EF Mass tonight in Menevia Diocese

The Sacred Heart at Morriston 5pm 30th June - with thanks to Fr Jason Jones

Please pray for Confraternity members who will be going to Holywell tomorrow on pilgrimage.

Mass for the Vigil of Ss Peter and Paul

Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be at 5pm on Thursday 28th June (the Vigil of the Feast of Ss Peter & Paul) at The Sacred Heart, Morriston.

O Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, I choose you this day and forever to be my special patrons and advocates, you, St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, because you are the Rock upon which almighty God has built His Church; you, St. Paul because you were fore chosen by God as the vessel of election and the preacher of truth to the whole world. Obtain for me, I pray you, lively faith, firm hope and burning love; complete detachment from myself, contempt of the world, patience in adversity, humility in prosperity, attention in prayer, purity of diligence in fulfilling the duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation to the will of God and perseverance in the grace of God even to death; so that, by means of your intercession and your glorious merits, I may be able to overcome the devil, and may I be made worthy of the Promises of Christ and enjoy His presence and love Him forever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

A poem that mentions Our Lady of the Taper

H/T to Longbows and Rosary Beads blog for writing and posting this poem:

Our Lady of Britannia

Thou stood on Newgate Arch and graced Pendragon’s shield,

Cardigan bore thy taper, and Walsingham thy seal,

Humbly we now beseech thee as at thy feet we kneel,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis! 

Thy beads hung from the sword-belts of Locksley’s Merry Men,

Thy hymns were sung by choirs, O Mother Free from Sin,

This land was once thy Dowry; pray make it so again,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

When Alfred lead his warriors in battle for the land,

Thou were his source of courage, the strength that made him stand,

Seven Swords were pierced through thy heart, and one was in thy hand,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thy hands are in the Highlands to show us how to pray,

Thy footprints are in Cornwall to guide us in Christ’s ways,

Direct us, Holy Virgin, if God forbid we stray,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thou art the Dove of Peace for Ulster’s troubled sons,

The Queen of Thorns and Blossoms, whose seat was Avalon,

Look down on us from Heaven, Most Highly Favored One,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

From Scotia’s misty moors, to Albion’s fertile plains,

From Cambria’s mountain climes, to Northern Erin’s glens,

We offer thee this land to be thy own again,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thy name was oft times chanted by peasants and bold knights,

Preparing for the harvest, or arming for the fight,

Though centuries have elapsed, thou’st kept us in thy sight,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Though stormy skies did threaten, thou still remained the same,

A constant source of succor to those who called thy name,

Thou art the Gilded Lamp that held the Burning Flame,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Recall the martyrs’ deaths in Christ’s own imitation,

Come rack and then come rope, they braved the tribulation,

The ruby blood they shed cries out in supplication,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Remember this, our country, amidst the stormy sea,

O may she stand united, a stronghold for the free

But foremost make her faithful to Jesus Christ and thee,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Mass in the Extraordinary Form at Swansea Cathedral

The birth of St John the Baptist -
make straight the paths of the Lord

Next Sunday, 24th June (The Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist) at 12 noon, an EF Mass will be celebrated at St Joseph's Cathedral Swansea - all are welcome, members of the Confraternity and non members.


We welcome a new member to the Confraternity, Michael Addison from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Michael's blog is The Jarrow Scriptorium, please pay him a visit and say hello, he has very beautiful music as a background.

The Feast of The Sacred Heart

A great hymn that is seldom heard today:-

God does not need us!

That heading may seem somewhat harsh, inaccurate even.

But Fr Leon Pereira OP's fascinating sermon below explains why it is good not to be needed by God.
Reproduced here with the kind permission of Torch.op.org

It's Nicer Not To Be Needed

Leon Pereira O.P.

• As a student friar one of my jobs was being the sacristan. One summer I returned from a month-long pastoral placement to find the sacristy a complete mess. A mountain of unlaundered purificators awaited me, along with other bits of cloth of unknown origin the brethren had resorted to using rather than washing and ironing those designated for that purpose. Chasubles and stoles lay everywhere, strewn and creased.

