On Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Lent, the Holy Mass was, as usual, offered by Fr Ray for the people of the parish. Despite the severe restrictions which have been placed on public worship in the light of the Covid-19 epidemic, daily Mass is offered at St Mary Magdalen's Church.
We must, all of us, unite ourselves to the Sacred Liturgy being offered in our land and throughout the whole world for the world's Salvation, for the good of the Church, for the Church's liberty and exaltation, for the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the clergy and the whole people of God.
As you can see from the image above, the Most Holy Sacrifice continues, even in the absence of dear parishioners and while St Mary Magdalen's Church does not yet offer livestreaming of Masses, there are many churches which are offering this service.
Locally, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith livestreams Mass and Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar on St Peter's Hove's Facebook page which you can join here.
The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton also has a list of Masses which are being livestreamed and details of these can be found here.
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| Fr Ray prayed the Act of Entrustment of our land to Our Lady of Walsingham on Sunday. |
The Catholic National Shrine of Walsingham offers a livestream Mass for those who have internet and are able to join their prayer to the prayer of the Sacred Liturgy. On Sunday, this nation was re-dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham, do continue to plead with Our Lady of Walsingham that the Church may enjoy liberty in Her worship and that public Masses and other essential freedoms may once more flourish in our country, and that the scourge of illness and death brought by the Coronavirus may be cast out from our land.
For those who have a devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) in Warrington are offering a livestream schedule of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and you can click the link here for these Masses when they take place. General times of the livestreamed Mass from Warrington can be found here.
In this time of sorrow, when the Faithful are separated from being physically present from the Sacrifice of Calvary offered by the spotless Lamb to the Eternal Father for our Salvation, it is important that we as faithful Catholics unite our sufferings and sorrows to the Cross of Our Lord Jesus. None of us could have predicted that a time such as this would come upon us, the shock of the cessation of public worship and the fear generated by the presence of pestilence has greatly shaken all of us.
The Lord Jesus tells us not to allow fear to dominate our lives, to place all our hope and all our trust in Him in every circumstance of our lives. It is important to remember that, even when Confession is not readily available to us, that the Lord is close to all who sincerely repent. While nobody has yet died of the illness in Brighton and Hove, we should, as we always should, do our best to be prepared for that day, that moment when the Lord calls us from this life into eternity. Mindful of our sins and our mortality and of the account that we shall have to render to the Lord, let us each evening, before we go to bed, make, as well as we can, an Act of Perfect Contrition, so that whether we live or whether we die, we live in the Lord and we die in the Lord.
Living and Dying in Christ
If you have fallen into a particular sin, especially if it is mortal, first, before a Crucifix, spend some time contemplating the sacrificial death Our Lord underwent in order to gain us Heaven which we have lost by our sin. Consider the punishment that we should receive for our offense and the infinite goodness of God who desires to take away our sin as the innocent Lamb slain for us sinners. Then recite the Act of Contrition as follows:
Oh, my God,
I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins,
to do penance,
and to amend my life.
Amen.
I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins,
to do penance,
and to amend my life.
Amen.
Jesus loves us and has promised to forgive our sins, pardon us, take our faults away and heal us. It is for this that He came to rescue us as our Saviour. Resolve not to sin again and make time for prayer where we can receive grace to overcome sinful habits and tendencies. When there is an opportunity to confess your sins to a priest, do so at the earliest opportunity. Take up a devotion like the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. Spend time in personal prayer. Call upon the Saints of God to help you. Use this time of isolation from the world to increase your prayer life and grow closer to Jesus and Mary whose love for us knows no limits. Such a time as this should not be wasted: let us use this time, given by the Providence of God, to become Saints.
Whether we live alone or with family, this Passiontide remains a sacred time to draw closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Heart of Jesus pierced with a lance out of His love for us and all mankind. We, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, place ourselves beneath the Cross of Jesus and plead with Him for the healing and salvation of the whole world, deliverance from every evil, including plague and sorrow.
Fr Ray Blake remains available for spiritual and pastoral advice in this time of great difficulty, is available on the phone on 01273 326793 and can be contacted by email at frrayblake@googlemail.com or stmarymagoffice@googlemail.com.
It is a time of confusion and distress for the Catholics of this parish and every Catholic in the land. Fr Ray keeps all parishioners in his prayers continually and reminds his people to keep hope in the Lord, always trusting in His goodness and mercy. The painful separation that we all are experiencing and the sense of isolation we are feeling can be brought to the Lord who is our healer and our Saviour. Reach out to family, friends and loved ones, to those more isolated than you, by phone and do what you can to bring peace and consolation to the afflicted. Be generous to the poor, pray for those you are seprated from and for all who need our prayers.
The Lord our God is with us in this time of trial, He will not abandon us, He loves us and has redeemed us. We may not be able to attend Mass, but He is attentive to us and is close to us. Let us strive to live always for Him and to pray for the deliverance of the People of God and all people in our land and the world, from sickness and self-isolation.
St Mary Magdalen, pray for us.
Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.
