WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

Preparing for Bethleham
Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus at Christmas. Traditionally, it has been celebrated with prayer and fasting, so unsurprisingly, it has sometimes been known as a “little Lent”. Now, just as it will be right for us to celebrate Christmas – when it comes – with good food and drink (if such things are offered) a bit of conscious self-denial in the meantime will surely be very appropriate!

Advent also begins the Church’s own calendar. Instead of waiting for New Year’s Night, 2010, to make our fresh start (with all the other revellers) we can make this First Sunday of Advent the genuine ‘new beginning’ we all need. We might contemplate day-by-day the significance of the Incarnation, the most important event in human history. For this we believe that Jesus is God himself and the Son of God, that together with the Father and the Holy Spirit he surrounds us with his love, that we are of infinite worth to Almighty God (although it is extremely difficult to understand why). But we know it to be true, because he is determined never to lose u s. He has shown us that by his life, death and resurrection. He doesn’t want a single one of us to be estranged or distant from him.

So the Son takes the initiative. At his Father’s behest, he comes to us as an infant, born in the most humble circumstances in farming country. His life of self-sacrifice will already have begun as we pull our crackers and tuck into Christmas pudding. But he won’t mind in the least, because he knows we are really delighted at his coming, and we understand his intention to rescue us from the devastating consequences of sin. It is something only Jesus can do – Jesus of Nazareth, of Bethlehem, of Capernaum, of the lakeside, of Bethany, of Jerusalem. The Holy One of God. The one who is proud to speak of himself as the Son of Man.

God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he come sin glory. Amen.
Fr Tim Dean

Shall I sing that Majesty
How shall I sing that Majesty
      Which angels do admire?
Let dust in dust and silence lie;
      Sing, sing, ye heavenly choir.
Thousands and thousands stand around
      Thy throne, O God most high.
Ten thousand times ten thousand sound
      Thy praise, but who am I?

These verses of John Mason, written in the seventeenth century, give us a sense of the splendour we celebrate on today’s solemnity of Christ the King. When sung as a hymn, they are most successfully paired with the great twentieth century tune Coe Fen, creating one of those uplifting situations when poet and musician combine their art across the centuries to acclaim the glory of God.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, as a solemnity of the Church in 1925 against the backdrop of a climate which threatened to marginalise the relevance of the kingdom of Christ, setting up instead rival ‘kingships’ in the political ideologies of the time. His encyclical letter Quas Primas reminds us of the universality of the kingship of Christ, reigning in our hearts and our wills; of the spiritual nature of his kingdom, ‘not of this world’; yet recognising that if individuals in private and public life embrace Christ as their King, ‘society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.’ He speaks of Christ as King of Peace, the model of humility who came not to be served but to serve. But alongside these thoughts from Pius XI, it is as well to remember that the King we honour today is not an aloof king cut off from the sufferings of his people, but one who has embraced them. Pope Benedict has reminded us of this when he said that ‘the Cross is the “throne” from which He demonstrated the sublime regality of God-love.’

‘How shall I sing that Majesty?’ Not entirely a rhetorical question. Rather, an invitation to enter into a deeper appreciation of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ; an encouragement to reflect in our lives something of the privilege of serving a King of majesty and splendour, and self-giving and compassion; a challenge to see how we, in our own ways and according to our own circumstances, can acclaim the kingship of Christ.
Fr Alexander Master

Having your say on 'Assisting Suicide'
There is an important consultation now taking place about when cases of 'assisted suicide' will be prosecuted. The law on 'assisting suicide' has not changed but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has issued 'interim guidelines' about when to prosecute people who do it. We have until 16 December 2009 to respond.

It is essential that as many people as possible concerned about safeguarding the value of life should respond. The guidelines are defective. If left unchanged, they are likely to encourage attitudes and practices that will greatly increase the pressures on vulnerable people to kill themselves. Suicide is a terrible act and typically the act of a desperate person. Those contemplating suicide should be treated with compassion, but suicide should never be promoted or assisted. Promoting or assisting suicide is a serious offence, not a 'victimless crime'. It leaves someone dead.

What are the most important defects in the guidelines?
First, that the guidelines give the impression that a person with a disability (or a serious illness or a history of suicide attempts) has less protection under the law than the rest of us. Second, they may well encourage people in certain categories (spouses and carers) to think they are immune from prosecution for advising or assisting suicide. Sadly, not all spouses and carers are caring people, and vulnerable people need the law's protection here. Third, the guidelines fail to give enough weight to preventing systematic promotion of suicide by pro-suicide and pro-euthanasia groups or individuals.

