Wednesday, January 04, 2017

a winter evening Mass...

...at Westminster Cathedral is a most reassuring experience. At first I thought it would be a bit bleak - no music as the choirboys are all at home with their parents for a well-earned break, and arrive back in a couple of days.

But there is something glorious about the simple solemnity of it all - the golden vestments glittering  against the twilight, the big comforting roar of voices making the responses. You never notice the  large numbers of people quietly, steadily, solidly, taking up their places in that vast space until  that great warm sound is sudden evidence of their presence all around and behind you. Lines of communicants. Quiet steady movement along the confessional queue. Candles glowing. And out into the London night with a sense of belonging.

It'll be lovely when the choir returns. But always, every day, as Canon Tuckwell reminded us, the Lord is there...

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