A Snapshot of Life Living Close to a Daily TLM

Nantes.
Wrapped up warm in my navy blue jacket with a detachable fleece inside (two coats for the price of one!), I set off for the tram stop Recteur Schmidt (really make the R as guttural as possible in Recteur). Waiting at the tram stop were some other students, mostly on my side, heading into the centre of Nantes. Getting on at the back (where there's usually more room), I looked around in vain for a seat. Never mind - it was more important that I was near the door for getting off, as the trams could get really busy at 5.30.
Jolted out of my reverie by the cheery announcement of "Saint Mihiel" (which I always thought sounded like she was saying "Holy Honey"), I squeeze past the young black woman with the huge handbag and the old biddie with the tons of shopping, repeating "Pardon!" the whole time. I really couldn't seem to lose that British way of apologising profusely for my existence.

Reminiscing of the days in Nantes

Today I watched a video that featured on the website of the FSSP parish in Nantes, which is by far the best parish I have EVER been to. Here is the video, which looks back over the past year at the parish. Almost all of the events featured took place after I left, but what you can gather from the video is that it is a truly "living" parish, dedicated to forming young peoples lives so that they are well-rounded and properly equipped to deal with the vicissitudes of life, if you pardon the cliché, and also to preach the gospel by their way of living. It is entirely contrary to the popular yet gravely dishonest caricature of being sour and grumpy folk that traditionalists are often portrayed as. No, theirs is a parish where one cannot help but notice the love of Christ acted out in its members' devotion. The two priests were also excellent confessors and I can say that my time there was the most spiritually consoling and helpful time in my life. Oh how I miss it!

De pænultima die

I've just come back from my last EF Mass here in Nantes, that of the feast of St Polycarp, so the priest, the fantastic Abbé Roseau, was wearing beautiful red vestments.
Being the shy soul that I am, I had never really introduced myself to the priests or indeed anyone at the parish. It was only last week that someone approached me whom I'd met before. They had no idea I attended the EF on such a regular basis (my attendance has been pretty much daily over the past two weeks). However, I leave Nantes on Thursday so the man and the woman whom I knew invited me to lunch after Mass on Sunday. What a delightful Sunday it was. It was so peaceful that it really pained me to think that I'd only have one such Sunday, and that this won't happen again.

I am so grateful to the priests at the parish and I thank God for them, Abbé Roseau and Abbé Jouachim. I could not leave without expressing this gratitude and so I bought a card, bearing the name St Clément (the name of the church) and wrote a sentence or two (in French of course) expressing my thanks to them for these my first experiences at the EF of the Mass. My original intention was to just leave it lying there on one of the tables at the back of the Church under the noticeboard but then I decided I would hand it to M. l'abbé Roseau personally for several reasons. Firstly, the card could lie there for weeks without anyone noticing. Secondly, it could be picked up by someone else. Thirdly, even if they did get the card, they would probably have no idea who I am, and would probably just seem rather strange. And finally, I don't think it would truly express my gratitude if I just left it lying for them, rather than actually having a conversation with them. So I waited until the priest heard a few Confessions and finished his prayers, and then approached him. I think he did recognise me, and if he didn't immediately, he will have recognised the same voice who stumbles through confessions in awkward French, often not making much sense. I gave him the card and he inquired as to what it was, and then I told him that I was leaving Nantes. He asked a few more questions and then just as I was going out of those thick double doors one finds in churches to keep the heat in, he said he would like to give me a blessing for my travels. It was totally unexpected but I really felt like this is what it must be like to live in a country which still has some dregs of a Catholic culture. In Scotland, I often feel as though we are just meant to be grateful that the Church is allowed to operate in such a presbyterian country, and so never mind all these traditions such as blessings, churching of women, house blessings and the like. So finally, I'd like to thank God for the thousands of opportunities He has given me while here in Nantes, and I am ever so grateful to Him.

Benedictus Jesus Christus, verus Deus et verus homo. Benedictum Cor ejus sacratissimum!

(Abbé Roseau also has a blog describing his journey on making his own hosts for Mass. You can find it here. I've also already posted a link to the Nantes FSSP website where you can see the two priests in action.)

Domine, non sum dignus...

...ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur anima mea.