What can we do?
You can respond to the consultation and make your views known. Unfortunately the consultation document produced by the Crown Prosecution Service is confusing and not easy to follow. Advice on how to respond is on the Bishops' Conference website. (www.catholicchurch.org.uk). If you write a response the key point to make in your reply is that the factors "against prosecution" should not include: (1) that the victim had a terminal illness, severe disability or chronic illness, or (2) that the suspect was a spouse, partner or close relative. It is right that there should be some discretion for the DPP when there are exceptional circumstances which mean prosecution would not be in the public interest. But including these key categories in guidelines could allow the practice of assisted suicide to quickly become very common.

To make your response go to www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/as_policy.html or phone the Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000) and ask for a copy of the consultation document

Four Celebrations
This week we have four celebrations which lead to reflection on the leadership of the church. Monday is the Feast of the Dedication of St John Lateran, the Pope’s Cathedral. The land was given by Constantine to the African St Melchiades (Pope 311-314) for the building of a church. The present Cathedral is the work of Borromini and dates from the mid-seventeenth century.

The bishop’s throne in our Cathedral is a replica of the papal throne in the Lateran Basilica, and the furs worn by the chaplains on solemnities are said to have been designed by Michelangelo for the canons there.

On Tuesday we commemorate St Leo the Great (Pope 440-461), whose letter to the general council of Chalcedon in 451 was the basis of the declaration of orthodox teaching on the two natures of Christ. Facing the invading Huns, he persuaded Attila – not without a considerable bribe – to return beyond the Danube, but could not stop the Vandals occupying Rome in 455, though he did prevent a massacre.

St Martin, commemorated on Wednesday, was a soldier’s son born c315 in what is now Hungary and brought up in northern Italy. As a young officer in Amiens he gave half his cloak to a naked beggar, whom he came to realise was Christ himself. This led to his baptism, discharge from the army and priesthood. He became Bishop of Tours in 370/1 and was energetic in evangelising the remotest parts of his diocese. He died in 397 and was one of the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a Saint.

St Josaphat (Thursday) was born in Byelorussia c1580 and became Bishop of Polotsk in 1617 in the newly formed Ukrainian Catholic rite. His success in defending and spreading this union led to his martyrdom in 1623. His tomb is in Rome in the right transept of St Peter’s.
Fr Michael Durand

31 October/1 November 2009
All Saints

Hallowe’en, All Saints and All Souls
There are lots of black fluffy spiders decorating shop windows because of Hallowe'en; cobwebs, bats and pumpkins; caricatures of ghouls and ghosties; the apparel and accoutrement of witches and wizards. But the irony of all this excitement on Hallowe'en is lost on is practitioners. Far from the evening belonging to the powers of magic and darkness, the ghouls and ghosties were never out to frighten us, but rather by tradition they were out because they were frightened of the triumph of All Saints, the aura of holiness in the world from today's great Solemnity. On Hallowe'en, it's the ghosts and devils who are in a panic, not we who are the Church and who share in Christ's victory over the powers of darkness.

The scriptures confirm all this. Think how the Gadarene demoniacs (Mt.8:28ff) come charging out of their cave and they who frightened everyone else shouted in fear of Jesus "What do you want with us Son of God?" Time and again in the Gospels, the devils are frightened before Jesus and rightly so. They know their ascendancy is at an end; they know that the Kingdom of Light has irrevocably dawned in Christ's saving mission to the world; that in His death and Resurrection, they become creation's exiles in creation's newly restored destiny in God; they become time's refugees, banished from time's divine purpose.

Those who conform themselves to this saving mission of Christ, His saving Will, are the Saints. All Saints celebrates Christ's victory in our brothers and sisters. They have "been through the great persecution" as today's First Reading has it; they have been tested and tempted as we have been. They are the proof of the efficacy of Christ's giving Himself for us. We celebrate not only all the canonised saints but all those now in heaven who "have washed themselves white again in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev.7:14). They not only invite us to imitate them as they in this life grew in love of God and neighbour, but also intercede for us now that they are in heaven.

Our great Cathedral is dedicated to this Most Precious Blood which washed the saints white again and so it is the perfect place in which to pray for All Souls both on 2 November itself and throughout the 'Month of the Holy Souls'. Here we can intercede: our prayers can speed a soul through the purification of Purgatory - as is shown in the mosaics of the Holy Souls' Chapel- to that blissful moment when the voice of Jesus is heard by the soul saying "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk.23:43), and the Holy Soul becomes a Saint.
Fr Michael Dunne

24/25 October 2009
Thirtieth Sunday of the Year

Who, and to whom He is the High Priest?

Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins…

This week I invite you to meditate on our second reading. Today’s reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews is a continuation of last Sunday’s theme: Jesus is our High Priest. The high priest of the Old Testament was the chief intermediary between the chosen people and God. He brought their petitions and their repentance into God’s presence through the temple sacrifices. He did not choose this office for himself; he was called by God to it through his ancestor Aaron, the first high priest of the Old Testament. Christ is our High Priest, our intermediary with God. He, too, did not take this office on Himself; it was given Him by God the Father, as the psalms show.

Through the incarnation of his divine Son, God has given us a High Priest who offered, once and for all, His own body on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He entered the real Holy of Holies and will remain there as our intermediary with the Father until the one has been saved. It is of this basic truth of our Christian faith that the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds you and me today.

It was God Himself who appointed Aaron, Moses’ mouthpiece, to be the first high priest to have charge of the services of the Tent of the meeting, when the Israelites fled from Egypt. This was to continue down through the ages. As I said the high priest was the intermediary between the chosen people and God. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, he offered the sacrifice which made atonement for all the sins of the people. The high priest, therefore, had a very special place, the most important religious position, in the community.

When the author called Christ our High Priest, appointed by God to make atonement for all the sins of the world, people knew how this atonement was made. They knew who this high priest was, the Son of God who took human nature in which He could make this sacrifice which was of infinite value, and surpassed all the sacrifices offered by all the high priests of history. People knew that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was for all men, not one race alone, but for each and every member of the human race for all time.
Fr Thevakingsley

17/18 October 2009
Twenty Ninth Sunday of the Year

The Departure of the Relics of St Thérèse
As I write these words on Wednesday evening, the relics of St Thérèse have been in the Cathedral for 48 hours. They have been 48 hours in which the Cathedral liturgies have been enriched by the presence of thousands of visitors – pilgrims, bishops, ecumenical guests, religious, priests. They have been 48 hours of devotion, of prayer, of extremely hard work by a legion of staff and volunteers too numerous even to begin to mention individually, but to all of whom we owe a debt of deep gratitude. They have been 48 hours of grace. And more is yet to come! But by the time you read these words, the relics will have departed. The cathedral will once again look its normal self. But it would be unfortunate indeed if the return to outward normality meant that the visit had changed nothing for our community or those many individuals who have passed through the Cathedral’s doors.

So how might we keep something of these days alive within us? For very many, the few moments in the immediate presence of the relics of a woman of such hard-won holiness might be the key memory; for others a confession in which the forgiveness and grace of God was humbly sought and freely given. For still others, the sheer numbers of people who made time for veneration and prayer, whether in a solemn liturgy, or in the stillness of night vigil, or in individual pilgrimage, is eloquent testament to the wonderful things God does in his saints, in this life and the one to come.

St Thérèse famously proclaimed that she would ‘spend my heaven doing good on earth’. In her enclosed convent in the 1890s, she could hardly have imagined how that good would have manifested itself in our Cathedral this week. But if her visit means that we are given the grace to spend our time on earth striving with greater fervour and devotion towards the things of heaven, and uniting ourselves more closely with God in our prayer and the way we lead our lives, even – especially – in little ways, then the time St Thérèse has spent here will have left a precious legacy indeed.
Fr Alexander Masters

10/11 October 2009
Twenty Eighth Sunday of the Year

This Week is Relics’ Week
On Monday evening of this week (6.30pm 12 October) the long awaited Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux arrive at the Cathedral for the completion of their nationwide tour. They leave from the Cathedral on Thursday, 15 October at 4.30pm. For all of that time, except Monday night, the Cathedral will be open for pilgrims to make their way to the Relics.

Because of the great numbers expected there will be barriers to keep the queue safe down Ambrosden Avenue as well as steering them in the right direction for the Relics. The Cathedral's FRONT DOORS will only give access to the veneration of the Relics, for individuals and for groups. NO TICKETS are ever needed to venerate the Relics.

The Cathedral's SIDE DOORS, on Ambrosden Avenue and Morpeth Terrace, will give access to the MASSES and other liturgies parishioners are used to attending. All of the NORMAL MASSES which parishioners are used to attending, AND the CONFESSIONAL parishioners are used to going to, are scheduled as usual. NO TICKETS are needed to come to Mass at 7.00am, 8.00am, 10.30am, 12.30pm, 1.05pm, or to go to Confession as normal. It just has to be remembered to enter via the Cathedral's SIDE DOORS. Tickets are needed for the 5.30pm Mass and some additional liturgies. However, even then, some space is reserved at those Masses and liturgies for those hoping to come in without tickets; the Stewards will admit them to the Cathedral ten minutes before the liturgy if there is space available. There will be a Big Screen in the Piazza in any case, broadcasting what's going on in the Cathedral.