As I took a deep breath and counted to a hundred again, my student master tried to console me. 'At least you know you're wanted and needed.' It didn't work.
Genuine consolation, I think, is found only in truth. Often when I am tempted to take myself too seriously, when what I ought to do is laugh at myself, I repeat my consoling mantra: 'God does not need me'. Why is that consoling? Well, if God does not need me, then why am I here? Because he loves me.
Like everything else in creation, I am not necessary, and the fact of my being, that I exist, shows only one thing: that God wants me to be, that his love brought me into being and holds me in existence.
If God does not need us, then it is also true that we cannot do him any favours. Only he can do us favours: loving us, gracing us, giving us himself. An idea that plagues religious people is that we can do God favours, as though we can give him something he does not have. In reality God is, as the liturgy says, the 'Giver of the gifts we bring'.
One attempt to do God a favour is the illusion of returning to a 'pure Gospel', to a time of apostolic purity before the Church fell away into human traditions. Today's Gospel which criticises the hypocritical Pharisees in Moses's seat is too often and too readily reapplied to the Church's shepherds who sit in Peter's seat.
This may seem like pessimism regarding the Church, but it is actually pessimism about God. It is doubting God's faithfulness to his Church, for he promised he would be with her always and that the gates of Hades would not overcome her. But true religion, Christianity, is not about what we can do for God, but about what he wants to do for us.
Our faith is God's gift, and it does not remain extrinsic to us. St Paul commends his hearers because they
accepted [the Gospel] not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
What is alien to Christianity, then, is any system of measuring religiosity by accidental features: the presence or absence of a foreskin, or facial hair, or sideburns, or headdress, or by the observance of a particular diet. The word of God dwells in us, and we cannot do God any favours, yet he gives us grace.
Nor does Christianity measure religiosity according to religious garb. We have nuns in wimples, and priests in clerical dress, and prelates in cassocks and mitres, with or without colours and piping and the rest, but none of this indicates piety. They only distinguish consecration and purpose. It is a rare and foolish Catholic who will confuse lace and birettas for holiness.
Our religiosity cannot be like that of the Pharisees:
They do all their deeds to be seen by men.
The honours of the world are pointless. Jesus tells us that we have one Teacher---the Holy Spirit, and one Father---the Heavenly Father, and one Master---Jesus Christ. We do not obey God's new and eternal covenant to win his favour or to be seen by others and win their approval. Rather, God, in his graciousness, draws us into his inner life, the life of the Blessed Trinity. We cannot do God any favours, but he does them all for us, in us.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Only when we accept that we are his humble servants, servants he makes into his children, can we enjoy the tri-personal love lavished on us by the Trinity. Now that's true religion.

EF Mass schedule for Menevia Diocese

Date	Time	Venue	Comment
Sunday 17th June	3pm	Sacred Heart   Morriston	Please note change of venue and time/  Benediction
Sunday 24th June	12pm	St. Joseph’s Cathedral
Thursday 28th June	5pm	Sacred Heart  Morriston	Vigil Mass  Ss.Peter an Paul
Saturday 30th June	5pm	Sacred Heart  Morriston
Sunday 1st July		Holywell	Pilgrimage
Sunday 8th July	5pm	St Therese Sandfields (PT)
Sunday 15th July	TBC
Sunday 22nd July	12 pm	St Joseph’s Cathedral
Sunday 29th July	3pm	St Benedict's  Sketty	Missa Cantata
Saturday 4th August	5pm	Sacred Heart  Morriston
Wednesday 15th Aug	12pm	Sacred Heart  Morriston	Feast of the Assumption Buffet lunch
Sunday 19th August	2pm	St Benedict's Clydach
Sunday 26th August	12pm	St Joseph's Cathedral

Thanks to Tom Sharpling for compiling this listing.

Mass for Sunday 10th June

Next Sunday's Mass will be at the church of St Therese of Lisieux at Sandfields near Port Talbot at 5pm


Last night saw a Sung Mass at St Joseph's Cathedral for the Feast of Corpus Christi......here is an account of it:

The Feast of Corpus Christi in Wales

Posted by Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma

Last night, at St Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, Sung Mass 
was celebrated by Father Jason Jones together with the Newcastle Emlyn Schola.


Some forty souls attended, a small number in Cathedral terms but very large when compared
 with how things were five years ago before Summorum Pontificum.


Then we would have been fortunate to have five in the congregation.


In another five years, I hope that we will have 100 plus attending Mass and fulfilling their
 obligation on this great feast.


The following clip is Byrd's Agnus Dei from last night's Mass.


It is pleading and plaintive:


"Have mercy on us O Lord and speed  support for the Holy Father in restoring tradition
 to our liturgy and Faith"

Corpus Christi reminder and.....Holywell Pilgrimage

This coming Thursday, 7th June at 7pm, there will be a Sung Mass at St Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea followed by procession and Benediction.
Please join us for the great feast of Corpus Christi.

Also......

We have a few places left for the mini bus going to the Pilgrimage on July 1st.

We will be leaving Cardigan at around 8.30am.........please email r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com if you wish to reserve a place.

Thank you

June - the Month of the Sacred Heart

With grateful thanks to Michael Addison of  The Jarrow Scriptorium blog

 

 "Cor Jesu sacratissimum misserere nobis."

The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart:

1. I will give to My Faithful all the graces necessary in their state of life.

2. I will establish peace in their homes.

3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death.

5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.

6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.

7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.

8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.

9. I will bless every place in which an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.

10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.

11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced.

12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the first Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; 

they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.