Sunday 23 February 2020 — Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

I am struck by the litany of St Gregory which I always read after Mass in the Holy Rood.

“From eternal death, deliver us, O Lord.”

That is a more powerful way of putting it than going on about eternal life.

That is what the atheists are offering us: eternal death. Surely none of us wants that, or even think it very likely.

Monday 24 February 2020

I manage to get to Mass at the Cathedral.

“But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or a self-seeking ambition, never make any claims for yourself.” (James 3)

Well — easily said, not so easily done. We are all at the centre of our own little universe.

Tuesday 25 February 2020 — Shrove Tuesday

James 4:1

“Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?”

Precisely.

Wednesday 26 February 2020 — Ash Wednesday

I can’t do my usual and listen to Allegri’s Miserere at the 5:30 Mass so I make do with the Latin one at 10:30. Very calm and peaceful.

I am always struck by this passage from Matthew 6:

“Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men.”

Should I be doing this blog at all? Or just keep quiet?

Thursday 27 February 2020

I am at Wilton Park for an FCO conference on Nigeria and religious violence. What a delight to have Mass for just six of us said by the Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Cardinal Onaiyekan. So calm and spiritual in all this talk of violence.

Friday 28 February 2020

I go to Evensong in Lincoln Cathedral. Always a delight to listen to Cranmer’s prose. No one can ruin this service: it is incapable of change.

The huge empty nave, luckily with no chairs — a silent witness.

Saturday 29 February 2020

A reading of a psalm in the village church.

“Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer: for I am poor and needy.” (Psalm 85)