The photograph above was not taken last night but it does portray what happened (albeit with different people)! For last night 50 or so people gathered in S. Barnabas’ Church for High Mass, Procession and Benediction on the most glorious feast of Corpus Christi. Our guest preacher for the evening was Fr. John Gayford SSC who is assistant priest at S. Mary the Virgin, East Grinstead. By complete co-incidence he was joined by his own Vicar- Fr. Paul Seaman – who had not known Fr. Gayford was joining us but popped in to worship himself, as he had a rare evening free! The Parish Website of S. Mary the Virgin, East Grinstead can be found here.
In his homily Fr. Gayford reminded us, amongst other things, that the Mass predates the Gospel and that the Church has always been a Eucharistic community. He then stressed the importance of ensuring that we are not passive, but active worshippers on the feast of Corpus Christi- as we thank God for the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
After Mass we processed around the Church to the stirring hymn ‘Laud O Sion’, the children walking before the sacrament scattering rose petals on the way. The photograph below shows a similar procession at S. Barnabas taken last year. We then returned to the High Altar for Benediction. People were encouraged to gather around the High altar and move up into the choir stalls, moving closer to Jesus just as he desires to move closer to us. After the Benediction itself (the blessing of the people using the sacrament in the monstrance) we all sang ‘All for Jesus, all for Jesus!’ as the sacrament was returned to the tabernacle.
A wonderful evening then and an uplifting occasion. However there was sad news following Mass- in that our Director of Music Emerita is having to stand down due to health reasons. I am sure we all wish Frances well and hope her health improves. This news does mean, of course, that we are in danger of being left with no organist and/or choir leader. If anyone is interested in the post of Director of Music- or knows someone who is- do please get in contact. The salary is negotiable and, with children joining the choir in recent weeks, there is lots of potential for growth and development….less musically talented Christians can still help. Please pray sincerely that we might make an appointment soon, that the worship offered at S. Barnabas may continue apace.
