Announcements: Thank you
for your support through prayer and gifts over the past weeks of lockdown.
Lockdown continues. It is
painful for us clergy and servers to celebrate the sacred mysteries with no one
in the pews, since only those residing at St Mary’s Shrine can take part in our
liturgical celebrations.
Please support this Shrine financially: bank transfer to WARRINGTON and PayPal on https://fssp.co.uk/donate/ .
Easter Sunday Homily, by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP
Dear friends,
How do you explain Easter
to modern man? How do you bear witness of the resurrection when asked by men
whose souls have been allowed to thirst and so far never tasted the true water
of life? They simply don’t know what Easter is about.
I will venture a
comparison for their sakes. Do you have special hobbies, skills? When you learn
to drive, learn to play the piano, learn watercolour painting; learn to swim;
learn mountain climbing… It takes a coach; it takes someone who knows; someone
who’s done it before and who knows the technique perfectly. At first, when our
coach tells us that he can make us proficient within six months, or six years,
we think we will never make it. We fear that we won’t have what it takes; or
that our coach could get fed up with us and might let us down.
So, what are we Christians
doing this morning? What are we training for? Oil painting? Scuba diving? Wine
tasting? None of that. Better than that. This morning we train for eternity. We listen to the One –
Jesus Christ – Who is much more than a coach. He is our guide into eternity. He is truly a man, like we
are human beings. We will die; and Jesus died. Jesus rose from the dead and we…
Well, this is what it is all about it. We can rise from the dead – if… We can
enter blissful eternity – if …. If what? We can enter blissful eternity if we
follow the only One who walked through death successfully. Really, is Jesus the only One who can take us through
death and beyond, to blissful eternity? Did not other people die and rise
again? Like, Lazarus, the friend of Jesus. Or the young man, the only son of
the widow, outside the town of Nain. Or the young daughter of Jairus? Yes,
those were dead, and yes, they came back to life. But no, they did not rise by
themselves. They were raised by another one, mightier than them. The Lord Jesus
raised these dead people and brought them back to life. Furthermore, after
these miracles, they died again some years later. Not so with the Lord Jesus.
He rose from the dead of his own power, because He is not only man, but God
incarnate. Also, He will never die again. The Lord Jesus is alive forever. No
one else every achieved this. Jesus is the only one.
But we need a witness, don’t we? We
need clues.
A significant clue is the sacred
relic of the Holy Shroud of Turin. What does the Holy Shroud look like? It is a
depiction of Our Lord’s tortured Body (both back and front), spread across a
14.5-feet-long by 1.4-foot-wide linen cloth, with such accuracy that this
sacred relic has been termed ‘The Fifth Gospel’. The Holy Shroud – presently
kept in Turin, Italy – is the most tested object in the world. The scientific
findings, due to their number and complexity, now constitute a distinct branch
of science called sindonology, after the word ‘sindon’, the Greek word for
‘shroud’.
Let us recall a few sindonological
discoveries. It took nineteen centuries to realise that the Shroud is a
photographic negative: inversing paler and darker areas reveals the actual
picture. Further analysis established that the depiction results from
irradiation, not from the application of pigments upon the linen material.
Later on, the image was found to be three-dimensional, allowing the shaping of
a resin model of Our Lord’s Body as when it was lying wrapped in the Shroud.
Anomalies such as the absence of thumbs on either hand were explained, while
microscopic examination found diverse pollens from the Middle-East stuck in the
fibres of the cloth. The Holy Shroud is a very powerful incentive for our faith
in the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And yet, the Shroud is not necessary for us to believe. We
have billions of witnesses: these countless men, women and children who
professed their faith in Christ, who followed his teaching, imitated his
virtues, and often died for his love. They bear witness to the historical reality of the resurrection
of Christ.
If you need witnesses, read the lives
of the saints. If you need witnesses, start with St Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians. St Paul never met Christ until after his resurrection. But he met
the Lord once risen, as he affirms: “if
Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain: for you are yet in your sins. Then
they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, the
firstfruits of them that sleep” (1 Co 15: 17-20).
If you need witnesses, look around
you for those Catholics in whose lives the virtues of Christ shine with utmost
fidelity, truth, gentleness, firmness, compassion, purity, piety. Look
carefully, because the souls closest to Christ might not know it themselves,
and surely they would not boast of it, so that the world would normally take no
notice of them.
But dear friends, if you need witnesses, perhaps other people need them even more
urgently than you do. So, why not becoming a witness yourself? Why not bearing witness of the resurrection of the Lord?
I know, we think ourselves too lazy, too selfish, too incredulous, too heavy,
too tired… But witnessing Christ is not about our own capacity. It is all about
His divine power performing wonders through our emptiness. Becoming a witness
of the resurrection takes a while. It does not happen in one instant. It is
like unfolding the Holy Shroud. We know the full picture of Christ is impressed
upon the cloth, but it takes our entire lives to unfold it in our mind and in
our souls.
Let us fly back to Jerusalem. This
Easter morning, St Peter, St John and St Mary Magdalene found the empty linens
wrapped together in the empty tomb. Some time on that day, they took with them
the precious relic. Back home in the Upper Room, with what emotion they slowly
unfolded the linens, gradually displaying the Master’s silhouette: first his
shoulder, then his elbow, now his foot and then his Head… Everywhere, their
eyes would meet so many wounds, all endured for their redemption. For my redemption.
