Lent is Over

And not a moment too soon, either.  We laid in a supply of sweet rolls for Easter Sunday breakfast and ice cream for after dinner which I enjoyed tremendously.  Possibly to excess, although it didn't seem like it at the time.

And the garden has decided that it really is spring.

The roses in the front are exploding.

And this tiny little plot of geraniums next to the garage are joining in.  I can't find the picture of the azaleas but they are, too.

Easter Octave

The  picture above is of our little chapel directly after our beautiful Holy Saturday liturgy.  The tomb is empty and the tabernacle isn't.  There are all sorts pictures of our Holy Week service here and there on the net.  Which is kind of odd as I didn't see anyone taking them.  But there they are.  You can find some of them on the parish's FB page here.

Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus . . .

. . . exultemus et lætemur in ea!  Happy Easter Monday.

I can't come up with a proper connection to the holiday for this piece.  And so for no particular reason other than that I like the tune and the playing,  here is Anatoly Isaev playing Cuckold Come Out of the Amrey on the Scottish lowland pipes.   In Russia.



And Xpictoc Bockpece!  (Pretty good, eh?  Considering I don't  have a real Slavonic font on this machine.)

"A conjunction considered to be both deliberate and profoundly meaningful"

That would be today's festal conjunction of Annunciation Day and Good Friday.  The Clerk of Oxford's explanation here should not be missed.  Both beautiful and fascinating.

Palm Sunday

The Donkey
by G.K. CHESTERTON

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

International Bagpipe Day

In honour of International Bagpipe Day, i.e., today, here are three, um, international bagpipes playing a Swedish tune on some good-sounding pipes with sweet harmonies.  It's called Vännens Långdans, which we are told means "Friends Långdans".

From the text on the You Tube page:

From left to right -
Säckpipa (D/G) (Swedish bagpipes) - Scottish smallpipes (A chanter, D drones) - English Borderpipes (G)

The Swedish pipe player is Vickie Swan but the other two ladies aren't identified.

Chrism Mass . . .

. . . Ordinariate style.  This will be the first one any of the three Ordinariates have celebrated.  And the first one using Divine Worship - The Missal.

Alas, it will also be in Washington, D.C., a couple of thousand miles -more or less - from here.  So your servant will not be in attendance.  But if you're in the neighbourhood come St Patrick's day, NLM provides the details here.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd!

Once again I am risking my reputation (what there is of it) and relying solely upon the accuracy of the internet.  Which is to say, that title up there had better mean "Happy St David's Day" in Welsh or I shall be mightily embarrassed.

St David - the sixth century bishop, not the King of Israel - is the patron saint of Wales and today is his feast.  The Inn has something about his life here.  This is his collect from the English Missal:

Grant to us, almighty God: that the loving intercession of blessed David, thy Confessor and Bishop, may protect us; that while we celebrate his festival we may imitate his steadfastness in the defence of the Catholic faith. Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Fr Hunwicke this morning mused:

 Didn't the SSPX church in London begin as a church for Welsh Anglicans? I wonder if they honour their origins by singing Cwm Rhondda at Benediction

Indeed, he was probably thinking of the verse

Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and ever more,
Feed me now and ever more! 

Now we are talking SSPX here.  I doubt English at Benediction is going to fly. But in fact, the words to Tantum Ergo fit Cym Rhondda pretty much perfectly.  Perhaps a touch livelier than Benediction is meant to be.  But what a great tune it is.

Here.  Get out your Missal and look up the words to Tantum Ergo; it'll be in the Benediction section in the back.  You can sing along. All together: one, two:



. . .Procedenti, Procedenti, Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

Wonderful stuff.