St Therese

[mcb]

My impression is that everyone, from diocesan bishops to us ordinary folk, has been absolutely stunned by the impact of this tour. Not what some of us were expecting (I'm not into relics at all, meself), and still difficult put one's finger on exactly what took place, but the whole thing has been a quite extraordinary demonstration of faith and something more besides.

A musical colleague of mine at the cathedral said "It's just like for Princess Diana", on seeing the rather determined throng on Friday evening. There's something in that - I don't know whether anyone has strewn flowers in the path of the car taking St Thérèse round the country, but after seeing the crowds this weekend it doesn't seem remotely implausible.

At the cathedral this morning they were talking about 20,000 people having been in from Friday evening to Saturday night (unaudited figure!), with today's visitors to add to the total. At the lunchtime Mass yesterday 2,000 people received Communion. So there's no denying that amazing good things have come of the tour.

But I'm another who "doesn't get it", and to be truthful, I don't know anyone who does. I'm left feeling that I understand less well than I thought, what Catholics are like, and what makes us tick.

I've posted the music list from this morning on our blog.

Friday's liturgy of welcome and Mass (which I didn't share in the planning of) was conceived of as a more low-key affair, and was then overwhelmed by the numbers attending. As a contribution to Gabriel's snapshot of the nation, here's the list, without further comment from me:

Reception of the Relics

• For all the saints
• Psalm 26 (sung in English to by two cantors to a Gregorian psalm tone)
• My Soul is Filled with Joy (Magnificat to the tune of The Wild Mountain Thyme)

Mass

• Opening hymn: You should most earnestly desire (a hymn about Thérèse from St Mary's Abbey Glencairn, to the tune Rockingham)
• Lourdes Gloria, led by a cantor
• Easter chant Alleluia, ditto
• Offertory hymn: Love is his word
• Communion Hymn: O praise our great and gracious Lord (tune: Kingsfold)
• Recessional Hymn: Holy light on earth's horizon (tune: Blaenwern)

Everything else recited.

[gwyn]

Extract from a homily delivered over the weekend.

...Our news media too is totally baffled by the sight of tens of thousands of faithful honouring some mortal remains of a Saint. They forget that thousands travel annaully to Graceland to visit Elvis, to visit Michael Jackson. They pay to visit dead kings & queens in Westminster Abbey, or Napoleon in Paris. Diana Spencer's memorial attracts similar veneration. These visits satisfy interest and curiosity, but they hardly help someone reflect upon the things of God, their own way of life, and the command of God “You must be holy, as the Lord your God is holy”.

Our media is dominated by those who advocate a totally God-free secular society. Anything goes, except religion. You can swing naked from a chandelier, and it’s your human right, but if you want to pray, follow Christ, and be holy, you are a freak.

Matthew Paris writing in The Times, says he was energised with anger at the news of the arrival of the relics of St.Therese, and he says pilgrims are dupes “Does balanced reporting require neutrality even towards the self-evidently preposterous?”

Similarly, in The Guardian, Simon Jenkins said “Relics are jujus, religious placebos for the credulous classes… We do best to regard it as a test, not of our power of reason, but of our power of tolerance”.

Three cheers for the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, Patroness of the Missions and Doctor of the Church ! She confounds those who do not believe. When their careers are over and they are forgotten and despised and banished to obscurity, Therese will still be leading souls to Our Blessed Lord.

There’s always a danger for those who live in this country, where all the shrines of Our Blessed Lady and the Saints were desecrated and destroyed at the Protestant Reformation….. of creating a culture which considers piety to be superstition. Persecution made us observe our faith with discretion, even secrecy, certainly privacy. But we belong to the Universal Church, the Catholic Church, and she has taken on board the pious practices of every culture and continent, and we can make them our own. We can stand up and be counted. We know that God has revealed The Truth of Faith to the Church he founded upon Peter. May the prayers of St.Therese prepare the hearts of young men and women to heed Christ’s call to follow him…
And may all of us be renewed in our practice and understanding of The True Faith.

[organist]

So far I'm the only server who has signed up for the ecumenical service at Westminster cathedral so it could be interesting...Cardiff sounds awful Gwyn but I suppose one could expect that after the Saturday evening Mass we attended there some time back!

[organist]

79,700 pilgrims so far see the St Therese blog - amazing! http://catholicrelics.wordpress.com/page/2/

[HallamPhil]

The relics come to Sheffield on Monday, spending three hours at a Carmelite Convent in the hills. Hallam diocese will have been aware of this and be there in number but I suspect its omission from the general programme respects both the splendid isolation of Kirk Edge and the habitually peaceful nature of the host community who will lead all the prayers and music.