For your redemption. For the redemption of all men.
I imagine St Peter alone at last in
the Upper Room. Simon had unfolded the long strip of cloth, nowhere more
fittingly than across the trestles of the Last Supper table. Three nights
earlier, upon another cloth, the Lord had made Himself truly present under the
Eucharistic species at the first holy Mass. The apostles had walked with the
Lord to Gethsemane. Before cockcrow, Simon had thrice denied his Lord. Since
then Jesus had died and was risen.
Back in the Upper Room on Easter day,
today, Simon was on his knees at the far end of the long narrow linen
rectangle. His eyes slightly higher than the level of the cloth swollen in
successive waves upon the trestles, the fisherman would look at the maculated
Shroud as a seaman looks at a vast archipelago spread across a limitless map.
Wide or tiny, each bloodstain was an island, mystically bearing the name of
each and every sinner, redeemed through the wounds of the Lamb.
Which stain bore Simon’s name? It
could not be less than three, one for each denial – and so many more… Dear
friends, which stain bears my name, your name? In St Peter’s soul, contrition
connected the reddish shapes of various sizes like the stars under which he was
reborn, as in a new constellation named Absolution.
It was probably no surprise to Simon then, when he became aware of Christ’s
bodily presence, standing at the other end of his unfolded Shroud. The contrite
Vicar had opened his soul to the Saviour already. Christ confirmed his pardon
and left, until they met again by the Sea of Galilee.
His Vicar remained on his knees
looking across the bloodied sheet, while on either side of the table of
redemption, hundreds of men, of women, of children materialised, imitating his
posture. Billions of them. Billions of us. All the way down to us, my friends,
and beyond, and further. All those who would believe in this extraordinary
event are gathered in faith around this sacred cloth and bear witness to the
One who lay in it no more, because
He is risen, forever alive! Such is our glorious training for eternity.
May the Immaculate Mother of the Risen One, the Blessed Virgin Mary whose Sorrowful heart begot us to grace in union with Our Lord on Calvary two days ago, may she lead us to Jesus, our Resurrection and our Life, into bliss eternal.
Dear
Friends,
The Lord is risen,
alleluia!
All your clergy at
St Mary’s give thanks for a very ‘special’ Easter Triduum 2020. Despite being
locked up and deprived of your presence in the pews, we know that the beautiful
liturgies offered at St Mary’s by our dedicated team of resident clerics and laymen
were followed by thousands worlwide. This has been a great opportunity for many
people not familiar with the traditional liturgy to experience it. We hope to
have the full Triduum ceremonies uploaded for permanent access later on.
See further below some
of the messages received.
Support St Mary’s Shrine:
Thank you to all of
you who gave us money to support us in these difficult times.
Please use our bank
account details below for online donations, or our PayPal button specifying
‘Warrington’. https://fssp.co.uk/donate/ Please tell your
friends who discovered LiveMass about these means to support us.
For FSSP Warrington
Bank Name: Lloyds
Bank
Sort Code: 30-80-27
Account number:
30993368
Account name: FSSP
Warrington
For international
transfers, you may also need:
Bank
Branch: Palmerston Rd Southsea
Bank Address: Ariel
House, 2138 Coventry Road, Sheldon, B26 3JW
IBAN:
GB97LOYD30802730993368
SWIFT code:
LOYDGB21721
We waited until now to
hear the Governement’s review announced for today after three weeks of
lockdown. Apparently there will be no announcement until Thursday. Thus, the
current restrictions to church access remain the same. However, with every
precautions taken, we will not turn down individual requests for Confession (if
you travel by car, please park outside Unit 3 of Priory Court).
Please check our
website later this week for any update on our LiveMass scheduling.
Sunday 19 April, probably at 5pm, Vespers with Divine Mercy
Chaplet, plus Benediction.
Daily Mass 12:10pm (often Sung or even Solemn).
Holy
Mass intentions:
(Many other Masses are offered daily by the priests.)
Sun
12
Easter
Sunday
11:00am
FSSP
Confraternity
Mon 13
Easter Monday
12:10pm
Diane McCartney
Tue
14
Easter
Tuesday
12:10pm
Joseph
Gately (RIP)
Wed
15
Easter
Wednesday
12:10pm
Conor
Jones
Thu
16
Easter
Thursday
12:10pm
David
Hall (RIP)
Fri
17
Easter
Friday
12:10pm
John
Swarbrick
Sat
18
Easter
Saturday
12:10pm
Jean
Reynolds
Sun
19
Low
Sunday
11:00am
Teresa
Isabel Cunningham
Mon
20
Feria
12:10pm
Thomas
Fraser RIP (anniversary)
Tue 21
St Anselm
12:10pm
The Hueston Family
Wed 22
Ss Soter & Caius
12.10pm
Holy Souls (especially deceased of FOSS)
Thu 23
St George
12:10pm
Daniel Jones
Fri 24
Ss Fidelis & Sigmaringen
12:10
Stephen Parkinson
Sat
25
St
Mark
12:10
Maureen
Fraser RIP (anniversary)
Sun
26
Second
Sunday after Easter
11:00am
Haig
& Lomzik Families
The BBC confirmed
earlier that many of the deaths ascribed to Coronavirus are caused by other
medical conditions: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51979654. This significantly lowers the Coronavirus death rate:
“Is
coronavirus causing the deaths?
