St Francis de Sales

On Friday, we will celebrate the feast of the great Counter-Reformation Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church, St Francis de Sales. He founded an Oratory at Thonon, on the shore of Lake Geneva, after having met St Philip in Rome and having been inspired by his work there. Sadly for St Francis, he was not able to stay there for very long, because he succeeded to the Bishopric of Geneva upon his predecessor’s death three years later. As Bishop, he laboured to bring the people entrusted to his care back to the Faith — Geneva was, of course, the centre of the Calvinist world.

When we think of the Counter-Reformation, we might think of great institutions founded to fight heresies, like the Society of Jesus or the Inquisition — but St Francis’ efforts were quite different. He preached the Word of God simply and engagingly, drawing people in with the sweetness of our Faith. Nowadays, he is often known as the Doctor of Charity, precisely because the foundation of his approach was to preach that love of God which has no end. He worked hard to bring everyone, from all walks of life, closer to God, following St Philip in teaching the faithful how to dedicate themselves to God in the midst of their ordinary lives.

We might imagine the challenges of our own times to be very different to those faced by St Francis more than four hundred years ago, but, in fact, his example is essential for us as Catholics today. It is so often said that polite conversation does not include money, politics or religion — such things are surely far too personal to be spoken about in public! St Francis de Sales shows us that this need not be the case. Our Faith is not something to be embarrassed about: it is something we must share with others, and there is only one way to share it. We do not need expertise in theology or rhetoric — all we need do is, like St Francis, to talk to our friends, our family, our neighbours — to anyone who will listen — about the love that Our Lord Jesus Christ has for each and every one of us.

St Joseph Vaz

This week we celebrate the feast day of Saint Joseph Vaz, known as the Apostle of Sri Lanka, who was both a Son of St Philip and a great missionary. The idea of an Oratorian missionary may seem rather strange to us. Usually, Fathers of the Oratory are thought of as “fishers and not hunters” of souls, quietly winning individuals for Christ. After all, Saint Philip had a deep desire to travel to India to preach the Gospel, but was told by the holy monk Agostino Ghettini that St John the Evangelist had appeared to him and said that it was the will of God for Philip to remain in Rome and that “Rome was to be his Indies”. In humble submission to the will of God, he never once left the city for the rest of his life.

Almost a century later, Saint Joseph Vaz spent his whole life travelling around those very Indies that Saint Philip had renounced, converting thousands of people to the Catholic Faith.

There were great miracles that accompanied his missionary work. To give just one example: in the region of Kandy, the rainy season failed one year and there was a severe drought. The staple food of the people was rice, which they were unable to grow. Magicians had offered sacrifices to the devil and the aid of Buddha had been called upon, but still the rain did not come. The King then called upon Father Vaz to pray for rainfall since “he preaches that his is the true God”.

Having erected an altar in a prominent place in the town, Father Vaz prayed that the people may be saved from famine. As he was praying, rain fell for several hours until all of the reservoirs of the town were full again, though the altar at which the Saint was praying remained completely dry. This miracle wrought a huge conversion amongst the people of Kandy and many were baptised. The King, astonished at so great a miracle, allowed Father Vaz to travel wherever he wished in the surrounding regions, which he had so far not been able to do and this was hugely advantageous to his mission.

Impressive miracles such as these were nevertheless no replacement for the chief tools of his apostolic work: prayer, administering the Sacraments and preaching. Here we see what made his missionary work distinctly Oratorian.

Fr Francesco Agnelli of the Savigliano Oratory reminds us that there is no vocation “more sublime than the one to which the sons of St Philip are called; for their vocation consists in three things, the highest and holiest which adorn Holy Church: prayer, the administration of the sacraments, and feeding the people with the daily Word of God. Even the Apostles themselves were not called to a nobler end.”

From letters of Saint Joseph Vaz towards the very end of his life, we get a sense of the particularly Philippine approach on which he modelled all of his missions. The Saint, writing in December 1710 to one of his great comrades in Sri Lanka, Fr Menezes, to hand over his duties as Vicar General and as Superior of the Oratorians, says: “Take no attention of the fact I am still alive; I cannot celebrate Mass nor hear confessions; what therefore is life to me?” And again one week later, on the eve of his death, he writes: “I will pray as long as my strength lasts, for I am no more good for anything else.”