Today I went to my last Sunday EF Mass for probably a very long time. And so I'm quite sad. The older liturgy has really enriched my view of Catholicism, and made me feel connected to the very same Mass that so many saints of old attended while here on earth. Today, the Gospel concerned the curing of a leper and the faith of the centurion when Jesus cured his servant. It is from this passage that we get the (soon to be) "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed". It is in this confession (in the EF it is said threefold while beating the breast) that we acknowledge how we are always unworthy to receive the Lord, yet He still invites us to come to Him, for He is "meek and humble of heart" and in Him we "find rest for [our] souls". Yet again we can marvel at the depths of the love of our Saviour, that He suffers our sinfulness even in our reception of Him (sadly, given the large difference in the Communion lines with the Confession lines, many people receive truly unworthily with mortal sin on their souls). In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Lord calls us and moves our hearts to approach the fountain of mercy which pours from His own, and then gives His Body and Blood for us, that we may become like Him, and love to a greater capacity, and love more truly, with the love of God. Lord, we truly are not worthy of such favour. And that is why it is called grace - gratia - because it is gratis.

Mass for the Epiphany, yet again!

Yesterday I attended Mass at the FSSP Chapel here in Nantes (on Sundays I go to the EF Mass here, mainly because I know that when I leave here, I don't know when I'm likely to be able to go to and EF Mass again). I went along expecting it to be the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Not so. Instead, it was the transferred feast of the Epiphany, meaning it was the third Mass for the Epiphany that I've been to this year. The previous Sunday I had come back from Scotland after the holidays and since I missed the Mass in the morning, I decided to wait and go along to the 6 o'clock evening Mass instead. However, having forgotten to change the time on my computer, when I thought it was 5 o'clock, Mass had already started. Doh! So I quickly searched on the internet for a Mass on later. Luckily there was one at the Cathedral, so I went to that one. Only it was and Epiphany Mass (I had intended to go along to the Epiphany Mass at the FSSP chapel on the Wednesday, the actual day of the Epiphany). But nevertheless, it was far more important for me to fulfil my Sunday obligation and go to Mass. Anyway, it's not like I dislike the OF at all (apart from when it's at that church nearest to me - then it's just excruciating).
So I went along to my second Epiphany Mass on the Wednesday at the FSSP chapel, where it was low mass. And then yesterday was a missa cantata, that is, a type of low mass that is more elaborate and has a choir singing the responses, etc. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia on newadvent.org, the essence of a high Mass is the presence of the deacon and subdeacon, and not the music.
Finally, just a point that I wanted to make about yesterday's Mass. The priest celebrating (who always gives good homilies and advice in Confession) sang the preface with all the elaborate notes, something I had never heard before, either on the Internet or over here in Nantes. I had wondered about it, as if you, for example, go to the Sancta Missa website and read the music for the prefaces, and at the same time watch one of the Masses they have on video there, you can see that not all of the notes are sung. I suppose that with the lack of a deacon and subdeacon, the priest wished to make it as solemn as possible for the Epiphany.

Here is the website of the FSSP in Nantes

Wonderful Communion hymn!

This happened a while ago - for the feast of the Immaculate Conception - but at the EF of the Mass that I attended, they sang the Anima Christi for communion. Now, I was well aware of this hymn because it is included in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, my confirmation saint, but this was the first time I had heard it sung, and not only that, but sung in an appropriate context. The words are beautiful on their own, but receiving communion while hearing "Corpus Christi, salva me", it really helps devotion to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and I think aids a better reception of Communion and better prayer afterwards.

Here is a youtube version of it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Gy73N4qA0

Finem respice

Well, like probably many other blogs, I'm going to write a little bit about how today is the last day of the calendar year. Before I do so, I would like to first of all wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a similarly Happy New Year.

Today is called Hogmanay in Scotland, and the origins of the word are disputed. Anyway, there are some traditions/superstitions that are no longer carried out, hence why we notice them and talk about it. One of them is called first-footing, where the first person to come through the door after midnight should be a tall dark man (blond-haired men were not welcomed after Viking invasions, so it goes) bearing gifts of coal (for warmth), black bun (for food), salt (for wealth), and a hawf-bottle (an alcoholic drink, usually whisky, for obvious reasons).
Another little fact about Scotland and Hogmanay/Ne'ersday is that in the past it took place of Christmas, since Christmas celebrations were discouraged by the presbyterian Church of Scotland for being too Catholic. In fact, my dad remembers it being so until the 1960s, when my grandfather, a pretty staunch Presbyterian*, would work on Christmas Day.