The death figures
being reported daily are hospital cases where a person dies with the
coronavirus infection in their body – because it is a notifiable disease cases
have to be reported. But what the figures do not tell us is to what extent the
virus is causing the death. It could be the major cause, a contributory
factor or simply present when they are dying of something else. Most
people who die with coronavirus have an underlying health condition, such as
heart disease or diabetes, that may be more of a factor.”
Deacon
Roger Gilbride, FSSP will be back for a First Mass in September!
Our dear Deacon flew back to New Zealand earlier than planned to prepare for
his priestly ordination scheduled on 20th June, God willing. He wrote:
“Dear St Mary’s faithful,
As some of you may have heard already, I have returned to New Zealand this
week. Due to the ever worsening global situation caused by the corona virus
anxiety, two weeks ago I was encouraged by my family and the FSSP priests in
Australia to return to New Zealand as soon as possible. My response was
that I will finish my pastoral placement in Warrington and then decide what to
do after Easter.
Since then however, both the UK and New Zealand have gone into strict lockdowns.
New Zealand is rapidly becoming entirely cut off from the rest of the world
(more so than usual !) and there are only a few flights per week now. The
priests in Australia and New Zealand were insistent that if I do not return
immediately I may not be able to for several months, since commercial flights
will soon stop or become prohibitively expensive. My flight to Auckland
was only 20% full; obviously this is not sustainable for the airlines.
While it is sad that I could not say farewell to everyone, thankfully the FSSP
bought me a return flight to Manchester. So, I will be coming back – probably
in September – to offer a first Mass and say farewell properly.
I am very glad that I got to know you all over the past months and I would like
to thank all of you who contribute so much to the life of the shrine, and
especially I’d like to thank the priests, my confreres, for the past 5 months.
Please keep Deacon Thomas Sofatzis and I in your prayers as we prepare for
ordination. The planned date of June 20th is unlikely now, since the lockdown
in Australia will continue until June 24th. We, therefore, have to find a new
date.
May God bless you all as you prepare for Holy Week.
Deacon Gilbride, FSSP”
LiveMass messages:
Monday 13 April, Italy
I just wanted to add my message of thanks to those you have already received.
It has been a joy to follow your Triduum from here in Italy and your
livemass.net coverage has been of great comfort to me in these difficult times.
God bless you all.
Easter Sunday 12 April
2020, England
Dear Father
Happy Easter to all our pastors at St Mary’s and I hope you have had a good day
with lots of Easter treats after the Lenten observances. Thank you most
sincerely for the wonderful liturgy we have been blessed to unite ourselves
with on LiveMass, it has made the loss of our freedom to worship so much easier
to bear, although it is very sad to see the empty pews in our beautiful church.
I have seen some very appreciative comments on line about the live services
Father, so praying that many more people will continue to watch long after the
pandemic is over and that the shrine will receive much support.
God bless Father … Praying that these dreadful times will soon be over and we
can all be together again to praise God. Laudetur Jesus Christus, N.
Easter Sunday 12 April
2020, South Africa
Subject: Easter vigil
Message: I would like to thank everyone involved with the Easter vigil mass on
LiveMass.org it was absolutely beautiful. Thank you. Regards, C., South Africa.
Easter Sunday 12 April
2020, USA
Dear Father, I attended the live streamed Easter Vigil Mass celebrated at St.
Mary’s in Warrington last night, as my FSSP parish in the U.S. was not
permitted to celebrate public Masses and referred us to LiveMass.net. It was
the first traditional Vigil Mass I have attended, and I wanted to tell you how,
even though streamed into my home, and not being able to be physically present,
it was so edifying, so beautiful, so fulfilling, and when the candles were
extinguished and the lights came on and those bells were rung – oh the bells! –
I literally had tears streaming down my face at how they so exuberantly
expressed “He is Risen!!”
I wanted to thank you for sharing your Masses during this trying time, and may
God abundantly bless you and all of the FSSP priests who so faithfully
celebrate the Mass of the ages.
Your daughter in Christ, J.
3/4/2020
Dear Father,
One of the blessings of the current internment is that we have been
encouraged to attend Holy Mass vicariously every day in Warrington,
although we live in the South of England, many miles away. We’re able to
benefit from many more sermons than we get going to mass mainly on Sundays in
B.
Both are benefits which ordinary traditional Catholic would benefit
from. Sometimes we need a crisis to push people like me to take
advantage of something which has existed for some time. God Bless
Father & all in the Priory & Keep it up
3 April 2020
Dear Fathers,
I am glad you received my email and that the sound was restored.
Thank you for such a beautiful homily today 3 April on the Stabat Mater
Dolorosa.
Your insight on the verses was very meaningful to me. I love your mass as it is
a joy to participate in what I consider a higher form of worship than that
which is in most Catholic Churches today. (My husband and I normally attend a
Latin mass in our area but almost an hour away). I am in my early 70’s and
remember Latin masses of my childhood. I studied Latin in high school and
remember it well. I want you to know I follow each mass with my missal
(1962), praying the Latin with you and responding with the server. I am happy
you have made this available to us. It is a great blessing!
I look forward to participating with you all especially through the Easter Holy
Week as well.