The Saint’s priorities could not be laid out to us more clearly. He had a great love of the Holy Mass and even when he was no longer able to say Mass, he still received Holy Communion every day. When he was too weak to preach Christ to the people of Sri Lanka, he did not cease to turn to God in prayer for their souls.

We may not be called to preach the Gospel in far-flung lands but we are each called to spread the message of Jesus Christ, not by any heroic means but by performing well the daily duties of our state of life. The example of Saint Joseph Vaz, himself following the pattern of Saint Philip, gives to us the means to achieve this: prayer, frequent reception of the Sacraments and study of scripture. May we, through the intercession of St Joseph Vaz, be attentive at prayer, deepen our love for the Holy Mass and meditate more fervently on the Word of God. St Joseph Vaz, pray for us!

Prayers at the crib as part of our popular children’s Epiphany procession and Benediction.

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

The Spirit of the Magi

Our celebration of the feast of the Epiphany of our Lord is very special, because it marks the point at which we come into the story. We, the Gentile world, are called into friendship with the Lord, called to share in the joys of God’s kingdom. For us, life is about seeking Christ, and doing so in the spirit of the Magi would seem to be an excellent way of going about it. Like them, we embark on a spiritual journey marked by faith, perseverance, humility and surrender. The Wise Men’s story teaches profound lessons about what it means to search for the Divine with a sincere heart. First, consider how they set out on their journey guided only by a star. They had no idea where it would lead them or what exactly they would find, yet they set off, curious and eager to see where the star would lead. Seeking Christ often requires us to step into the unknown, trusting in his guidance even when the way ahead isn’t exactly clear. We might ask ourselves if we are willing to trust God’s direction in our lives, even when it challenges our comfort or understanding?

The journey of the Wise Men was long and arduous and even dangerous, yet they persisted in it, deeply committed and determined to find the Christ Child. Are we persistent in our search for Jesus, even when the way is hard, tedious or dangerous? Do we seek him in prayer, the Scriptures, in the Sacraments and in the humdrum circumstances of everyday life?

St Matthew tells us that when the Magi found the Holy Child Jesus in Bethlehem, “they fell down and worshipped him”. What an odd sight that must have seemed! Despite their importance and status, they humbled themselves before the infant King. Do we approach Jesus with humility? Do we recognise the wisdom of surrendering ourselves to him, acknowledging our need for his grace and mercy?

Then they offered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, each with their symbolic significance, representing the Magi’s recognition of Jesus as King, God and Redeemer. What about us? What gifts do we bring? Our time, talents, love and service? And what of the sacrifices we can make to honour him fully?

And having made their offerings to Jesus, those men left Bethlehem and returned to their homes “by a different way”, thereby avoiding any further contact with Herod, lest he discovered the child’s whereabouts and did him harm. Their return journey was characterised surely by joy and grace. Their encounter with Christ and his family, must surely have had a transforming effect. They went back with renewed purpose. How has our encounter with Christ changed us? Are we willing to take new paths in life? Are we willing to let the Lord transform our lives?

To seek the Lord Jesus in the spirit of the Magi is to live with hearts open to his light and love. It involves embracing the onward journey with courage and with faith, offering our best and trusting that he will lead us into a deeper communion with God.

Blessed be the Holy Child Jesus now and for evermore.

On the feast of the Epiphany, we bless chalk and use it to bless our houses, by writing 20+C+M+B+25 over the door.

Bless, O Lord, this chalk and grant salvation to the human race. May all who cause the names of your holy magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar to be inscribed above their doors be blessed by the invocation of your most holy name, enjoy health of mind and body, and experience your strong protection for their souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. #oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

January Music

Sunday 5 January Solemn Mass 11:00
Epiphany
Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis  Clemens
Reges Tharsis Byrd
Magi veniunt ab oriente Clemens
Épiphanie Litaize

Sunday 12 January Solemn Mass 11:00
Baptism of the Lord
Missa vulnerasti cor meum Morales
Tribus Miraculis Palestrina
O admirabile commercium Josquin
Nöel Étranger Daquin

Sunday 19 January Solemn Mass 11:00
2nd Sunday of the Year
Mass for five voices Byrd
Alma redemptoris mater Victoria
Videntes stellam Lassus
Praeludium in E minor Bruhns

Sunday 26 January Solemn Mass 11:00
3rd Sunday of the Year
Missa “Puisque j'ay perdu” Lassus
Dextera Domini Palestrina
O sacrum convivium Tallis
Fugue in G minor BWV 542ii Bach

2024

Fr Nicholas had the wonderful opportunity in November to spend Thanksgiving in Tennessee, with great friends of the Oratory. While we don’t have a similar day in this country when we stop to consider everything and everyone for which we are thankful, the Church does end the civil year with such a reflection, singing the Te Deum to thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed on us. There was much to be grateful for during 2024 in the life of our parish and Oratory family, with so many signs of God’s work in his Church.

