One good thing about the rough weather that we have been experiencing is that sitting at the fire in the evenings is a very attractive proposition. I have plenty of books to read!
I started one during the recent snow storms and took it away with me on my break to the Middle East to finish it. It was absolute bliss sitting beside the swimming pool and being engrossed in reading. The book was called The Spirit of Solomnes, and was the story of that Benedictine monastic community in Pays de la Loire near the border of Brittany in France. One of its most renown Abbots was Abbé Guéranger, who was responsible for the revitalisation of Gregorian Chant in the Western Latin Church. Fr John Comper, the founder of St Margaret’s went to Solemnes whilst he was recovering from illness. He had been sent away by his doctor to recuperate in Brittany. Interestingly enough the surname Comper is Breton in origin.
Fr John Comper and Dom Prosper Guéranger became great personal friends. They obviously had much in common and shared and indulged in one another’s company. I had started to read this book because I am trying to get into some aspects of the mindset of Fr John whose spirit continues to inspire us in our liturgical worship in St Margaret’s, and which makes this place so distinctive.
Fr John Comper, although he was from South of the Border, single-handedly defended the Scottish Liturgy against Anglicizers in the late 19th Century Scottish Episcopal Church. His enthusiasm and ardour thankfully won the day at Synods.
I give you this extract from the book The Spirit of Solemnes…
Here are words penned by Abbe Guéranger in a letter to the young Prior of Beuron and are most relevant for our reflection in the early days of this New Year…
“Take care of your health; you need it, and it doesn’t belong to you. Encourage in every way you can a holy liberty of spirit among your monks and do everything you can to make them love their state of life more deeply than anything in the world. Make yourself lovable always and in all circumstances. Be a mother rather than a father to your children. Imitate the patience of God, and don’t demand that spring bear the fruits of autumn. Be always accessible to everyone; avoid formality and ceremony. Adapt yourself to everyone, and don’t try to adapt others to yourself; for God has created us all different, and you are the servant of all, like Our Lord Jesus Christ. Take a scrupulous care of the health of each one, and don’t wait for a serious illness before giving dispensation. Establish the observance progressively, and don’t be afraid to retrace your steps if you have gone too far. Inspire the love of Sacred Liturgy, which is the centre of all Christianity.”
Inspire the love of Sacred Liturgy, which is the centre of all Christianity. This was very much in the heart and mind of the Jacobite Non-jurors Liturgists and Theologians and certainly was the spiritual motivation of Fr John Comper who loved the ‘native’ Scottish Liturgy.
What a tremendous privilege it is for us as a community, either for the priest who stands and recites, or for the laity who kneel and hear, these wonderful words from the Eucharistic Canon…
“All glory and thanksgiving be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who, by his own oblation of himself once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memorial of that his precious death and sacrifice until his coming again.”
Again later, in the epiclesis, when we call down the Spirit on the elements of bread and wine…
“And we thine unworthy servants beseech thee, most merciful Father, to hear us, and to send thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that, being blessed and hallowed by his life-giving power, they may become the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son, to the end that all who shall receive the same may be sanctified both in body and soul, and preserved unto everlasting life.”
In the 1718 Jacobite Non-jurors Rite which is based on the Clementine Rite of the Eastern Church it is even more powerful…
“send down thy Holy Spirit, the witness of the passion of Our Lord Jesus, upon this sacrifice, that he may make this bread the Body of thy Christ and this cup the Blood of thy Christ.”
The self-same Spirit that witnessed the passion of Our Lord on Golgotha is the one who comes to us in every mass. Now that is quite something!
All beautiful poetry and the deepest sacramental theology, in and out of time at the same time. In time and out of time and for eternity.
All of that inspired Fr John Comper.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent is earlier this year, all due to the Pascal Moon.
Ash Wednesday is on the 18th of February and there will be two Masses on the day. Holy Week begins on Sunday, 29th March with Palm Sunday. Please see the Kalendar for details.
Following on the success of the previous two occasions we are intending another Gregorian Workshop on Saturday 28th of March in Church.
Whilst on holiday in a hotel in Qatar I was much amused by the ‘exit sign’ at the bottom of the staircase… Final Exit.. leaving the building that way opened the door to paradise… I am glad that I am still here and it wasn’t my “Final Exit!”
Have a Blessed Lent and a deeply glorious Holy Week.
As Aye,
Fr. Emsley