May God bless you and keep you safe. C. C…, USA
2 April 2020
Dear Fathers,
I write from the United States with gratitude to Our Lord and Our Lady. The
greatest blessing of the “pandemic” is to have found your
celebrations of Mass. Thank you for the thought-filled and inspired sermons —
you are so clearly “reaching out” to comfort and give the strong
spiritual guidance we are craving. I feel so much of a sense of
“union and presence” and for the first time I am making a true
Spiritual Communion and being sustained by it.
Passion Sunday was moving beyond words… I great hope for a blessed Holy Week,
Triduum and joyous Easter in union with you and the Church.
I am with you every morning at 7:10 a.m. EST and when I can once again be
present at Mass in person at my own parish I know that St. Mary’s Shrine will continue
to be part of my days.
01/04/2020, USA
Dear FSSP Fathers:
Thank you so much for the Solemn High Mass broadcast this Passion Sunday. I am
marooned here in the US under virtual lockdown, and it was wonderful to see the
Holy Sacrifice with full ceremonial in your beautiful shrine. I hope that it
will be possible to have sung daily Masses, if your circumstances permit.
There’s nothing like it available elsewhere that I know of.
31 March 2020, USA
Dear Fathers,
I am writing to tell you how much I value your daily for Catholics to pray the
traditional Latin Mass. I attend the Chapel of the … in N., USA. It is under
the pastoral care of the FSSP where we have a traditional Latin Mass once a
week on Sundays.
Since the lock down started due to the Virus, I have set aside a small part if
my day to pray and view your daily Latin Masses. I plan to continue my
devotions when we are delivered from the virus. I do have multiple health
problems that make me fatigued at times. Knowing that Live Mass.Net and
particularly, St. Mary’s is on-line is truly a blessing.
God bless you all. Stay well.
31 March 2020
Hello Fathers!
Greetings from …, Texas! First of all I’d like to thank you for your
amazing ministry through LiveMass! In the midst of all the chaos in the world,
y’all are truly a light in the darkness, a calm in the storm, to all of us in
this difficult time.
As we were waiting for the (virtual) Holy Mass to begin in Sarasota this
past Sunday (your 6am Mass is a little early for my 3 little ones!), we were
blessed to be able to join you in Warrington for the Litany of Loreto, arranged
so beautifully!
“20 March 2020: To our
dear priests in Warrington,
Thank you so much for your beautiful liturgical celebrations in the past week,
as always. Please be assured that although we are miles apart, we are all
united with you in spirit every day. No pressure, but we eagerly await each
homily for more spiritual guidance in these extraordinary times! Livemass is an
amazing tool for good. And thank you for a beautiful polyphonic litany today
for Our Lady! We filled the whole house with it from our little family
“altar” where we have rigged up a screen linked to a laptop and
speaker.”
29 March 2020, England
Dear Fathers,
I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful opportunity to ‘attend’ Masses at
St Mary’s Shrine through livemass.net. You probably don’t remember me, but my
wife and I joined you at Liverpool Art Gallery for your talk on the youth in
art in 2016. It is great to be able to feel like part of your parish through
the internet.
I am usually a parishioner of St … in …, a Novus Ordo Parish with a traditional
Parish Priest, Fr …, who has introduced a first Friday Latin Mass to our
Church.
Below is a picture of the St… branch of FSSP Warrington!
29 March 2020, USA
Thank you for broadcasting the traditional Latin Mass from Warrington, England.
When you mentioned a musical rosary in the announcements today, you piqued my
interest. Not only did I watch the Mass but followed along for the rosary. The
organ accompaniment and chant were beautiful!
29 March 2020
Blessed Passion Sunday, I am a lifelong Catholic senior watching your mass
online everyday from USA! I love your church and wish I could visit in person
sometime. The Tridentine mass is as important to me as it was to St. Pio. With
much gratitude to you all+++Can you tell me how it would be best to donate to
your FSSP church in Warrington? I am not sure what method is best.
Thank you
29 March 2020
Deo Gratias! I am writing from Canada during the corona virus pandemic. I thank
God for leading me to your church so that I can join in the celebration of the
Eucharist! I have wept during the celebration and will always remember your
beautiful church and priests in my prayers.
29 March 2020
Dear Dear Fathers,
Sincere thanks to you from the United States for your beautiful celebrations of
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and for your profound and stirring
homilies. I can’t wait to get up in the morning to hear Mass online!
I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, so I guess we’re also “Lancashire
men!” From what I hear, that is where the Pilgrimage of Grace began.
God bless you and keep you all in good health.
27 March 2020
Dear Priests of St. Mary’s – During the quarantine, I have been attending your
daily mass through LiveMass.net. Thank you! And thank you for your
beautiful priesthood and witness! You are such a blessing to me and my
family. I am lifting you and the FSSP in prayer. Even when public masses aren’t
suspended, it is a real hardship and sacrifice to attend the TLM. My family and
I drive 2-3 hours round trip every Sunday to attend the TLM and can rarely
attend a weekday TLM since the only option is a 4-5 hour drive round
trip. My diocese is in apostasy, and I am surrounded by anything-goes
NOM. I am very encouraged to know that even when public masses are restored, I
can unite myself to the TLM during the week through LiveMass. My husband and I
have also made a donation to support LiveMass.
I believe one fruit (among others) of this time will be more people drawn to
the tradition of the Church. I have introduced my friends to you through
LiveMass and have encouraged them to experience the TLM and the beautiful
priests of FSSP. I’m sure others are doing the same. Thank you for
maintaining the beauty and tradition, especially during these uncertain times,
with excellent homilies, chant, and prayers following mass.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Virgo Potens, Ora pro nobis!