In February, our work with adults entering the Church caught the attention of the press at home and internationally. Having previously instructed all converts on a one-to-one basis, at the end of 2023 we found that we had to launch a series of catechism classes for adults. The first of these finished in February, and was a joyful celebration not just for the new eight new Catholics, but also for all their new friends in the parish who came to welcome and support them. A second class began as the first finished, and we welcomed seven more new Catholics into the Church in June. Not everyone’s journey of faith quite runs to the schedule of the classes, of course, and there have been many more baptisms and receptions throughout the year, as well as welcoming home a number of baptised Catholics who had not been brought up in the faith. A third class began in October: please pray for all those preparing to received the sacraments in February 2025. Another class will begin as that one ends — if you know anyone thinking about becoming a Catholic, now is the time to send them our way.

Last year we baptised 41 new Christians and welcomed Constance, Benjamin, Miguel, Kieran, Jessica, Sally, Benoît, Zachary, Edward, Luke, Abel, Maybelle, Joseph, Isabella, Francisco, Faye, Anthony, Vivien, Rosamund, Amara-Rose, Julian, Ashwiny, Alexis, Héloïse, Meriel, Lucia, Olive, Emelia, Daniel, Amari, Timothy, Eleanor, Gregory, Patrick, Liam, Tomas, Maite, Elise, Julian, Ema and Alessandra into the family of the Church. Jenni, Fiona, Joshua, Kevin, Melanie, Charlie, Seth, Angela, Andrew, Guy, Yasmin, Benedict and Virginia were received into full communion in the One Fold of the Redeemer. 22 couples began their married lives together at the Oratory this past year, tied with 2023 for the most weddings in our church in a year: please pray for Jon and Sarah, Conor and Emily, Clifford and Stephanie, Jonathan and Beatrice, Clément and Faye, Matthew and Caitlin, Anthony and Angela, Dominic and Caoimhe, Callum and Olivia, Jonathan and Katherine, Joshua and Matilda, Bryce and Martha, Leandro and Lisa, Marc and Sorcha, Patrick and Philippa, Tomas and Simona, Ronan and Shannon, Taylor and Emily, Casey and Virginia, Omar and Claudia, Bryce and Bethany, and William and Celine.

Our average Mass attendance — worked out by counting everyone at Mass on four weekends in September/October — was 950, and there were many weekends when our attendance exceeded 1000. This is one of the highest in the Archdiocese, and is the product of the love and faith of our parishioners. It is also testimony to the hard work of many: the Fathers and Brothers, our choirs and music director, our sacristan, altar-servers, flower arrangers, church cleaners, greeters, Cafe Neri volunteers, Oratory Outreach and Porters. We are always in need of new volunteers for the Cafe, the Lodge and church cleaning, so if you are able to help please speak to one of the Fathers or Brothers. These are all such important ministries, and we are immensely grateful to all who have given up their time in service of our community.

On the music front, we began the year with a concert by the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, launching their CD Sacred Treasures of Venice. In February there was a performance of John Stainer’s The Crucifixion by our own Oratory Choir under the direction of Rory Moules, our Director of Music. We are blessed to have outstanding singers and musicians, who have continued to build on our reputation for fine liturgical music — something often commented on by those who attend Mass here or follow us on the livestream.

