SUNDAY 30th October – Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
We drive back from Lincs for lunch with the family and Mass in the Cathedral.
“In your sight, Lord, the whole world is like a grain of dust that tips the scales”.
MONDAY 31st October
I ask a question of the Home Secretary, calling for a Select Committee enquiry into Orgreave that creates a few waves.
The Gospel today is difficult: do we ever do it …
“… Now when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind …”
Luke 14:12-14.
TUESDAY 1st November – All Saints’ Day
I am not sure if the Whips will slip me so I go to the 1pm Mass but business ends so I cannot resist going to the magnificent Mass at 5.30 with the Cardinal. His sermon, of course, is on death; not forgetting it, not dreading it but seeing it as a passport to a different life. We all wish we could be surer, but meantime it is best just to assume.
WEDNESDAY 2nd November
Lovely Latin Mass in the Holy Souls Chapel in the Cathedral. We miss so much with the Mass not being in Latin in a beautiful chapel with the priest facing the altar.
THURSDAY 3rd November
The High Court insists on Parliament having a say on Brexit’s Article 50. I stand up and agree. The only thing to fear with Brexit is fear itself. It will be a brave MP who votes against. The evening Mass marks the 60th anniversary of Cardinal Cormac’s ordination.
FRIDAY 4th November
I travel to Downside.
In the evening I pick up a booklet Father Leo has written for the children – a conversation with St Benedict. It brings alive, for me, his life more than Theodore Maynard’s scholarly thesis which I am attempting to slowly read.
As always, Downside sulks in slowly. Midday prayer passes over to no effect, there is even a slight sense of depression, then a walk through magnificent autumn woods and in the darkened Abbey, lighting a candle, a sudden momentary shift into belief.
Father Leo, citing Benedict, cites pride as the deadliest danger because it leads to self-absorption and he cites the 12 steps up the ladder of humility as a guide.
Today Stephen Phillips resigns. I think you should tight on, not resign.
SATURDAY 5th November
I am at Downside. This is a good place to think. We have our oblates meeting. Father Alexander goes through the Rule of St Benedict. Like all these ancient texts, it deserves patience to dig down beyond the antiquated language. In Chapter 7, Benedict tells us “without doubt, this descent and ascent can signify only that we descend by exultation and ascend by humility.” As I read this I remember a conversation I had with George Osborne – “you are in charge now” he told me. If only. If like me you have no power it is easy enough to be humble.