Yours in Christ, X. (MI U.S.A.)
[From a professional
media person in the UK, 25 March 2020]:
Btw, having watched all the live streamings on Sunday l was very impressed with
the Livemass streaming. It was by far the most professional looking having more
than one camera and was clearly filmed by someone who understood the Mass. I
think you may have been the only livestream with an organ which was a great joy
to hear on such a strange day and of course the day in Lent when normally the
organ can be heard.
Keep up the good work because this is a lifeline to many Catholics at the
moment and l think for many it will be a revelation to see the Latin Mass
celebrated so beautifully.
25 March 2020, Texas USA
I’ve been watching your Live Mass during the suspension of the Mass here in
Dallas. Thank you for providing this service to the world. May God bless you
and the other priests at Warrington FSSP for the work that they do.
25/03/2020 England
Thank you so much for providing Mass for us each day on Livemass.net. I can’t
tell you how much we appreciate it. We lost the last 10 minutes or so today and
on Saturday last…..it seemed to move to a live Mass from
Florida….presumably because the Mass at Warrington had exceeded its normal
time slot. Still we are not complaining. We are so fortunate to have access to
it.
From Malaysia,
26/03/2020:
I am very much grateful to the fact that St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington streams
Masses everyday – and it certainly has allowed me to follow Masses with my
Missal, and this has given me encouragement as I am confined at home under
these lock-down measures due to the spread of the Coronavirus.
24 March 2020, England
Thankyou for installing the iMass , it’s been lovely to attend mass and say a
spiritual communion, at this uncertain times.
24/03/2020, England
Dear Father, Just a quick ”Thank You” from all of us to all of you and also
to the Live Mass team for providing this spiritual lifeline.
Sunday was painful without actual attendance at Holy Mass, but it was
nevertheless a beautiful grace to pray vie the livestream.
The hard work, including the synchronisation of cameras on stained glass with
key points in the splendid sermon was appreciated.
“Dear Fathers,
thank you for the Live Mass today [Sunday 22 March] on Internet! I was able to
follow the Mass in Warrington from W. this morning. Good to know you’ve been
prepared with this website for a few years. Also happy to see you both, even in
such circumstances.”
England, 24/03/2020:
from a family
“Dear Fathers, I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful initiative in
live streaming the Holy Mass. These are difficult times for us all and as your
said in your sermon, we should be not satisfied with attending the Mass in this
way. However, you are providing great comfort for many families globally in
doing so. And what a beautiful church! God Bless, A., M. and …family.”
England, 24/03/2020
“Dear Fr …, A quick message to thank you for the amazing LiveMass
transmissions. I followed for St Joseph, St Benedict and now Laetare – quite
surreal (and sad) to see you sprinkling row upon row of empty pews! I must say
the quality is superb and it is a wonderful resource to have in these
extraordinary times (I’ve sent a small donation to LiveMass.net). God bless, J.”
A monk of my acquaintance once drily remarked, as he looked
across at the banks of gloomy faces in the choir stalls opposite, that he
sometimes doubted the Resurrection had really happened.
The point is well made. It can be easier in a way, for us
Catholics, to identify with Lent and Passiontide than with Easter. Even if we
haven’t kept our Lenten resolutions as well as we would have liked, we still
relate more readily to the themes of penance and punishment, sacrifice,
suffering, and death, than we do to joy and peace and new life.
And there is good reason for this. Suffering and anguish is
ever present in our world – no one is spared it, to one degree or another, just
as all will certainly undergo the sentence of death. But joy, when it comes,
tends to be more fleeting, rapidly overshadowed by some difficulty. There is a
risk that Easter, for us, becomes little more than a natural consolation, a merely
temporary respite from gloom, when we are allowed to break the fast, put out
flowers, and eat chocolate – with little sense of something life-transforming.
Perhaps this seems all the more the case now of all times,
when the present pandemic continues to overwhelm just about the whole globe;
and does not appear to be ceasing for the commemoration of Our Lord’s
Resurrection. Indeed, we are denied even the consolation of celebrating Easter
by attending the sacred rites.
And yet Our Lord has truly risen – and we must, we must,
allow this glorious truth somehow to penetrate our lives.
There can be little doubt that the coronavirus pandemic is a
divine chastisement. This really ought to be an uncontroversial statement, but
it seems there is no shortage of people, even senior churchmen, to deny it. No
doubt this ultimately springs from a loss of the sense of the supernatural, the
recognition that God is the cause of all things whatsoever; but perhaps in part
it is motivated by a false understanding of God’s love and mercy (“a loving God
would never do that…”). And perhaps even more there is the anxiety that if we
say God is punishing for sin, then we must ask, ‘which sin?’; and then it
amounts to saying that those who die from the virus are the most guilty of that
sin, that they apparently ‘deserved it’.
But that’s not really the case. Firstly, to us Catholics, it should come as no surprise if chastisement is visited upon a whole people collectively, or if the innocent are asked to suffer on behalf of the guilty. After all, both these aspects are precisely the themes of Holy Week. Your clergy have been reciting, in the Divine Office, the prophecies of Jeremiah, warning of the wrath upon Israel, the exile into Babylon, and the destruction of the temple – culminating in his haunting lamentations that are sung in the Office of Tenebrae during the Triduum. And then on Good Friday, we looked at Our Saviour upon the cross, He who was without sin accepting the terrible price for the redemption of sinners.