We started an online shop to further diversify our income and provide an opportunity for people world-wide to purchase our own publications, cufflinks, lapel badges and tote bags, and a selection of other books and devotional items chosen by the Fathers. The Oratory Prayerbook remains a best seller, joined this year by a matching edition of the maxims of St Philip arranged for each day of the year. You can visit the shop at https://shop.oxfordoratory.org.uk/

As part of the renovation and restoration of the Oratory church we employed Cliveden Conservation to uncover the murals of the life of St Aloysius in the sanctuary, painted by Gabriel Pippet when the church was first built, and covered over in the 1940s. The murals turned out to be in much better condition than originally feared, and look as good as new. This work was made possible by the generosity of parishioners and friends, and we quickly raised the £20,000 needed. The information gathered from the process of uncovering will inform the future phases of the restoration of the once-colourful interior decoration of our church. Cliveden Conservation also made some repairs and restoration to the Relic Chapel, which suffered damage during the very wet weather, and gave it a much-needed clean. We hope to start more extensive renovations this year, as the plans are in their final stages and the fundraising campaign is almost ready to be launched.

The most obvious improvement made to our church this year has been a new microphone system, with vastly better sound quality both in church and on the livestream. We were able to purchase and install this system through the very generous donation of American friends, who came in November to see the results for themselves.

2024 was something of a bumper year for American visitors to the Oxford Oratory, as we welcomed 7 different pilgrim groups from the USA, including a group from Arlington, Virginia, with their Bishop Michael Burbidge, who were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of their diocese. We had pilgrims from Italy, Spain, and Germany, and visitors from the Oratories of New York, Nancy, and the Bournemouth Oratory-in-Formation. Over 750 people visited the Oratory during the Oxford Open Doors Weekend, many of whom had never been inside our church before. We welcomed the new Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, to celebrate Mass and preach on St Philip’s Day. A particular highlight of the year was the visit of The Archbishop of Toledo, Spain, and thirty of his priests, who celebrated Mass in our church on Easter Thursday. The priests were all under ten years ordained and all from the same diocese, so it seems that the so-called vocations crisis is certainly not a universal phenomenon, even in Europe.

There is certainly no vocations crisis in the Oratory, as with the clothing of Br Thomas Nimmo in the habit in September we now have five men in the noviciate. Three of our brothers continue their priestly studies with the Dominicans at Blackfriars, and we are grateful to the Jesuit Fathers for a grant that covers their tuition. St Philip had close friendships with the Dominicans and Jesuits in Rome, so it is wonderful that we are able to maintain those friendships here in Oxford. An important event in the Oratorian Confederation took place in October, when Fathers from all the Oratories in the world convened in Rome for our six-yearly General Congress. This was an important opportunity to renew old friendships and make new ones, and the hard work of revising the General Statutes that govern our Institute was accomplished with much Philippine good humour.

Our parishioners and visitors have always been eager to help needy causes and charities, and past year we gave charitable donations from the Poor Box to OxPAT, the Santa Maria Education Fund, the Oxford Companions of the Order of Malta, the Order of Malta Volunteers and Life. Our crib collection raised £1,044 for Aid to the Church in Need; the Mission Appeal for the Kiltegan Fathers collected £1,479; and we were able to send 232 gift parcels to the Operation Christmas Child Christmas shoebox appeal. Our Lent Project for 2024 was for Let the Children Live!, a Catholic charity in Colombia. The founder, Fr Peter Walters preached an inspiring appeal, and the total raised was another record-breaking £4,764. Closer to home, we launched our own charitable team Oratory Outreach, which has run successful collections for the Oxford Food Bank each month. Oratory Outreach also helped to host the Companions of the Order of Malta Easter and Christmas lunches here at the Oratory for the homeless and less fortunate, and we continued to serve as the Companions’ base of operations for the twice weekly evening soup and sandwich runs.

Sadly 2024 also broke the record for the number of funerals, although the demography of central Oxford is such that we still have far fewer than other similar parishes. We said goodbye to a number of familiar faces, members of our parish for many years, commending to God’s mercy: Joy Finnigan, Patrick Lavelle, Norah Harris, Anna Baker, Madeline Dandridge, John Wilson, Linda Bond, Paulette Eeley, Aidan Mackey (our oldest parishioner, at 101 years), Desmond Sullivan, Monica Kaye, Pauline Power, Prof. Ian Shipsey, Prof. Richard Pring, and Evelyn Watkin, who died aged sixteen after a 22 month battle with cancer. We also celebrated the Requiem Mass of Fr John Hunwicke, a retired Ordinariate priest and well-known blogger. Fr Hunwicke was ordained priest in our church in 2012, after decades of ministry in the Church of England, and latterly courageously taught Latin to some of the Fathers. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

