacons of the Passion on Good Friday.
#oxfordoratory