Pope Benedict has granted a Plenary Indulgence "to the faithful who devoutly visit on pilgrimage the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Westminster" for the Relics of St Thérèse and fulfil the usual conditions "concluding with the Our Father, the Creed and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Thérèse". The usual conditions are: 1) Sacramental Confession; 2) receive Holy Communion; 3) pray for the Holy Father's intentions. These four elements need to be completed within several days; one Plenary Indulgence may be gained each day and may be applied either to a soul in Purgatory or the pilgrim himself or herself.

Let us pray for a grace filled week.
Fr Michael Dunne

3/4 October 2009
Twenty Seventh Sunday of the Year

October – month of the Holy Rosary
During October, the month of The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary we should start or re-start a habit of reciting the Rosary every day. (Either in groups - or with one or two others - or individually.)

Benefits of the Rosary
1) The Rosary gradually brings us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ. 2) The Rosary purifies our souls from sin. 3) The Rosary gives us victory over all our spiritual enemies. 4) The Rosary makes the practice of virtue easy. 5) The Rosary sets us on fire with the love of our Lord. 6) The Rosary enriches us with graces and merits. 7) The Rosary supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men and women and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces from God. (From The Secret of the Rosary 27th Rose.)

Words of Our Lady of Fatima
First Apparition - May 13, 1917 “Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war”. Second Apparition - June 13, 1917 “I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, and to pray the Rosary every day.” Third Apparition - July 13, 1917 “I want you to come here on the 13th of next month. Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you.” Fourth Apparition - August 15, 1917 “Go again to the Cova da Iria on the 13th and continue to pray the Rosary every day.” Fifth Apparition - September 13, 1917 “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war.” (The First World War of 1914-1918) Sixth Apparition - October 13, 1917 I wish to have a chapel built here in my honour. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day.”
Mary is Queen of Peace – she can bring peace to Afghanistan!
The Web has enormous resources of information and contemplative writing about the Rosary. For example, http://www.santorosario.net/english/index.htm
Fr Tim Dean

26/27 September 2009
Twenty Sixth Sunday of the Year

Guardian Angels
St Vincent de Paul, whose feast we celebrate today, had a profound devotion to the Guardian angels and recommended to Sisters (Daughters of Charity) that before they entered a city they should salute the angel that God had assigned to protect it.

It was on this day 350 years ago that St Vincent died. He drew his last breath at the time of the day when he was accustomed to rise and give himself to prayer for an hour before he celebrated the sacrifice of the Mass. No doubt Vincent’s Guardian Angel was close to him at this point.

On Friday of this week we will celebrate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. God created the Angels to praise him in Heaven, to lead the fight against Satan and to guide and protect us. Some of these angels are Guardian Angels, they guard us against evil, and are God’s messengers. Every person on earth has a Guardian angel who watches over them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church proclaims that from infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (angels) watchful care and intercession. In the opening prayer of the Mass on the Feast we read; “God our Father in your loving providence you send your holy angel to watch over us.” Here in the Cathedral high up on the walls of the Lady Chapel are a series of beautiful mosaics one of them depicting the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel. We read in the book of Exodus 23: 20-23, “I myself will send an angel before you to guard you.”

One of the earliest prayers we were taught was a prayer to our Guardian Angel. I clearly remember the following prayer: “Angel of God my Guardian dear, through whom God’s love protects me here, ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide.” When we die and the Church is saying an official goodbye to us before our bodies are taken to the grave, she will pray: “And may the chorus of angels come to greet you.” So we give thanks to those messengers of God who accompany us day and night as we go about our daily lives.
Sister Bridget D.C.