As to which sin God is chastising us for – well, there will always be the temptation to name our ‘favourite’, whichever of the innumerable manifold vices and perversions of fallen human nature pique our interest. There is more than enough to choose from in the secular society: abortion, euthanasia, same-sex “marriage”, gender ideology, human trafficking… the list goes on and on. Or there is the spread of false religions or militant atheistic ideologies. And then within the Church we can make another catalogue: clerical sexual abuse, rampant heresy, disobedience, and schism, disregard of Sundays and holy days, liturgical abuses, widespread impurity, indifference and faithlessness, sacrilegious Communions, badly made confessions (if made at all), and so on. It seems foolish to try and identify just one that is the cause of all our ills. But all of these things eventually boil down to one – the rejection of and failure to worship the One True God. And for this, our collective punishment is long overdue.
And in reality, all of these faults put together pale into insignificance
next to but a single act of sacrilege or idolatry. We do not tend to feel it is
so – but God’s view is not our view. God tends to punish precisely by
abandoning the people to what they have craved. So in a world that elevates
individualism over communal responsibility, perhaps it is fitting that there
should be enforced ‘social distancing’; and if,
as I suggest, everything is ultimately about our failure to give God
right worship, then we should not be surprised if we Catholics have to bear our
brunt of the chastisement in our very particular way – the cessation of public
Masses (and even, in some places – horribile dictu – of all the sacraments).
In fact, in a sense, this is the worst of the curses. To say
this may seem to be incredibly cold and indifferent given the very real pain,
suffering, and loss that many are going through at this time because of the
virus, not to mention the horrific economic fallout. I do not mean in any way
to diminish this. But we should recognise that man’s purpose and fulfilment lies
precisely in the worship of God. We are more than the body only, and there is
more than this life only.
This is felt all the more keenly precisely by those who are
the most devout, who we would think least ‘deserve’ it, since they want to
offer God fitting worship and are struck by its loss the most acutely. But it
was ever thus. The prophets warned Jerusalem of what was coming and wept for
it, while the hierarchy repeated complacent, empty mantras: “peace, peace, but there
is no peace” (Jer. 6:14; cf Ez. 13:10), or “we have the temple” – then even
this consolation was taken away from them (Jer. 7:4).
Israel had gone after false gods; and then the True God withdrew from them.
Probably this Easter many will feel much like Psalm 136: “by
the waters of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Sion…how shall
we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?”
And yet, the Babylonian exile was not forever. Israel was
restored – at least in part – and the temple was rebuilt. And all this was for
a sign of the death and Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord. Ecce, omnia nova
facio (Rev. 21:5). Death is not the final word; Christ has claimed victory,
and it is decisive.
Thus there can be joy, even in the midst of distress and
bewilderment. It is not a transient sentiment, but a deep conviction that stems
from faith of the love that God has for us, a love proved dramatically on
Calvary. This joy does not simply happen on its own: it can and must be
cultivated, through acts of faith and above all charity.
This present moment too shall pass. But will our lessons have been learned? Divine chastisement is never a matter of an angry God fulfilling a lust for vengeance. It is a correction; and as a correction, it is a loving act of mercy, a means by which God draws us back to Him. For our part, we should not be longing for things to ‘return to normal’, but rather seeing where we need a true conversion of heart.
Is this not the message of St Paul? “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Rom. 6:5-6); and: “Therefore if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead: and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory” (Col.3:1-3).
May we never again take the Holy Mass for granted! May we come to treasure anew the beautiful gift of the Sacraments. Let us prepare well to make good, humble confessions, and approach the Holy Eucharist with awe. Let us resolve above all to pray always, with thanks in our hearts, and to take every opportunity to give to Almighty God the adoration that is owed to Him.
And if we do this, the mystery of Easter will have truly
penetrated our lives, and the joy of the Risen Christ will be in us – and no
one can take this away.
To download the full liturgical texts for Tenebrae, three booklets are available by clicking on the link right under each image below.
Please note, all these prayers, without the chant notation, are also available in the Baronius Hand Missal [for sale at St Mary’s Shrine] on pages 1778, 1811 & 1842 for the respective days of the Triduum.
Follow the choral singing of Tenebrae from St Mary’s Warrington via LiveMass.net on 9th, 10th and 11th April 2020, from 10am to 12noon.
Our FSSP Warrington weekly Men’s Group will meet via LiveMass this evening, Wednesday 8th April, at 8:00pm (Warrington UK time), for a Lenten meditation by Fr de Malleray, FSSP on ‘The Cross and the Mass’ followed by choral singing of Compline. 😇 https://www.livemass.net/
Our LiveMass equipment has been working satisfactorily daily for years, but your prayer will help! Our apologies to any viewers for the loss of sound for the first part of holy Mass on Palm Sunday; we were having technical issues following a loss of power earlier in the week which meant that we had to restart the equipment during holy Mass. Some of our local people were communicating live on WhatsApp and, finding that all of them had lost the sound simultaneously, decided to pray the Prayer to St Michael, soon to hear the sound was back… We blessed the LiveMass control room and the three cameras after Vespers yesterday (picture).
