They Should be Singing Kumbaya

Nod of the miter to Fr. Black:

Suppose a ship, filled with a mixed crew of French, Spanish, and Portuguese, is being wrecked off the coast of England. A crowd is assembled on the cliff, watching with intense earnestness the efforts being made by the captain and crew on the one hand, and by life boats from the coast on the other, to save the lives of the passengers. A great act is being performed, in which all are taking part, some as immediate actors, others as eager assistants. We may suppose this act carried out in the midst of united prayers. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, each in their own tongues and many without spoken words at all, are sending up petitions to Almighty God for the safety of the passengers. It is a common act at which they assist; it is accompanied by the prayers of all; but they are not common prayers, in the sense of all joining either vocally or mentally in the same form of words.

When the priest Zacharias had gone into the temple of the Lord to offer incense, and “all the multitude of the people was praying without” (Luke 1.9), there was a common act performed by priest and people – by the priest as actor, by the people as assistants – and the act was accompanied by united prayers. But it mattered not to the people what language was spoken by the priest or what sacred formulae were used. Their intentions were joined with his. Their individual and varied petitions were one great Amen said to his sacerdotal invocations; and all ascended together in a sweet smelling cloud of incense to Heaven.

Introit to and including the Credo

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar to the Introit

Preparation for Holy Mass

A house for you and a house for God all in the same house.

http://cathcon.blogspot.com/2009/10/complete-with-chapel-amazing-house-for.html

More pictures of SSPP

One good piece of news is that the Egyptian Coptics want to put back the full altar rail. Why? To delineate the sacred from the secular. Seems to me, we as Catholics did this once upon a time. Has anyone notice how few changes any of the Eastern Catholic churches made after the Second Vatican Council.

Home Chapel

I know of a few people who say with pride that they have a home altar. In my mind, I'm picturing a tasteful, aesthetically pleasing set-up, with even candles, a simple-yet-ornate crucifix and maybe some appropriately colored altar linens. However, without fail, whenever I see these tables, either in person or on the internet, I am always overwhelmed by the lack of beauty. Nothing against these people's devotion, but I would, if I were to have a home altar, make it to rival any real one.



Well, I did.

Behold the fruits of my labor -



These are some home altars I found when I was doing my google-search for inspiration. (I didn't receive much "inspiration" when looking online.) Here are the examples:

Interior Pictures of Saint Peter and Pauls

This pictures are courtesy of Joe Delaney. They were taken on October 18th, the day of our tour. I will post more later, probably tomorrow. Enjoy!