FSSP WOMENS SILENT RETREAT

Father McCarthy, FSSP during the Asperges

Don't miss this great opportunity, Father Mathew McCarthy, FSSP will lead a retreat just for women. Father is the pastor of St Francis de Sales parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta

 

DETAILS: March 9-12 at the Carmel Retreat Centre, Hoschton GA to be led by Fr. McCarthy including daily Mass, conferences, opportunity for confession and silent prayer. Space is limited to 25: cost will be ~$150 per person. Register interest with Angela Wright: wrightfam_30045@yahoo.com

ALTAR RAIL BLESSED AT LATIN MASS SAVANNAH DIOCESE

BELOW IS A WONDERFUL REPORT FROM FATHER MC DONALD ON THE INSTALLATION & BLESSING OF THE REINSTALLED ALTAR RAIL IN MACON (SAVANNAH DIOCESE)

On Sunday's Extraordinary Form High Mass for the Feast of the Holy Name of JESUS, we blessed our newly restored altar railing for Saint Joseph Church in Macon, Georgia.

The Mass, as usual, was exquisite. I have come to appreciate this Mass more and more for it touches the heart in ways that even a child perceives. We are not bombarded with words, idiosyncrasies, or contrived horizontal, banal signs and symbols. That doesn't mean that the horizontal is not at work in this Mass. Oh yes it is!

The most powerful sign of the horizontal at the EF Mass is the traditional way in which Holy Communion is distributed when the communicant kneels at the communion rail. As a child and teenager I received Holy Communion at an altar railing from the time I was 7 until I was about 18 as my home parish in Augusta was late in changing this time honored and most reverent means of receiving Holy Communion kneeling to the now more banal standing method.

Yesterday was the first time ever as a priest that I distributed Holy Communion in the traditional method at the full length of an altar railing! I felt like it was Holy Thursday when I process with the Most Blessed Sacrament through the Church to the Altar of Repose and all are kneeling in adoration as our Eucharistic Lord passes by them!

There is a real, reverent and authentic sense of "community" and of the "communal" nature of receiving Holy Communion at the extension of the "table" of the Lord which is the communion railing where the "meal" aspect of Holy Communion is truly visible and experienced.

And the true "Holy Communion Procession" is experienced in the traditional way of receiving Holy Communion at the Communion Rail. Christ processes up and down the full length of the communion railing, as communicants await for His passage before them and unto them!

SAVANNAH DIOCESE ALTAR RAIL BLESSING

SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH NEWLY RESTORED ALTAR RAILING (COMMUNION RAILING) WILL BE BLESSED ON SUNDAY'S FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS AT THE 2:00 PM EXTRAORDINARY FORM HIGH MASS (NEWS FROM FATHER MCDONALD)

Of course everyone knows that this Sunday, January 4th is not the Solemnity of the Epiphany but the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Of course everyone knows that the Feast of the Epiphany will be celebrated at St. Joseph Church on Tuesday, January 6th at 5:00 PM.

At our Sunday's EF 2:00 PM High Mass as a prelude to the Asperges Me, our newly restored Communion Railing (aka altar railing) will be blessed. At Holy Communion time, communicants as is the norm for the EF Mass will approach the communion railing the full length of the railing as the authentic "Communion Procession" takes place which is not the people approaching Jesus in Holy Communion, but rather Jesus processing to each of them at the railing!

Unfortunately the new gates and the full length kneeling pad will not be in place. So kneeling on the hard marble will be an ascetical practice which will merit graces also! My apologies for the hard floor but my gift for the additional graces!