Weekly Record

Apologies for the April Fool in last week’s newsletter regarding Fasting and Abstinence. It is good to see that some of you have a good sense of humour and also that it is possible to catch some of you out. Someone kindly sent me a recipe for a vegetable casserole which I have yet to try so I did manage to get something out of it as well.

This weekend marks the beginning of Holy Week when we relive the major moments of Our Lord’s life-giving Passion, Death and Resurrection. The focus of our Masses this Sunday centre on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and then the Solemn Account of the Passion of St Mark. Following his Jubilee celebrations Archbishop Kelly will be presiding at Solemn Mass and Choral Evening Prayer today, and will lead all of the major services in the Cathedral this week.

In brief, we gather on Wednesday evening to celebrate the Mass of Chrism – at this Mass the three oils that are used in the celebrations of the Sacraments throughout the year are blessed and the priests of the Diocese renew their commitment to priestly ministry. On Maundy Thursday the principal focus is on the Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrated in the evening and as Jesus washed his disciples feet the Archbishop will wash others feet as an example of service and discipleship. The Mass concludes with a period of watching in quiet prayer in thanksgiving for the institution of the Eucharist and in memory of Our Lord’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. We gather on Good Friday afternoon to commemorate the time of Our Lord’s death on the Cross. The stark simplicity of the Good Friday liturgy incorporates the Solemn intoning of the Passion according to John, the Veneration of the Cross, Intercessions for the whole of humanity and reception of Holy Communion. Other than the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer and the Polish service of Blessing, there will be nothing in the Cathedral or Crypt until the Easter Vigil at 9pm on Holy Saturday Evening. This is the first Mass of Easter and at this the Easter Candle and Baptismal Water is blessed, we rejoice that Christ is truly Risen from the Dead and in Proclaiming our Faith anew adults will be received into the church. On Easter Sunday Archbishop Kelly will preside at the 10am Mass in the Crypt. I’m not sure if that is so that you have a change of face and voice for the Solemn Mass in the Cathedral or whether he himself likes a change from celebrating in the Cathedral all week.

Unfortunately I held off writing this column to the last minute this week and found myself caught in the midst of Archbishop’s Jubilee arrangements, enquiries regarding the new Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, (who had been named in the ‘Times’ but so far no official announcement made) and the desperate struggle to prepare the many service sheets for the coming week. When the going gets the tough I have found that the best tactic is to close the office door and let it all happen around you. I think I would prefer television broadcasts to this!

The Holy Week celebrations in the Cathedral require a great deal of preparation, hard work and extra time commitments from a great many of you. I would want to thank all those within our Cathedral family who give of their time and talents to help over this coming week All that is left for me to say is to encourage you to take part in the various Holy Week services as much as possible. A great deal is asked of us this week but we receive much more back in return. Through the services of Holy Week our faith is renewed and deepened and we ‘die with the Lord so that we may live’.

Canon Anthony O'Brien
Cathedral Dean