2025 is a Holy Year of Jubilee, when the whole Church once again experiences the mercy and forgiveness of God in a special way through events in Rome and in dioceses throughout the world. A Jubilee Year is an opportunity to forgive debts and start afresh, and to recognise what needs to change in our own lives and in the world to bring about the reign of Christ. But every new year gives such an opportunity, as every year is a year of grace, of joys, sorrows and celebrations. 2025 is also the 150th anniversary of the opening of our church, which we mark later in the year. And so the life of the Church goes on, and we continue to dedicate ourselves, our Oratory and our parish to the Lord and his blessed Mother, trusting always in the prayers of our Holy Father St Philip and of St Aloysius our Patron.

Today is Christmas Day

He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing out the lustiest peals he had ever heard. Clash, clang, hammer, ding, dong, bell; bell, dong, ding, hammer, clang, clash! Oh glorious, glorious! Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist. Clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold—cold, piping for the blood to dance to—golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells—oh glorious, glorious! “What’s today?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him. “EH?” returned the boy, with all his might of wonder. “What’s today, my fine fellow!” said Scrooge. “Today!” replied the boy. “Why, CHRISTMAS DAY” “It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it.”

Those lines from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol remind us that we haven’t missed it. Today is Christmas Day, and a dawn like no other, except perhaps the dawn that rises in the Easter garden, as it will again some months from now. In reality those two dawns are only one: the child we kneel before this day was born for that — to live in our flesh, to teach us the way to Heaven, and to give then that self-same life so as to open the gates of Paradise to those who would be led by a Child.

At dawn on Christmas Day is celebrated the second Mass — that of the Shepherds. Those men of the hill country of Judah who began their shift of flock-watching as they had on any other day, and then the angels came with the celestial choir and they hasten to Bethlehem and found the promised Messiah, not leading an army but as God-made-man, Emmanuel forevermore, the Almighty in all the vulnerability of a baby. The Introit of this Mass makes plain the glory of what the shepherds beheld:

A light shall shine upon this day: for the Lord is born to us: and he shall be called Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace: of whose reign there shall be no end.

We have the shepherds before the crib now, contemplating in wonder the babe and his Mother, no doubt with the angels’ words ringing still in their ears, these moments which they would forever recall. The Gospel of the Mass does not leave them there — we find them then going out and rejoicing and telling all the people of Bethlehem of the joy of this dawn. When God comes to any heart it cannot keep that joy to itself.

Today is Christmas Day, a day like none other. Please God we will find ourselves before the crib this day, to behold the child come to set us free, and with all the many cares and requests for ourselves and our world that we bring to him, let us linger a moment longer and consider that God came down from Heaven, for us, and let us not forget to tell him, simply, ‘thank you’.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

Happy Christmas!

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

Advent Songs

It can seem that the songs we have to hear in the last days before Christmas get worse every year. Ever more terrible versions of pop “classics” from the 70s and 80s try to revive nostalgia for a new generation, and poor Mariah Carey must regret the moment she covered that Christmas hit. Thankfully we still have some good songs to keep us in the right frame of mind.

Each Advent, the final week before Christmas is marked by some very ancient words. Every day at Vespers (and at Mass before the Gospel) we hear the words of the O Antiphons, or the Great Antiphons, ringing out as if through the mists of time. We also sing their words in the much-loved hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Their very language sounds mysterious and arcane, and they conjure up for us the sense of awe and wonder that we should have at the great mystery of Christmas. Their origins are decidedly ancient. We have evidence of them being sung at the great Benedictine Abbey of Fleury in the ninth century, and the philosopher Boethius quotes from the first of them in the fifth century. They contain titles for Christ, mined from the Old Testament, which point the way to the coming Messiah, and they call upon him to help and save us.

Yesterday we heard the first of them, when we called out to the one who is the “Wisdom of the Most High, ordering all things with strength and gentleness,” and asked him to “come and teach us the way of true knowledge.” Tonight at vespers we will sing, “O Adonai and Ruler of the House of Israel, who gave the law to Moses on Sinai; come and redeem us with outstretched arm.” And so they go on, ever deepening their call, driven by the longing of all peoples for the saving presence of Christ to come into our midst, until the last of them on the 23rd, reaches their completion. On that evening we call, “O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: come and save us, O Lord our God.”