Support St Mary’s Shrine as a broadcast site via bank transfer:
For FSSP Warrington Bank Name: Lloyds Bank Sort Code: 30-80-27 Account number: 30993368 Account name: FSSP Warrington
For international transfers, you may also need:
Bank Branch: Palmerston Rd Southsea Bank Address: Ariel House, 2138 Coventry Road, Sheldon, B26 3JW IBAN: GB97LOYD30802730993368 SWIFT code: LOYDGB21721
More feedback from First Passion Sunday:
29 March 2020, USA
Thank you for broadcasting the traditional Latin Mass
from Warrington, England. When you mentioned a musical rosary in the
announcements today, you piqued my interest. Not only did I watch the Mass but
followed along for the rosary. The organ accompaniment and chant were
beautiful!
29 March 2020
Blessed Passion Sunday, I am a lifelong Catholic senior watching your mass online everyday from USA! I love your church and wish I could visit in person sometime. The Tridentine mass is as important to me as it was to St. Pio. With much gratitude to you all+++ Can you tell me how it would be best to donate to your FSSP church in Warrington? I am not sure what method is best.
Thank you
29 March 2020
Deo Gratias! I am writing from Canada during
the corona virus pandemic. I thank God for leading me to your church so that I
can join in the celebration of the Eucharist! I have wept during the
celebration and will always remember your beautiful church and priests in my
prayers.
29 March 2020
Dear Dear Fathers,
Sincere thanks to you from the United States for your
beautiful celebrations of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and for your profound
and stirring homilies. I can’t wait to
get up in the morning to hear Mass online!
BULLETIN of ST
MARY’S SHRINE29th March 2020 Fortnightlywww.fssp.co.uk/warrington
• 01925 635 664
Watch our Mass
daily on http://livemass.net/Buttermarket
Street, Warrington WA1 2NS
Served by the Priestly
Fraternity of St Peter
by appointment
of the RC Archdiocese of Liverpool
Rector: Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP:
malleray@fssp.org
Assistant: Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP: iverrier@fssp.org
Assistant: Fr
Henry Whisenant: henrywhiz@hotmail.com
Deacon Roger Gilbride, FSSP: roger.gilbride@fssp.org
(on pastoral placement until Easter)
In residence: Fr
Alex Stewart, FSSP: astewart@olg-
seminary.org
Holy Masses: Sunday 11am & 6pm; Mon-Sat
12:10pm daily.
Confessions 30mins before every
Mass every day – including
from 5:30pm before 6pm Sunday Mass, and on Saturdays 10am-11:45amEucharistic Adoration: Sat 10:00am-12 noon; 1st
Fri 7:40pm-8:40pm; most Wed. afternoon after school
Daily Rosary 11:30am Mon-Fri, 11am Sat. +
12noon Angelus
Sung Compline: Sunday 7:15pm, Wednesday 9:15pm
Stations of the Cross: Mon, Fri 1:00pm
Men’s group: Every Wed 7:00pm Mass + Talk
& Compline
Mothers’ Prayer group: Wed 1:00pm
Adults Catechesis: most Sunday mornings withFr Whisenant
Home Education Group: MostWednesdays 1pm-3:30pm. Contact Alison Kahn 01925 727759.
Choir: Every Thur & Sun.Contact Fr Verrier for an audition
if you would like to join our choir – including Junior choir.
Young Adults & Professionals
18-35: Monthly Sat walk and/or talk:
www.facebook.com/juventutem.warrington/
Divine Mercy group: every second Tuesday 1:00pm
Pro-life group: Last Sat 10:15am
SUPPORT—Bank details: Account name: FSSP
Warrington. Account number: 30993368. Sort Code 30-80-27; Lloyds
Bank, Palmerston Road Branch. Ask us for Gift Aid forms and envelopes:
warrington@fssp.org. Registered Charity number 1129964
Safeguarding: Children, teenagers and vulnerable adults must be accompanied or
supervised at all times within the Shrine. If you have concerns, please
contact the Archdiocesan Safeguarding Department on 0151 522 1043 or
e-mail safeguarding@rcaol.co.uk, or speak with Clare Fraser, St Mary’s
Safeguarding Officer. Thank you for your awareness.
Church cleaning: please given an hour of your
time each week to keep St Mary’s fit for divine worship.
Addicts to drugs, alcohol: help available
with high success rate. Free. Confidential phone contact: 07916578902.
☞To receive Holy Communion: one must be a Catholic, in
state of grace, one-hour fasting at least. In the EF liturgy, Holy Communion
is received kneeling (unless unable to) and always on the tongue. If no server, please hold the Communion
plate against your throat. Thank
you in advance.
☞ Printed Mass sheets: please don’t bin
them, as we will use them next year. Leave them in church Porch.
☞ Modesty in church: please cover your bodies at least down to
elbows and below knees; no tight or see-through garments.
☞Did you know? St Mary’s
Shrine costs £1,700/week to run and maintain. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
Corona virus:
Dear Friends, we miss you in the pews! But as we pray for all
those affected by this virus and as we take precautions against spreading it, let
us not lose heart.
Let us seek God first and His kingdom. From a spiritual perspective,
God’s Providence encompasses everything. God never wills evil, but He sometimes
allows tribulations as a consequence of our sins and as an opportunity for
repentance and conversion. “And I say to
you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body [that includes
viruses] and after that have no more that
they can do. But I will shew you whom you shall fear: Fear ye him who, after he
hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Are not five sparrows sold for two
farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Yea, the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows”
(Lk 12:4-7).
