About fifty people
crowd into our wee chapel
in a shop basement
in Andersonstown
for Latin Mass
every Sunday.

Today,
as we all kneel
for the Sanctus
at the start of the Consecration,
I find myself wondering
whether each person’s
guardian angel
is kneeling also?

By my reckoning,
that would amount to
over fifty kneeling,
adoring angels!

Isn’t that simply amazing?

And doesn’t it go to show
what good company I’m in
when I attend Mass
in our wee chapel
in the basement
every Sunday?

© Claire Murray, 26th November 2023

A word often springs to mind
when I find myself thinking
about our Latin Mass
with the SSPX.
That word is – privileged.

I feel truly privileged
to participate in this Latin Mass
that has been passed down to us
through the centuries.

The same Mass that was celebrated
by the early Church.

The same Mass that was celebrated
in Celtic Ireland
by Saints Patrick, Columba
and Fiachra.

The same Mass that was celebrated
by our ancestors
in Penal times
in the hills of Derry and Inis Eoghain
and in the Sperrin mountains
surrounding Draperstown.

The same Mass celebrated
in the Long Tower chapel
in Derry
when Granny Roddy
was a wee girl
and the chapel had
a clay floor.

A Mass passed down to us
through many centuries,
unchanged,
uncompromised.

A Mass preserved for us
by the SSPX
who direct us
to mould our daily lives
so that they fit around our faith
instead of diluting our faith
to fit comfortably
into modern daily life.

Courageous teaching,
faith without compromise.
Indeed, I feel truly privileged.

© Claire Murray, 7th September 2023