These beautiful antiphons remind us of a truth that the rest of modern Christmas culture can easily forget. This baby we await, this Christ-child, is in fact the deeply longed-for hope of all the ages. Since the fall of man, the coming of this one — The Root of Jesse, the Key of David, the Radiant Dawn — has been expected, and is the one who will bring with him the salvation for which every generation hopes.

And he brings salvation to each of us — in fact he already has. The O Antiphons remind us that Christmas for each of us is the commemoration of the fact that God thinks so much of us, he stepped into our life, took our human nature to himself, so that he could save us and share his divine life with us in return. He is the greatest of gifts and the fulfilment of every promise.

These mysterious antiphons heighten the sense of hope and longing in the last days of Advent. As the final week before Christmas arrives with its last posting dates, online order deadlines, the last shopping Saturday and the inevitable queues at the butcher’s shop, our hope and expectation can sometimes be to have it over and done with! But that’s not quite right. These last days should encourage within us a little more reflection, a bit more soul-searching to see what sort of expectation is in our hearts for the one who saves us. He comes so simply, and so gently into our lives that despite being the awesome fulfilment of the hope of all the ages, if we aren’t careful, we might miss him. All of us need to take a few moments here and there to still wonder, to wonder at the beauty and disarming simplicity of God’s regard for poor sinners like us, that he gets down to our size in order to say, “I love you.”

O God, who didst look on man when he had fallen down into death, and resolve to redeem him by the advent of thine only begotten Son; grant, we beseech thee, that they who confess his glorious Incarnation may also be admitted to the fellowship of him their Redeemer, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (St Ambrose)

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

Rorate, cæli, desuper, et nubes pluant justum; aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatórem.

Drop down dew from above, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth be opened and bring forth a Saviour. (Isaiah 45:8)

Rorate Mass this morning in honour of Our Lady, in preparation for Christmas.

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

Christmas Mass Times 2024

Wednesday 18 December
Carol Service with the Oratory choir at 8pm
Free entry, all welcome
The church will open for the carol service at 19:40

Tuesday 24 December — Christmas Eve
Masses at 7:30 and 10:00
Confessions 7:00–7:30 and 9:00–17:00
Sung First Vespers of Christmas at 17:30
First Mass of Christmas with carols at 18:30
The church is closed after Mass until 23:00

Carols from 23:45
Midnight Mass at midnight

Wednesday 25 December — Christmas Day
EF Latin Mass at 8:00
Sung English Mass at 9:30
Solemn Mass at 11:00
Solemn Benediction at 17:30
No confessions or evening Mass

Thursday 26 December
Mass at 10:00 only

Friday 27 December
Masses at 10:00 and 18:00

Saturday 28 December – Monday 30 December
Masses and confessions at the usual times

Tuesday 31 December — New Year’s Eve
Masses at 7:30, 10:00 and 18:00
Solemn Benediction and Te Deum after 18:00 Mass

Wednesday 1 January — New Year’s Day
Mass at 10:00 only
Followed by prayers for the New Year

Saturday 11 January
Epiphany Procession & Benediction at 15:00

Confessions
20 minutes before all Sunday & weekday Masses (except as noted above)
Saturdays 9:00–10:00 and 17:30–18:30
Christmas Eve 7:00–7:30 and 9:00–17:00

The Kind Woman in Heaven

One cold December night, Bishop Jean Marie Latour spotted an elderly woman crouched in the doorway of his church. She was crying: for the first time in nineteen years, she had managed to escape her captors to visit the church, only to find it locked. The bishop opened the doors for her, and the two prayed together before the statue of Our Lady.

Never had it been permitted him to behold such deep experience of the holy joy of religion as on that pale December night. He was able to feel, kneeling beside her, the preciousness of the things of the altar to her who was without possessions; the tapers, the image of the Virgin, the figures of the saints, the Cross that took away indignity from suffering and made pain and poverty a means of fellowship with Christ. Kneeling beside the much enduring bond-woman, he experienced those holy mysteries as he had done in his young manhood. He seemed able to feel all it meant to her to know that there was a Kind Woman in Heaven, though there were such cruel ones on earth. Old people, who have felt blows and toil and known the world’s hard hand, need, even more than children do, a woman’s tenderness. Only a Woman, divine, could know all that a woman can suffer. Not often, indeed, had Jean Marie Latour come so near to the Fountain of all Pity as in the Lady Chapel that night; the pity that no man born of woman could ever utterly cut himself off from; that was for the murderer on the scaffold, as it was for the dying soldier or the martyr on the rack. The beautiful concept of Mary pierced the priest’s heart like a sword.

— Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

The story may be fictional, but the message is true, and has been experienced by countless many. “The Blessed Virgin is the comforter of the afflicted,” writes Our Cardinal. “We all know how special a mother’s consolation is, and we are allowed to call Mary our Mother from the time that our Lord from the Cross established the relation of mother and son between her and St John.”

Even Christ benefitted from the his Mother’s consolation. As he hung on the cross, he knew that she was the one person who had no part in his being there. His Mother alone was in no way responsible through her own actions for his suffering, thanks to the extraordinary gift of God’s grace that she received from the very first moment of her existence. Mary’s Immaculate Conception enabled her to comfort her Son even in his agony, in a way that no other human being ever could. And she is for us still that “Kind Woman in Heaven”, a fountain of pity, and a consolation to all of us in this vale of tears.

Tota pulchra es, Maria!

The beginning of Solemn Vespers of the Immaculate Conception.

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram

Are you a single woman aged 40 or under and interested in living in a community as a female Oratorian?

Where you choose to live in community under the sole rule of charity, share a prayer life, maintain your employment, carry out good works and assist the fathers of the Oratory in the parish.

The charisms of humility, joy and charity would be the key characteristics of such a group.

If you are interested or just curious, please get in touch with Mary Fisher (usually welcoming at the 11am mass on Sundays) or email her to discuss further at: mjlf87@gmail.com

View on Instagram

Advent Hope

Advent, as we well know, is a season of waiting and anticipation, when the Church invites us to reflect on the mystery of our Lord’s coming — past, present and future. In the writings of St John Henry Newman, our Cardinal, we find some profound insights as to how we are to live this season of anticipation. St John Henry reminds us of the importance of interior preparation. In one of his sermons, he writes: “We are not simply to believe, but to watch; not simply to love, but to watch; not simply to obey, but to watch.” This watchfulness is at the heart of Advent — and it is not a merely passive waiting, but an active, intentional readiness for the coming of the Lord. Newman’s words are a challenge to go beyond the surface, to put away distractions and to prepare our hearts to receive the Lord with purity and devotion. Advent, for our cardinal, is meant to be understood as a call to self-awareness — not to drift through life without a clear sense of purpose, for the Christian has a definite work to do and an important goal in mind. “Respice finem!”

Newman’s life and theology is deeply infused with hope, a truly Advent virtue, which looks forward to the end and fulfilment of things. “Faith tells us of things we do not see, but hope tells us of things that are to come.” Advent is marked by this hopeful longing, not just for the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord at Christmas, but also of the future, when “He shall come again in glory, to judge both the living and the dead.” For Newman, hope is not some wishful thinking: it is rooted in trust in God’s promises and a confident expectation that they will be fulfilled. The Cardinal, clung on to this virtue during the course of his long life; especially during the many trials and difficulties he faced, which he endured in faith with great hope, trusting always that God “knows what he is about.”

At the heart of Advent is the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh and living among us. Our Cardinal contemplated this profound mystery of God’s love for his world, seeing it, the generosity of God towards us, and his humility in becoming one like us. In one Christmas sermon, he reflects on the amazing fact of the Lord’s humility: “And with a wonderful condescension he came, not as before in power, but in weakness, in the form of a servant, in the likeness of that fallen creature whom he purposed to restore.” And in his sermon The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life: “He became as one of his own creatures, as one of ourselves, born of a woman, having flesh and blood, bones and nerves, like ours.” This truth should fill us with awe and gratitude, as much as it did the Church Fathers of the early centuries, as they struggled to present the Catholic Faith coherently, formulating the Creeds, so that Christians could express what they believed with a united voice and heart. The Incarnation continues today, because Jesus Christ is still Emmanuel, “God with us”, here and now, living among us in his Word and in the Sacrament of the Altar. Let us then foster the true Advent spirit, of watching and “waiting in Blessed Hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ”.

