1st Sunday in Lent

You might not expect much from me today since it is Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent.  The fast which began on Ash Wednesday is lifted for Sundays since Sunday remains a celebration of our Lord's resurrection...  and we understand that the season of Lent as a whole is directed toward the Paschal mystery - the Death, Burial and Resurrection - of our Lord.  So, today is, and has been, a great day.  A great day to be alive, to be in Rome and to be free to celebrate Mass on the First Sunday in Lent.  Now that is a first class Feast!

I set my alarm for 0500 but it didn't go off... so the truth is that I only thought I set it.  I woke up at 0600 only to realize that I couldn't make the long pilgrimage to today's Station Church, St John Lateran which is outside the walls of ancient Rome. I think that the pilgrimage eventually goes back there toward the end of Lent, so I will have another chance to do that, perhaps.  The 1.25 hr walk there, and then back would have been a challenge for me today... so I am content that it didn't work out.

More than merely content.  I decided to walk over to St Peter's Basilica, nearby, and present myself at the Sacristy before 0700 in hopes of celebrating Mass in the very center of Catholicism.

I had been in St Peter's Square (which isn't square as you can see) to see the Pope on Ash Wednesday, and to buy postcards and mail one from the Vatican post office, but I hadn't been inside yet.  I bumped into a fellow priest on Sabbatical with me, then another and another... we all had the same idea.

The vestry is for priests only, of course, but there are people waiting outside the vestry for priests to come out so that they can follow them to the altar and attend Mass.  This is inside the corridor leading to the Sacristy... so you can imagine how big the Sacristy is.

Fr James in front of entrance to Sacristy at St Peter's Basilica

I didn't take any pictures inside where we vest, but everything is ready for you, including a sacristan and / or Altar boy to assist you with your vestments and with Mass.  I vested and was led out with Chalice, Paten, purificator, pall, burse and veil by a sacristan who was carrying the water, wine, lavobo bowl and towel to one of the many altars at St Peter's.  The sacristan asked me in broken English if there was an altar that I preferred to go to.  It being my first time inside St Peters it was overwhelming enough, so I had no idea which altar to choose, or that I would even have a choice.  So, in an act of kind providence, he led me to the altar in honour of St. Thomas, affectionately known as Doubting Thomas.

This is where I said Mass this morning:

Fr James by the altar of St Thomas

Another priest, who was not celebrating the Mass at 0700 was waiting for me outside the sacristy and followed me to this altar in order to assist, which was very kind of him.  When I looked up and saw that I would be celebrating Mass under this large painting depicting the moment when Thomas exclaimed, 'My Lord and my God!' I was deeply moved.  Oh that I might have some portion of the faith of this great Apostle who upon his conversion and commission from Christ took the gospel to India and established the Church there.  Like him, I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church!

I can't say much more about the Mass at this point.  I know that there were well-worn grooves in the floor at the foot of the altar where, who knows, probably tens of thousands of priests have offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass before me.  I know that I chanted the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei in Latin:

"Holy Holy Holy, Lord God of Hosts, 

heaven and earth are full of your glory; 

Hosanna in the highest.  

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; 

Hosanna in the highest." 

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Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us;

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us;

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace;

I spent the next hour as a tourist in a cassock - the long flowing black robe that priests wear.  I took a few pictures that may interest you.  I could have taken 100 pics and not conveyed 1/10th of what I saw... and I only skimmed the surface.

St Michael the Archangel

Soldiers, especially those who deployed with me in Kandahar Afghanistan, have a particular devotion or at least a dependent connection to St Michael the Archangel.  We asked for his assistance on a regular basis as convoys and foot patrols went 'outside the wire'.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle;

be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:

and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, 

cast into hell Satan and all the wicked spirits, 

who roam through the world, seeking the ruin of souls.

The High Altar at St. Peter's Basilica

I know you can get better quality pictures than this just by searching images on the internet... but I took this one.  I was there this morning.  Although I didn't get to go down into the crypt (Cardinal Arinze processed by in front of us with a group heading down to the crypt and no one was allowed down for about 30 min or so) I knew that I was standing with the great Apostles Peter and Paul, Martyrs.  I will go down into the crypt another day.

I prayed the Morning Office (mostly Psalms, readings and intercessions) with Fr James in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel... no pic.  It was quiet and reverential... still, before the multitude of sight-seers entered the sacred space.

Baldachino over the main altar in St Peter's

I snapped this picture of the massively beautiful baldachino / canopy with columns by Bernini just before we left.  In the sacrament of the altar there is a union of Christ and his bride, the Church... 'a mystic, sweet communion' with our Lord, an embrace of love.  He comes to us as manna from heaven at the bidding of the priest and, closely united to him in his sacrifice, we offer ourselves back to him in love.  In this way, he abides in us and we in him.  This four-poster is 96 feet tall and uses over 100,000 lbs of bronze!

Ah, Michelangelo's Pieta, just inside the main door to the right.  The Mother of Christ holding him as he is brought down from the cross.  Tenderness and strong faith, quietness in the face of anguish!  I am not the one to try to describe this unspeakable work of art.  Words fail... they are indelicate and clumsy. The Pieta had to be put behind some kind of protective bulletproof glass because someone rushed it with a hammer in 1972 and damaged Mary's nose and broke off her arm at the elbow.  It is magnificent even at a distance and under the effects of glass.  Any pic that I would have taken would not have done it justice:

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I left St Peter's just in time to make the 20 min walk down to Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, the Church I mentioned in Friday's post which celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass.  

Today was a solemn, high Mass with a priest, deacon and subdeacon, plenty of incense and a beautiful schola or choir perched up in the back of the Church in a loft.  They led the congregation in the sung responses, and of course with Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.  It was heavenly in the true sense of that expression.  I did my best to follow along in the Latin Daily Missal, but eventually I just left the book to one side mostly and drank in the worship experience and offered my thanks to God.  

I introduced myself to the priests after Mass and they invited me to come back, sit in the sanctuary with the other priests and even to take lessons from one of them (with others) on how to celebrate this ancient rite.  They were very welcoming... and I will definitely be back to take them up on their offer.

I did all of this before noon... and now I'm finished sharing it with you.  The rest of the day is for reading.  I was given a book by Carolyn called 'The Geometry of Love', though she won't remember giving it to me.  I read it some time ago when I first got it, and jsut before I left to come to Rome I remembered that it was an in depth analysis of a church in Rome, St Agnes outside the Wall, and so I brought it with me.  The subtitle is: Space, Time, Mystery and Meaning in an Ordinary Church.  So, I am reading it again... and I hope to visit the Church while I'm  here: its about a 50 min bus ride north of the old city.