Introibo- with Flowers

"They took up stones therefore to cast at Him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple." John 8:59. This Passion Sunday we have many options:  take a hike, go to the grocery store, buy plants at the nursery or baby chicks at the farm store. I could get frozen yogurt with the family and pile on every imaginable topping...  But prayer in the church?  The doors are locked- indefinitely.  "Watch livestream Masses with the bishop", read the signs on the locked doors.  "Virtual Eucharistic celebrations", reads the diocesan website.  Huh. This Passion Sunday I will stay home rather than be questioned ( again ) by the city police for praying outside the church.   We turned off the screens and gathered around the veiled Crucifix with our missals and a Roman hymnal.  

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."   I hear Ophelia every time I walk by my rosemary bush in the garden. Someone asked me the significance of the rosemary sprig on the napkins at the First Solemn Mass  reception some three weeks ago.  This Shakespearean quote was all I could think of, aside from the obvious aesthetic appeal. Today I happened upon an interesting story in  Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Fridays?  by Michael P. Foley.  He cites Mary's Flowers by Frisk and Krymow as his source: "According to legend, Mary washed the tiny garments of Jesus during their flight to Egypt and spread them over the branches of a rosemary bush to dry them ( Rosmarinus officinalis ). In reward for this service to his son, God conferred upon the Rosemary, or Mary's Rose, a fragrant aroma." My next research stop was the always inspiring and knowledgeable  Fleurs de Marie-Jacqueline .  Not surprising, she also has a lovely story ass...

For the Feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady must have flowers!  I will leave these outside the church door (wearing rubber gloves) for the acolyte to take into the church and place on the traditional altar for the private Mass.  Father's chasuble for Marian feasts is white with silver thread and a light blue  orphrey . I kept it simple for these arrangements and used yew and daffodil greens, white roses and forget-me-nots. There were no white lilies at the market today, so I went with the roses. Here is a nice write up on 'Lady Day' from  fisheaters.com . Update: Thanks to our acolyte we have a picture of the private Mass!

Thanks to a friend we have this beautiful example of the Domestic Church! Laetare, Jerusalem! On this Sunday without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we kept holy the Sabbath in our Domestic Church. The  Sacristan's Manual states that "flowers may adorn the altar" on Laetare Sunday.  Today with a spirit of joy underscored by deep sorrow, I made two simple arrangements for our home prayer corner.    In our humble cottage of only 1,600 square feet, the living room mantel is our "prayer corner".  Garden hebes, breath of heaven, and privet in milk glass vases seemed appropriate.  Curious that the last flower arrangements I made were the most elaborate yet:  with endless lilies, irises and tulips.  Only two weeks later I am back to Amateur Pursuits .  The frailty of human existence and the power of almighty God!   This passage from Psalm 89 jumped off the page: "In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the ...

This is not the  baldacchino post that I had anticipated writing. Today, the last public Mass was offered at our church.  The word spread late last night that there would be a procession immediately following.  The last time the baldacchino was used was at the Feast of Corpus Christi- a day of great celebration.  This was a stark contrast. Father told us during the homily that the pastor had decided the doors to the church would be locked for the unforeseeable future.  There would be no Mass, no Sacraments, no public prayer in the Church, only the private Mass with no congregation.  Following the Mass, Father was permitted by the pastor to expose the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance and process around the Church with only one acolyte and without the people.  No baldacchino today. There He was, the King of Kings, with no royal canopy to cover Him, all alone with Simon of Cyrene walking the Via Dolorosa around the church.  As Our...

Read the first post in this series, Extra-ordinary Day,  here . I was delighted to see all of the reception arrangments go home with different families from the TLM community and the parish.  A holy lady, who insisted on washing all the dishes after the reception, sent me a message the next day thanking me for the entry table arrangement.   She told me that her friend's husband had passed away unexpectedly on the weekend.  She took some of the plentiful lilies and irises from the arrangement to give to her.  When her grieving friend saw the flowers, she related, her face immediately brightened with joy.   Those same lilies and irises feted the ordination of a priest, and comforted the grieving widow.  This led me to a reflection on the importance of beauty, even in deep sorrow as a reminder of God's majesty and His profound love for us.   While cooking dinner for my family this evening, I listened to this Sensus Fid...

The entry table arrangement. Read the first of this series of posts  Extra-ordinary Day . The arrangments near the prie dieu used for the first blessings by the priest. Next read the  Epilogue to an Extra-ordinary Day Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Borges Photography

Saturday morning the tulips had perked up! Here they are ready for transport. This is Part III of  Extra-ordinary Day . Centerpieces The French tulips went into the prepared centerpieces easily, but were very droopy on Friday despite the sugar and drops of bleach I had added to the water. To my relief on Saturday morning they had perked up!  I added more camellia, clematis and some acacia greens for a grey accent.  After a good misting with water I loaded them into cardboard boxes for transporting. Large Arrangments Before this event, I had little experience arranging lilies and irises.  Their tall, strong stems were a welcome contrast after arranging 170+ floppy tulips!  I decided to go with two very large arrangments:  one for the entrance table and one for the central hors d'oeuvres table.  The idea was to make a big statement and pull visual focus away from the less attractive features of the parish gymnasium. The irises weren't all open ...

"Greening in" with hebes, clematis vine and camellia.  Endless buckets!  This is Part II of  Extra-ordinary Day .    For 30 centerpieces, and an undetermined number of large arrangements, I knew that this would require some forethought.  I began with some backwards planning. Sunday Reception: arrive at 8am, set up the hall & place the arrangements.  Saturday:  make larger arrangements & transport the flowers to the church. Friday:  pick up flowers from farm & add tulips to centerpieces. Thursday:  prepare vases and "green in" the centerpiece oasis.   Monday-Wednesday:  cut greenery. Michael Gaffney relates in one of his videos on YouTube, that for a Saturday wedding he arranges all the greenery of his centerpieces on Monday and adds the flowers Thursday.  This process is called "greening in".  A useful tip and it worked well. Greenery I cut all the greene...

The day after the First Solemn Mass of our new diocesan priest (the second Solemn High Mass to be celebrated in our county in roughly half a century), I am thoroughly exhausted.  The Mass was heaven on earth- as the Extraordinary Form is commonly described.  Anything but ordinary.  In fact, the Mass was so incredibly beautiful, so majestic, that fortunately we planned an elegant reception fitting for such a grand occasion. Despite the bodily aches from an intense week of greenery-cutting, bucket-lugging, ladder-hauling and floor-mopping, the glory of the day transforms the pain into rejoicing.  We have another Latin Mass priest in our diocese- Deo gratias!   I will follow this up with a series of posts but here are the beginnings.  All of these flowers were very generously donated by our local flower farm: 130 yellow tulips, 72 lilies, and dozens of yellow and purple irises.  The greenery was cut at various locations. Some of the greener...