Feasts

The Feast of Christ the King was great. I enjoy celebrating Mass, especially on Sundays, and the Church's annual liturgical cycle is studded with beautiful feasts like yesterday's. The Gospel was Jesus before Pilate, and in my homily I talked about choices - Our Lord's decision to go ahead that he made in the Garden of Gethsemane the previous night, and then our decision. Will we choose Pilate's way of success, celebrity, glamour, money and so on, but racked by fear and suspicion, precarious and eventually forgotten, or the way of the Other Man, humble and without the trappings of human fame and glamour... I stood right in front of the altar and imagined Pilate and Jesus standing to my right and left. On Saturday evening at St Paul's I then sat down for a few moments. It came to me that at this point we stand for the Creed, but only if we believe. So, I said "If you choose Pilate and his way - stay seated. But if you choose Jesus and His Way - then stand for the Creed." There was a momentary pause, but I think everybody stood up! Sometimes it's good to remember that to follow Our Lord is a decision, that we have to continually make, again and again, whether we are "cradle Catholics" or not.
We were invited for lunch, along with four others, at the house of the family of someone whose Requiem I celebrated earlier this year. A little thankyou I suppose. As usual, I enjoyed a meal at the home of parishioners. When we do this we meet people literally on home ground, we are admitted to that sacred place, and share for a few hours in the warmth of their family life. Tasty food, good wine, great company. A lovely feast of Christ the King.