De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Prinknash Abbey for All Souls 2017 Have you prayed for the departed members of your family today? Those who have died, and have no-one to pray for them? An excerpt from The Dream of Gerontius : closing words ... Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul, In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, And o'er the penal waters, as they roll, I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee. And carefully I dip thee in the lake, And thou, without a sob or a resistance, Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, Sinking deep, deeper, into the dim distance. Angels to whom the willing task is given, Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as liest; And Masses on the earth, and prayers in heaven, Shall aid thee at the Throne of the Most Highest. Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear, Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, And I will come and wake thee on the morrow. Farewell! Farewell! Blessed John Henry Newman ...

On Friday I was invited to attend a beautiful Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption & St. Gregory in Warwick Street. This is the Ordinariate Church, the Parish is dedicated to the life of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The main celebrant was Mgr Keith Newton and the Mass was a solemn Mass in the Ordinariate use. It was beautiful and included some lovely prayers for the congregation to say in anticipation of receiving Holy Communion. Mass was ad orientem and the first time I have been to a Mass using the Ordinariate use. This new text for the Catholic Mass integrates centuries old Anglican prayers into the Roman Rite and was specifically devised for the personal ordinariates – the structures set up by Benedict XVI to allow Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Pope, while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican liturgical and pastoral traditions. The Mass contains words from the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, first...