De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Another first for Pope Francis last Sunday. On the Baptism of the Lord, a versus populum altar was wheeled out for the Pope's Mass in the Sistine Chapel. Apart from its use at the end of conclaves, Holy Mass has always been celebrated at the main altar of the Sistine.  Perhaps it's just a coincidence that the new papal MC has a doctorate in liturgical studies from Sant'Anselmo? The change in orientation necessitated covering over a good chunk of the beautiful mosaic floor in a bland concrete grey coloured frame and, as Messa in Latino remarked, not even a crucifix on the altar. I can't help but find some poignant symbolism in what appears to be a forced modernism in one of the best known chapels in the world. A turning away from what is there and a covering of it, to what end? What do we gain? Pope Francis baptised a 16 babies, the first time he has done so since the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In a brief, off-the-cuff homily beneath Michelangelo’...

Welcome to this, the twenty-fifth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant ...