ragon
THE
P RTAL
December 2012
Page 8
Absolute gems
I’ll leave
others better able and qualified to write a review of the newly-published
Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham; but to my mind there are some absolute gems of
Anglican liturgical patrimony between its covers.
align ourselves
with the Catholic Church
I suspect that many of us, if we’re
honest, have to admit that we had not
been using the prayers and liturgies
found in the Customary for quite
some time as Anglicans; we were all
so busy trying to align ourselves with
the Catholic Church that we had
become in many ways liturgically
indistinguishable from our Catholic brothers and
sisters. We were not in full
visible communion with
them, but we got as close
to them liturgically as we
possibly could.
one Sunday a month
Given the size and geographical spread of some of
the congregations of the Ordinariate, a weekly, never
mind daily, public celebration of Morning or Evening
Prayer is just not possible, but one Sunday a month
perhaps, on high days and holy days, to begin or
end meetings, occasionally before a weekday Mass?
The musical scores included in the Customary make
is quite easy for even a small congregation to have a
crack at singing the Office.
the Advent
Procession
Most of what is in the
Customary is bread and
butter stuff – daily prayers,
but there are some seasonal
a liturgical tradition
one-offs that we really are
that we let slip
blessed with. A liturgy
away
which allows us to enter into
Now that we have the
the spirit of Advent a little
communion, maybe we
more, with all its rich themes
need to worry less about
of waiting and hoping, light
demonstrating to others
and darkness, promise and
(and perhaps ourselves) that we are the ‘real thing’, and fulfilment and so on, is the Advent Procession - a
re-familiarise ourselves with a liturgical tradition that series of readings, hymns and psalms, moving West to
we let slip away and be comfortable with it.
East if that would work. Even the smallest of groups
have it within their resources to carry off a simple but
recite from memory
beautiful liturgy that is like nothing many Catholics
When I started to pray the Office from the Customary will have ever experienced.
I was amazed how familiar its Order of Morning and
Evening Prayer was and how much of it I was able to Christmas Festival
recite from memory – the Collects, the Suffrages, the of Nine Lessons and Carols
Similarly with the Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons
General Thanksgiving; phrases which I hadn’t uttered
for some time were clearly lodged deep in my memory. and Carols – all that is needed are some capable
readers, enough musical ability to sing the hymns
Morning and Evening Prayer
or carols well (we don’t have to rival King’s College,
that works publicly
Cambridge!), some careful thought about lighting,
I’m happily saying my daily prayers from the and again we have a liturgy that could well reach out
Customary now, appreciating greatly the masterful and touch family, friends, other Catholics, those with
collection of post-biblical readings available. But only a distant connection with the Church.
actually what the Customary offers us and the wider
Catholic Church is an order for Morning and Evening brought out into th