Recovered, finally ...

I've thoroughly recovered from Holy Week at this stage but then it was (as far as the Traditional Mass in Dublin goes) the best ever. We had the whole Triduum with some extras, like Tenebrae on Spy Wednesday and Stations of the Cross on Good Friday; the latter included Meditations on the Way of the Cross by the Servant of God John Henry Newman. The Triduum itself was intense and very moving, and also very musical. We had the Lassus Scholars and their junior colleagues The Piccolo Lasso providing much of the music under the directio of their incomparable Foundress. Their rendition of Allegri's Miserere (Psalm 1) would move the Angels - were they capable of it - to envy.

As welcome as these visitors always are, it's important not to forget our own regular choir or rather Guild of Choristers with their indefatigable leader Robert Daly. (Yes he's the gentleman with the intense expression in the photo; his seriousness about the music is matched only by his geniality and affability when "off duty".)

Apart from that the liturgy itself went like a dream. The Holy Week ceremonies are usually a lot of work and this year was no exception. But somehow, we (the altar servers and general liturgical factota) seemed to be able to manage it all with less panic than in previous years. Our pastor (not his official title but it reflects what he actually does) commented that a few years repetition has given us a certain finesse in these matters. Well, thank God for that! About the ceremonies themselves the less said, the better. You really have to be there to understand how they work and what they mean. They'll be on at the same times (more or less) in the same place next year, so you know where to come! (NB The reason why the map is in Polish is because we share the Church with the Polish chaplaincy in Ireland. This led to some rapid change-overs from their congregation to ours and back again over Easter but we all came through it unscathed!)

The other high-point (of a non liturgical kind) was persuading this lady to make the trip to Dublin for the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday. She nearly killed me for "persuading" her to drive into the (almost) City Centre - which she hates! However, all's well that ends well. Both she and her friend K seemed to get a lot out of it. What they also got a lot of was information and explanations out of me; I'm just hoping that they were actually as accurate as I thought they were at the time. Anyway, after all that fun and excitement, the next big event will be the Ascension rapidly followed by Pentecost which means - Chartres! Or rather it means three days of walking & praying to get there and not incidentally three days of your humble servant chivying the poor patient Irish pilgrims! Be that as it may if you feel like joining in there's just time to sign up. Contact me (sorbonnetoga@yahoo.co.uk) or our esteemed President (nestorvicky@hotmail.com) and we'll let you know what's involved :-)