And so we reach the end of AD 2009, and this inevitably causes everyone to carry out evaluations of the past year. For me, the year has been split in two. The time before me going abroad, which was roughly the first eight months, and then the latter four months in France. During the latter period, with lots of solitary free time, I spent a lot of it researching my faith and learning more, and everyone has noticed in this short time of being back in Scotland.

Finally, I would like to ask you to pray for my parish priest, who had a heart attack on Sunday and is in hospital. It looks as though he will be taking retirement even earlier than was planned (though he was meant to have taken it last September). However, his retirement spells the end of the parish, ultimately, and so please pray for my parish as well.

All the best for 2010.



*an example of how he thought would be the time when he wouldn't speak to my father since he was courting my mother, a Catholic. Nevertheless, my grandfather was always courteous to my mother. Then, there is the story of how he drank quite a bit of whisky in order to endure my parents' wedding in a Catholic church, somewhere he clearly had never planned on entering.

In Conceptione Immaculata Beatæ Mariæ Virginis

Introit
Gaudens gaudebo in Domino, et exultabit anima mea in Deo meo :

induit me vestimentis salutis; et indumento justitiæ circumdedit me,

quasi sponsam ornatam monibilis suis.

Exaltabo te, Domine, quoniam suscepisti me :

nec delectasti inimicos meos super me.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto,

sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,

et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Gaudens gaudebo in Domino, et exultabit anima mea in Deo meo :

induit me vestimentis salutis; et indumento justitiæ circumdedit me,

quasi sponsam ornatam monibilis suis.

Collect

Deus, qui per immaculatam Virginis Conceptionem dignum Filio tuo habitaculum præparasti : quæsumus; ut, qui ex morte Filii tui prævisa eam ab omne labe præservasti, nos quoque mundos eius intercessione ad te pervenire concedas. Per eundem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Gradual

Benedicta es tu Virgo Maria

a Domino Deo excelso præ omnibus

mulieribus super terram.

Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu lætitia Israel,

tu honorificentia populi nostri.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Tota pulchra es, Maria,

et macula originalis non est in te.

Alleluia.

Offertory

Ave, Maria, gratia plena :

Dominus tecum : benedicta tu

in mulieribus, alleluia.

Secret

Salutarem hostiam, quam in solemnitate immaculate Conceptionis beatae Virginis Mariae tibi, Domine, offerimus, suscipe et praesta: ut, sicut illam tua gratia prasveniente ab omni labe immunem profitemur; ita eius intercessione a culpis omnibus liberemur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Communion

Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, Maria :

quia fecit tibi magna qui potens est.

Post-Communion

Sacramenta quae sumpsimus, Domine Deus noster: illius in nobis culpse vulnera, reparent; a qua immaculatam beatae Mariae Conceptionem singulariter praeservasti. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Is Mass supposed to be this embarrassing?

Hello all you non-existent readers. I've just come back from my fifth Sunday mass here in Nantes. Over the past few weeks I've been going to various churches in the centre and nearby. Is it ok to "shop around" for a parish, or should one just accept the nearest, whatever it's like? If so, it's going to be a tortuous five months of Mass here. The delightful church nearest to me just had the "Messe de la rentrée", which for some unknown reason meant lots of clapping, holding hands and skipping parts of the liturgy. There was no second reading, for example, and the psalm was replaced by a vaguely psalm-like hymn (a cheery, happy-clappy one too, of course). The whole time I was praying "please let the consecration be untouched - just let the consecration be ok". And it was, Deo gratias. The only "problem" is that people don't do kneeling in France, for some reason. The only Mass I've been to here where everybody knelt throughout the Canon was at an Extraordinary Form mass (don't worry, it was FSSP). Now, I'm fairly traditional, but I have been to "traditional" Ordinary Form masses, so I know they can be done. Just watch EWTN for example. But the mass today almost made me want to cry. You know that when there's an applause at the end of mass, it's generally not been great.

And we all HAD to hold hands at the Our Father (eyes rolling)...

(Post coming soon on my thoughts on the French translation of the Mass.)

Catholic Scot in France

Orite?
I'm a young Catholic man who tries to live according to Christ's love. I have decided to start a blog (though is there no already enough, perhaps?) because I am living a semi-monastic existence here in the student halls in France, and need something to channel my thoughts. I can guarantee that this will not be a daily blog. I am too lazy for that, though if it goes well the posts may become more frequent.
God bless.