Anglocatholic thinking

An eye-opener on the transformative power of the eucharist - paper by Canon John Twisleton reproduced in New Directions and presented to the Keble Seminar, Lewes 29 May 2019 Half an hour a day schools me and the cosmos for eternity. As daily Mass-er, attendee or celebrant, I am privileged to allay the agony of the world and open up new possibilities for the hopeless by pleading the Holy Sacrifice with, in and through Jesus Christ. When I talk about this day by day experience folk say they envy my faith, which is good - I suggest they ask God to show them Jesus! In 55 years of Mass attendance I have experienced a grand variety of celebrations but most have been conducted by priests for small weekday gatherings well aware of the significance of what Christians are about in this sacred act. To see beyond the outward sign or sacrament to the invisible power of the Offering of the Son to the Father for us and for all is something I myself ask for quite regularly and this article is

‘Greater in honour than the cherubim, and glorious incomparably more than the seraphim; thou who inviolate didst bring forth God the Word, and art indeed the Mother of God: thee do we magnify’ John Tavener’s setting of the Orthodox antiphon interpolated into the Anglican Magnificat covered the Catholic rite of censing the coronation altar by the Dean at solemn Evensong concluding a memorable day of devotion in Westminster Abbey.  Before that altar on the Cosmati pavement where monarchs are crowned stood the statue of Our Lady Queen and Mother carried from England’s Nazareth at Walsingham. The gentle tone of Tavener’s chant setting an unarguable statement about Mary captured the spirit of an ecumenical day of devotion in which the Walsingham Shrines collaborated with Westminster Abbey hosting a day of celebration in Mary’s month of May. As Priest Associate of the Holy House at Walsingham I’m committed with 2000 other clergy and hundreds of thousands of laity ‘to further, with