I love this

A post from Fr Ray Blake (PP, Brighton, A &B) has summarised the events of the day best for me. Enjoy!

The Pope is Here

Oh wow. What a day! The crowds went crazy at Eccleston Square when the Holy Father appeared out of the plane. Ever since, the mood has completely changed: it's just an amazingly optimistic and happy moment for our Church.

God bless the Pope!

I don't have long, I am watching the Mass in Bellahouston Park on the TV. The blue skies and the huge crowds are just fantastic and so moving. The Holy Father's homily was simple but effective. Wonderful stuff.

Once the mass is over, I will pop into a fast food outlet and then head to the Apostolic Nunciature. If you're in London, why not join us for a prayer vigil from 9pm, and then to welcome the Holy Father as he heads there to go to bed.

Tomorrow!

The Bishop of Rome, for only the 2nd time in history, will set foot on British soil. What will you do? Will you be there when the Pope arrives at the Nunciature tomorrow evening? Will you be lining the streets as the pope-mobile passes? Will you be at the Vigil in Hyde Park? Or at the Beatification in Birmingham?

You decide. Witness to the Faith. Be there.

We pray for our Holy Father, Pope Benedict.

The Enquiry Centre

When I'm not busily blogging away for you, dear readers, I am one of the staff at the Papal Visit Enquiry Centre, and I thought now might be a good time to publicise their number.

The Papal Visit Enquiry Centre

39 Eccleston Square

London

0207 901 4848

papalvisit@cbcew.org.uk

Monday-Friday

9am-5pm

If you need help that you can't get from your parish priest, or parish pilgrim leader, or from your diocese....give us a ring! The phone lines are very busy, which makes for an exhausting but fascinating day for our little team.

Magnificat

I got my copy of the Magnificat book of the liturgies for the Papal Visit, and I must admit it has made me a lot more excited about the Visit now. I'm really excited that I'm going to be there when he beatifies Cardinal Newman and I also can't wait to hear what he says to British society at Westminster Hall.

With just two weeks to go, the work is going to be pretty intense for all of us who are trying to make this a successful visit: so readers please, keep us in your prayers. But most of all keep our Holy Father Pope Benedict in your prayers. Offer everything up for him: your mass, your private prayer, your rosary, all discomforts and problems you have: for the next fortnight, let's make Pope Benedict the focus of all our prayers. That's the best way to prepare for the Visit.

St Aidan - pray for us

Today's Suggestion

Ask your Parish Priest to include the Prayer for the Papal Visit in the bidding prayers at Mass this weekend and for the following 2 weekends.


God of truth and love,
your Son, Jesus Christ, stands as the light
to all who seek you with a sincere heart.
As we strive with your grace
to be faithful in word and deed,
may we reflect the kindly light of Christ
and offer a witness of hope and peace to all.
We pray for Pope Benedict
and look forward with joy
to his forthcoming visit to our countries.
May he be a witness to the unity and hope
which is your will for all people.
We make our prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
___
Our Lady, Mother of the Church — pray for us.
St Andrew — pray for us.
St George — pray for us.
St David — pray for us.

Away

I'm off to Devon for a few days so I won't be able to update the blog much this week: perhaps Dani will, who knows?

A couple of quick suggestions before I go: why not buy some papal flags for your pilgrim group to carry around during the Visit events? Would be a great sign of solidarity with the Pope and would look great on TV, I think. Also, why not arrange for your parish hall or social club to show the papal visit events live for those not able to go? For example, almost all of us in Southwark will be watching the Bellahouston Park Mass and Westminster Hall Speech on TV: why not do it together? If you have a TV licence, you're fine - you can view the events on our website, live-streamed, or on one of several TV channels.

Have a good week and get to work on preparing for the arrival of the Successor of Peter!

Sunday

Go here to leave your comment for the BBC Sunday programme about the forthcoming papal visit: make sure it's coherent and positive please! Also why not put your comment in our comment box here at BiS2010 as well?

Thanks to Fr Stephen Langridge for the tip.

Vigils

Mac tipped me off about a vigil of prayer being held at the Apostolic Nunciature on Saturday evening during the Papal Visit. Sounds very interesting, and kudos to the Knights of St Columba for organising it!

The Knights of St. Columba have decided to organise a two-hour candlelight vigil on Wimbledon Common, opposite the Apostolic Nunciature, which will be the Holy Father's residence while he is in London.

The Vigil is intended to be a relaxed and informal affair: standing along the edge of the Common (Parkside, A219) people will sing a few well-known hymns, pray the rosary, and, at twilight, light candles (which will be provided by the Knights) as a sign to our Holy Father that "the Catholic Faith shines bright in England - Our Lady's Dowry" and to demonstrate love and support of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, the Vicar of Jesus Christ.

The Vigil will be on Saturday 18th September, 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

(Nearest tube stations are Putney Bridge or Wimbledon, and then take the 93 bus to Parkside Hospital, on the corner of Parkside and Alfreton Close.)

There will be a similar vigil on the Thursday evening to welcome the Holy Father to the Nunciature on his arrival from Scotland. We should have more information on that soon, though you can always email me at james@scys.org.uk if you're interested.

New Vocabulary

Since getting this job with the Visit team I've learnt a lot of new vocabulary. While I am yet to be convinced twitter is an effective means of communication, it does come with an amazing, if bewildering array of vocabulary. Today's new word is 'twibbon': I've been persuaded to add a twibbon (twitter ribbon for those who spell blog web-log), which indicates that I support the Papal Visit. You should get one too! Go to @The Papal Visit, and scroll down a little for the details. Quite a nice little gesture.

Flags

I recommend that you all buy a papal flag to put in your window at the moment, and then to carry around with you during the papal visit, especially at the major events. If nothing else, it is an act of witness, and it will allow the media to pick out the hopefully huge groups of faithful and excited Catholics who are following the Holy Father on this historic Apostolic Journey.

You can buy a flag here (http://tiny.cc/z0bug) for just £1 - so why not buy a couple and give them out to friends or fellow pilgrims?

Just a thought. Enjoy your Sunday!

41 days

Only forty-one days to go until Benedict XVI arrives in the UK: what are you doing to prepare? Our Lady of the Rosary parish, in Blackfen, in Southwark, has a few suggestions on their parish blog: http://rosary-blackfen.blogspot.com/. If anyone has any more, just pop them in the combox! Also The Papal Visit website has a section about Newman's theology now, which is well worth a look - http://tiny.cc/uh89u.

Enjoy & happy Feast of the Transfiguration!