19/20 September 2009
Twenty Fifth Sunday of the Year

The Relics of St Thérèse

On a map of England drawn by the young St Thérèse as a little girl there are just two towns marked by her - Portsmouth and London. Her Relics arrived in Portsmouth on Wednesday at the beginning of their nationwide tour which will conclude in London with her days with us at Westminster Cathedral between 12 and 15 October. Welcoming the Relics to the country, Bishop Hollis of Portsmouth said to the congregation "In one way relics aren't terribly important - it's what they represent- they represent a life in which God has been absolutely paramount and in which there has been a total response to the call that God has given". Anyone who has read anything of St Thérèse's Story of a Soul knows how 'absolutely paramount' God was in her life and also how 'total' was her response to His call. Whatever our state of life, whether saintly or sinful, St Thérèse can teach us so much, encourage us so much in the ways of holiness - the extraordinary in the ordinary, great love even in small things. She was confident that God would allow her to "spend her heaven doing good on earth". We are the beneficiaries of that pledge and certainly we can look forward to seeing and experiencing the great good being done when her Relics are among us at the Cathedral.

What can we do to help? How can we prepare? Firstly, please spread the word that St Thérèse is coming to the Cathedral. Take the colour Information Leaflet at the back of the Cathedral and give them to parishes and communities around London. Perhaps keep up with the visit of the Relics across the country through the Bishops' Conference website - www.catholicrelics.org.uk Prepare spiritually with the Novena in the Cathedral from 4-12 October. Tell those you know of the Plenary Indulgence granted by Pope Benedict to those who visit the Relics on their tour (as referred to by Archbishop Vincent in his Pastoral Letter this weekend). And join with the whole country in this month of grace by praying the National Prayer for the Visit:

God our Father, you reveal to us the depth of your love in the holy face of Jesus Christ your Son. As we honour St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, may we have the confidence and love to stand fully in the light of your presence so that the beauty of the gospel may expand our hearts and open us to the gifts of your Holy Spirit. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fr Michael Dunne

Exaltation of the Cross

“During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ” (1 Cor 2:2). St Paul is writing to the Corinthians; in his preaching he is not appealing to human wisdom ‘but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed’.

St Paul’s faith is not based on Jesus crucified, as say on Spartacus crucified, or on any of the hundreds of thousands of foreigners and slaves who were subjected to this barbarous form of execution under the Roman Empire. It is to Christ crucified that he compels our attention. As in his life, so in his death, Jesus can only be understood through the Resurrection, that guarantee that God has given us that the power of death has been conquered.

It is a mystery why the Passion of Jesus was God’s chosen way of saving us. A glimmer of understanding is found in the belief that, if we share our suffering with him, a salvific meaning is given to that suffering. We can only hope that all those who, while not recognising Christ, have suffered torture and barbarity throughout the ages, and indeed are still suffering in our own day, may find understanding, if not in this life, at least in the hour of their death.

In her ‘Revelation of Divine Love’ Mother Julian of Norwich expresses it powerfully: “His body was in the grave until Easter morning, but from that time he was never to be counted among the dead. For then was rightfully ended the struggling and the writhing, the groaning and the moaning. And our foul deadly flesh, which God’s Son took on him – which was Adam’s old serving robe – was then by our Saviour made fair, new, white and bright and of endless cleanness” (XIV Revelation, Chapter 51).
Fr Michael Durand

Last Thursday Archbishop Vincent Nichols celebrated the funeral Mass for Fr Edward Houghton in the church of Our Lady of Grace and St Edward, Chiswick. Fr Edward, formerly a Deacon at the Cathedral and latterly Assistant Priest at Chiswick, was fatally injured in a road accident in North Yorkshire on Friday, 21 August.

For all of us the sudden death of Edward came as a profound shock and sadness. We still have a very vivid memory of Fr Edward’s ordination to the priesthood that took place here, in the Cathedral, only a year ago. His parish priest says: “He had clearly made a great impression on many of us. Over the past few days many people have already spoken of how much they appreciated his thought-provoking sermons, others have commented on his spirituality. He had a gift for making relationships - relationships with all sorts of people”.

Although Fr Edward might have had a somewhat serious exterior, underneath there was a warm heart. There was very much the heart of the shepherd that was so apparent as he greeted people with his transforming smile after Masses on Sundays. That warm heart was even more apparent as he noticed, and made time for those who were sometimes forgotten, or who might not have been the easiest company, or who lived their lives a little closer to the edge.

As we ponder the sudden and untimely death of Fr Edward we will all have many questions - there is the inevitable question 'why'? It's a question we can keep asking but I'm not sure that we'll find an answer, at least not an answer that will adequately satisfy us. Even in death we can learn from Fr Edward - we can learn from the example of his faith which was so real, so obvious, so strong. We can learn not to question but to trust. To trust God and to know that as Fr Edward strived to be a faithful servant and priest so God will be faithful to him, and will reward him for his labours and will grant him a place of rest and peace. May his soul rest in peace.
Fr Slawomir Witon

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