While no expert is currently able to predict with certainty
how the bleak situation will evolve, let us beware of apocalyptic
interpretation of figures. One can take courage from the hopeful data offered
by epidemiologists in the UK and abroad (cf in-lengtharticleson our website) suggesting that:
1) Covid-19-attributed deaths in the UK are 1,020 (5th to 28th March 6pm), against 17,000 deaths per year caused by flu only.
2) Only a tiny percentage of these deaths were caused by Covid-19 only (0.8 % in Italy). Most patients died of other underlying conditions; that is, most died with Covid-19 but not of Covid-19.
3) A vast amount of people are contaminated unbeknownst to
them, or showing mild symptoms. This lowers considerably the death rate of Covid-19.
4) By far the main cause of death in the UK is surgical abortion
(not including abortion through abortifacient pills).
Below: UK death figures compiled from www.gov.uk and other agencies for the years 2017, 2018 and/or 2019:
Rank
Cause
Daily
Yearly
1st
Abortion
574
209,510
2nd
Heart
disease
465
170,000
3rd
Cancer
449
164,000
4th
Dementia
(2017)
183
67,000
5th
Lung
Disease
82
30,000
6th
Flu
46
17,000
7th
Suicide
17
6,507
In 2019:
Any cause, excluding abortion and euthanasia
1,483
541,589
What
to do, meanwhile:
The obligation to attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days is removed
for as long as this crisis continues. Before the lockdown, St Mary’s clergy
administered the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with Plenary Indulgence
to one third of our congregation.
Although St Mary’s Church is presently closed even for private prayer sadly,
feel welcome to phone or email us if you need spiritual support and we will do
our best to respond pastorally “as long as hygiene and social distancing
requirements are observed.”
Tell your friends about LiveMass.net, allowing you to unite
with the holy Sacrifice of the Mass at St Mary’s, either live (Mon-Sat 12:10pm,
Sun 11:00am) or on demand (for 24hrs following each weekday Mass and for 7 days
following each Sunday Mass). We plan to have the full Sacred Triduum broadcast
(check our website for schedule by 8th April) on LiveMass.net; which
will be part of the online resources advertised by the Bishops of England &
Wales’ Conference at their request. With five clerics living at St Mary’s
Presbytery as one household and with off-street access to our place of worship,
we are in the fortunate situation of being able to offer full sung liturgies,
broadcast on LiveMass.net, please God.
Let us pray for each other and telephone or email each other
to check how the more isolated ones are doing.
During this forced Lenten retreat, let us make sure to use
the spare time for prayer and spiritual reading, and for family activities
within each household. If not yet the case, install a ‘prayer corner’ in your
home, where alone or together you can pray.
Please put your Sunday collection money aside each week and give it to us when churches reopen. Or alternatively, pay your collection money into our Shrine bank account ( Account name: FSSP Warrington. Account number (Lloyds Bank): 30993368. Sort Code 30-80-27); or drop through our Front Door mail slot.
Education
project at St Mary’s Sunday 26 April 2020, 12:30pm-3:30pm:
meeting for all interested, with presentation of the Regina Caeli Academy (to be confirmed).
Next trek with Juventutem
Young Adults (18-35): 18th
April; 16th May. Contact helena.waddelove@hotmail.co.uk. Also, Juventutem
Summer Weekend near London 3-5 July 2020. Also, CHARTRES Pilgrimage: 30th May-1st June 2020
with Frs de Malleray and Whisenant. Contact: pippajcurran97@gmail.com.
Mass Intentions:
(Other intentions were applied over the past 2 weeks at private Masses. Please ask Fr Whisenant for details.)
ALL EVENTS BELOW behind locked doors, to be attended remotely via LiveMass.net ONLY.
Sun 29
Passion Sunday
[Clocks 1hour forward]
National Consecration to Our Lady: 11:00am Solemn Mass • 1:25pm Act of Consecration and musical Rosary; 3:00pm Talk & Sung Litany of Our Lady
Restoration of Our
Lady’s Dowry
Mon
30
Feria
12:10pm
David and Sue Lungs
Tue
31
Feria
12:10pm
Nathan Manswell
Wed 1
Feria
12:10pm ; 8:00pm-9:00pmMen’s Group Talk & Compline
For the Good of the
Nation
Thu 2
Feria
12:10pm
Ann Girling RIP
Fri 3
Feria
12:10pm
T. and Ruth’s Unborn
Baby
Sat 4
Feria
12:10pm
Lucy, Adrian &
Family
Sun 5
Palm
Sunday
11:00am
Ben & Sophia
Parkinson
Mon 6
Holy Monday
12:10pm
For the Good of the
Nation
Tue
7
Holy Tuesday
12:10pm
Helen
Gibbons
Wed
8
“Spy” Wednesday
12:10pm ; 8:00pm-9:00pmMen’s Group Talk & Compline
Ellen
Galvin
Thu 9
Maundy
Thursday
10am-12:00noon Tenebrӕ: Gregorian chant
8:00pm-9:30pm Solemn
Mass, stripping of altars and Compline
9:30pm-midnight: Eucharistic
adoration [probably not filmed]
11:00am-12:30pm Solemn
Mass
[Attention: No 6pm Sunday Mass. Normal
daily schedule would resume on Monday 13 April, subject to Covid-19 restrictions
for public worship being lifted.]