December Music

Sunday 1 December Solemn Mass 11:00
Advent I
Missa Ego sum qui sum Rogier
Canite tuba Palestrina
Vigilate Byrd

Sunday 8 December Solemn Mass 11:00
Advent II
Missa Conditor Alme Siderum Animuccia
Deus tu convertens Palestrina
Alma redemptoris mater Fernandez

Sunday 8 December Solemn Vespers 17:00
The Immaculate Conception
Ave maris stella Ceballos
Magnificat octavi toni Victoria
Alma Redemptoris Mater L’Héritier

Monday 9 December Solemn Mass 18:00
The Immaculate Conception
Missa Osculetur me Lassus
Ave Maria a8 Victoria
Ave Maria Parsons

Sunday 15 December Solemn Mass 11:00
Advent III (‘Gaudete’)
Missa Quatuor vocum Scarlatti
Gaude et laetare Sweelinck
Audivi vocem de caelo Tallis

Sunday 22 December Solemn Mass 11:00
Advent IV
Missa Ave Maria Palestrina
Ecce Dominus veniet Praetorius
Ave Maria Palestrina

Wednesday 25 December Solemn Mass at Midnight
Christmas Day — Midnight Mass
Mass in Eb Rheinberger
O magnum mysterium Lauridsen
Verbum caro Sheppard

Christmas Day — Mass during the day Solemn Mass 11:00
Missa Sancti Nicolai Haydn
Laetentur coeli Byrd
Hodie Christus natus est Sweelinck

Sunday 29 December Solemn Mass 11:00
The Holy Family
Missa O magnum mysterium Victoria
Dies sanctificatus Palestrina
O magnum mysterium Victoria

The End is Nigh

With everything that is going on in the world today you might think that the end is nigh. Every news report and weather forecast seems designed to make us all very frightened. But every age has had its wars and crises, and there have always been those who have claimed special knowledge about the end of the world or some coming disaster: mankind has always lived in the shadow of some uncertainty about what the future holds.

As we end one liturgical year and begin Advent once more, the Church has us turn our hearts and minds to the end-times. The Lord made a considerable number of predictions of the future in the Gospels, and many of them involve death and disaster. They fall roughly into two: predictions about the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, and predictions concerning the end of the world. Jerusalem and the temple were indeed to be destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans under Trajan, and not one stone stood upon another. Often, however, in the Gospels we find predictions of the end of Jerusalem and the Temple mixed up with predictions about the end of the world. Our Lord says that there will be many earthquakes, plagues, famines, wars: for these will inevitably occur. Almost every age of the world has experienced its ample share of these things. But maybe that’s exactly the point. The end of the world is always nigh.

Because it is not the end of this physical world — the earth, and all it contains — that should concern us, but our own end. From the standpoint of our own death, what will we regard as being the most important in our lives? Probably not our careers, or politics, or economics, or our bank accounts, or our carbon footprints, but probably our families, those we have loved, and how we have lived during the time given to us. And of course our own end will be in judgement, for we will have to render an account to our Creator. And that judgment will come down to the question — which we must be constantly asking ourselves — whether God and our neighbour have been the principal concerns of our life. Scripture constantly emphasises these questions. Remember Our Lord’s summary of the Law: You shall love the Lord your God, and your neighbour as yourself. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but his words shall not pass away.

Our consolation is, of course, that while war, disaster and death are inevitable, hell is not. We have the strength and consolation — and great hope — of our faith, with all the assistance that our faith gives us, to avoid the fate worse than war, disaster and death. As Christians we need to accept that assistance and use it regularly — the Mass and Holy Communion obviously, but also Confession, and prayer and fasting and penance and good works. That is how we ensure that God and our neighbour are our principal concerns, and our primary anxieties. If we are trying to live a good life, with the help of God’s grace, trying to help others and love others, and put right those things that are wrong in us and in the world, then we have no need to fear our own apocalypses, and the judgment of the one who loves us more than we could ever deserve. He is the one, as St Paul says, who does more for us than we can ask or even imagine. Or in his own words, the one who came not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world — and that means you and I — might be saved.

We didn’t pack all the Christmas shoeboxes ourselves. We’ve been very pleased to receive donations from other local groups, especially the Oxford Syro-Malabar Youth Group, as well as some local businesses.

#oxfordoratory

View on Instagram