APRIL IS THE MONTH OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST
SECOND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE
Dear parishioners,
On Saturday, we will celebrate the memorial of Pope St. Pius V, the great Pope of the ‘counter reformation’ in the sixteenth century. Martin Luther had vigorously attacked the priesthood and the sacrifice of the Mass: the earliest protestants had to come up with a new service which would remove sacrificial wording from the mass and any visible signs in the ceremony that the priest stood ‘in persona christi’ and that the victim, offered on the altar, is truly Jesus Christ. For Luther, the mass was an act of praise, but not a sacrifice renewing and applying the sacrifice of the cross, saying ‘The chief element in their worship, the mass, passes all impiety and all abomination: they make it a sacrifice and a good work’. (from Luther’s ‘Manifesto to the Christian nobility of Germany’)
To remove any sense of the Real Presence through transubstantiation in the protestant communion service several things happened. The Readings from scripture would come to take the major part in the service. What we now call the ‘eucharistic prayer’ was said as an account of the Lord’s Supper rather than words leading up to and bringing about transubstantiation. The minister would face the people in order that it might more resemble a memorial meal gathered round a table and in holy communion, the people would take the ‘bread’ in their hands, communion which was taken in both kinds.
In response to this, Pope Pius V reformed the mass, not by writing a new one but by codifying the mass as it had been since Pope Gregory the Great and before that to the apostles. The catholic belief in transubstantiation was strongly reiterated and reverence of the Divine Presence through such ancient catholic practices as the direction the priest faced at mass and the reception of Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue continued as ever before. This mass, with only minor changes since was established in the course of the Council of Trent and so became known as ‘The Tridentine mass’ In establishing this, Pope St Pius issued a bull ‘Quo primum’ on 14 July 1570. It promulgated the Roman Missal and made its use, with some exceptions for religious orders, obligatory throughout the Latin Catholic Church for all time.
In the bull Pope St Pius V declared: "By this present Constitution, which will be valid henceforth, now, and forever, We order and enjoin that nothing must be added to Our recently published Missal, nothing omitted from it, nor anything whatsoever be changed within it." And he concluded: "No one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Should anyone dare to contravene it, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul’.
Any catholic anywhere in the world, before 1970, would have been able to go to mass in a strange country and the mass was the same; a universal expression of our shared faith no matter what country or culture a person came from. This was because there was one culture all Latin Catholics shared and that was Catholicism, expressed through the same celebration of the mass using the same ancient chant in the same sacred language in the same Roman Rite, clearly distinct and recognisable in every church throughout the whole world. This was and is 'the Mass of the Ages'.
We ask Pope St Pius V for his prayers for unity and peace in our church today, a unity, strength and direction he helped achieve through his saintly leadership of the church against the many attacks on catholic belief and worship in his day.
Pope St Pius V, pray for us!
THE UNION OF CATHOLIC MOTHERS:
Next meeting on Sunday 1st May, 12.00 noon.
First Holy Communion 2022
Next class: Saturday 7th May 2022, 10.30 a.m.
CONFIRMATION 2022
Next meeting at Bexleyheath Station: Sunday 1st May 2.30 p.m. for Vespers & Benediction at Westminster Cathedral at 4.00 p.m.
Then on Sunday 8th May, Rosary (led by the confirmation group) and Benediction at St Thomas More followed by tea and cakes provided by the confirmation group.
Please note that the trip to St. Augustine’s Abbey, Ramsgate on Saturday 14th May is deferred to a later date.
‘CHILDREN’S LITURGY’
’Children’s Liturgy’ resumes this Sunday at 9.00 a.m. after the Easter break.
Day with Mary
Very conveniently, the next Day with Mary is on Saturday 7th May in Crayford at St Mary of the Crays, Old Road, starting at 10.00 a.m. with the Crowning of Our Lady and procession followed by mass and Rosary. Bring your own packed lunch. In the afternoon, there is exposition and procession of the Blessed Sacrament, the act of consecration, Benediction and enrolments in the brown scapular and miraculous medal. A wonderful day of devotion, on a first Saturday, on your doorstep: a great way to start the month of Mary and honour the first Saturday of the month with Fatima devotions.
Deaths
For all our brothers and sisters who ate the Body of Christ, the bread of Life, that they may be raised up on the Last Day. (Drawn from the intercession of the Funeral Mass)
Please pray for the souls of:
Alan Gerard Turner. Funeral on Tuesday 10th May 2022 at Thamesview.
Deacon Michael Baldry. Funeral Requiem was on Wednesday 20th April.
May the divine assistance remain with them always, and may their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
MASSES AND INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK: SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
Saturday 23rd April SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (‘Low Sunday’)
+ 6.30 p.m. SAID Edna and John Hillier R.I.P.
Sunday 24th April
8.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 9.00 a.m. SUNG. With ‘children’s liturgy’. The deceased members of the de Silva Family R.I.P.
+ 11.00 a.m. SOLEMN LATIN MASS (with English Readings/ missa de angelis) The people of the parish.
Monday 25th April St. Mark, evangelist, feast.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Denis Sullivan R.I.P.
Tuesday 26th April ST.GEORGE, MARTYR, PATRON OF ENGLAND, SOLEMNITY.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Viviene and George W.B.
Wednesday 27th April feria
The Daily Rosary at home.
NO PUBLIC MASS TODAY
Thursday 28th April St. Peter Chanel, priest & martyr.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Augustina Torres Gomez R.I.P.
Friday 29th April. St. Catherine of Siena, virgin & doctor of the church, patron of Europe, feast.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 p.m. Sean Stankard R.I.P. (month’s mind)
6.00 p.m. Choir Practice.
Saturday 30thApril St. Pius V, pope.
9.30 a.m. Confessions
+ 10.00 a.m. Maria Perera R.I.P. (1st anniversary)
[+ 6.30 p.m. Third Sunday of Easter (Low Sunday) ]
APRIL PRAYER OF DEVOTION TO THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST. ‘O Jesus Christ Remember’(to be said before The Most Blessed Sacrament or after receiving Holy Communion)
O Jesus Christ, remember, when you come again, upon the clouds of heaven, in glorious rays of light; when every eye shall see your deity revealed, that here at this altar in silence you’re concealed.
Remember then, O Saviour, as I submit to you, that here I bowed before you on my bended knee, that here I owned your presence, and did not you deny, and glorified your greatness, though hid from human eye.
Accept, divine Redeemer, the homage of my praise; be you the light and honour and hope for all my days. Be you my consolation when death is drawing nigh: be you my only treasure from every age to age.
(after Edward Caswell 1814 -1878)
Blessings and God’s peace to you all,
Fr Jonathon