It is Good for Us to be Here

There was something
about you, Lord,
that drew people
to you.
Something
that attracted them.

People did not always
understand
what you had to say
because you spoke
in parables.

But there was something
about you,
a charisma,
that people found
irrestistible.

People merely had an inkling
of what you were about –
but they wanted more.

Even the disciples,
your closest friends,
didn’t fully understand.
But at the Transfiguration
(which really confused them)
they managed to describe
very simply
how they felt,
“Lord,
it is good for us
to be here.”

The Latin Mass
continues to be
a great mystery to me.
Every week
I struggle to understand
the enormity
of what is taking place
in this sacrifice.

But although I do not
(and, indeed, cannot)
fully understand
this wonderful mystery,
I do not wish to be
anywhere else.

And as I stand in line
to receive Communion
with my husband
and our son,
the words of
Peter, James and John
echo in my mind –
“Lord,
it is good for us
to be here”

And, indeed,
it truly is!

© Claire Murray, 16th January 2022

A Sense of Incense

There’s something about
Latin Mass on a Sunday
that’s very special –
a sense of incense
that I have never experienced
anywhere else.

It seems to me
that everyone
and everything
is being incensed,
you see.

The priest swirls incense
all along the top of the altar,
down both sides of the altar
and along the front.

During the Mass
an altar server incenses
everyone –
the priest and seminarian,
all of the other altar servers,
the visiting Sisters
and the entire congregation
before incensing
the body of Christ
and the blood of Christ
as our priest raises them
on high.

There is a very real sense
that, through this incense,
we are all being blessed,
prepared,
for something mysterious,
something sacred,
something miraculous.

A sense of incense
as we all take our places
and wait for Almighty God
to take His.

And all of this happens
every … single … Sunday.
Wow!

A sense of incense
at Latin Mass
on a Sunday
that I have never experienced
anywhere else –
I feel so blessed
just to be here
and to be a part of this!

© Claire Murray, 30th January 2022

First Snowdrops

This year
we braced ourselves
for winter
knowing that it would be
a difficult time,
a challenging time.

And, indeed,
the long dark nights
were a perfect backdrop
for the darkness reported daily
on the news.

But this week
we see the first sign
of spring
as we walk through
Musgrave Park –
a clump of snowdrops
nestling shyly
beside a ragged bush.

And further up the road,
in Harberton,
hundreds of miniature daffodils
are beginning to sprout.

All around
there’s a very real sense
that the darkest days
are behind us.

Thank you, Lord,
for our first snowdrops –
those little buds of hope
heralding an end
to the dark days
of winter.

© Claire Murray, 21st January 2022