This weekend, we have our Corpus Christi procession.  We pray for good weather, without which it will be challenging.  The unreliable weather is one of the reasons why outdoor religion is not particularly widespread in this country, but June is usually a safe bet.  The procession is due to leave Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Gregory, Warwick Street, at 3.30pm on Sunday 7 June, to pass along Regent Street and Oxford Street, to pause briefly at the Ukrainian Cathedral on Duke Street, and then to arrive at Saint James’s soon after 5pm for the concluding Benediction.  All are welcome to join in the procession or simply the Benediction, for which the church is usually completely full.

 

A concert, to which all are welcome, is to take place in our church on the afternoon of next Sunday, 14 June, when Jonathan Byrd will play solo guitar music linked to the feast of Corpus Christi.  The recital is to take place before the 4pm Mass, from 3pm to 3.30pm.  Jonathan Byrd is a classical guitarist specialising in devotional music for solo guitar informed by the Catholic culture of Andalusia in southern Spain. 

 

The final feast in the cycle that depends on the date of Easter will occur on Friday of the coming week, when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Consequently, we are not required to abstain from meat on this particular Friday (although we are, of course, asked to abstain on most other Fridays).   This rich devotion takes its cue from the saying in Jn 19:34, that when the side of the crucified Christ was pierced, blood and water flowed out.   Traditionally, this has been seen as a sign of the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist rooted in the Passion and Resurrection of Our Lord.  This is why the devotion has often been linked to the priesthood.  Indeed Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, said that the priesthood is “the love in the heart of Christ”.  This saying was a particular inspiration for the “Year of the Priest” which the late Pope Benedict inaugurated on the 150th anniversary of the saint’s death (cf. https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20090616_anno-sacerdotale.html). 

 

In this part of the world, priests are in short supply.  Sadly, there are no ordinations to the priesthood expected in our diocese this year, although there are seminarians preparing for ordination in the future, such as James Surry who has been assisting us on Sundays during the year.  At Saint James’s, we are fortunate to have two resident priests serving the parish, which is what makes it possible to maintain such a very full schedule of Mass and Confession.  Even so, we often need to call upon our friends in the vicinity to assist, and we are most grateful for the help we receive.  Their assistance is needed especially on weekdays, partly because Father Domenico has been asked to assist at the Papal Nunciature on two half-days during the week.  In the future, when we no longer have Father Domenico with us, the most likely source of priestly assistance will come from retired priests, who may be willing to live in this part of London, in the rectory attached to our beautiful church.  As the rectory has five storeys, though, we expect to have to install a lift if we are to have any chance of realizing this possibility. 

 

In two weeks from now, the Marylebone Music Festival will be taking place in Manchester Square.  Saint James’s Sunday 10.30 Mass forms one of the “events” of the festival, which means that on Sunday 21 June, the 10.30 Mass will be celebrated in Manchester Square rather than in the church.  In previous years it has been strikingly well attended, so this event constitutes one of our principal forms of outreach to the wider public.  Who knows what will come of the seeds that are planted in people’s hearts on that occasion?  As Saint Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor 3:6).

 

At the end of this month, the SVP is organizing a charitable bike ride to raise funds for people experiencing homelessness or the adverse effects of the cost of living crisis.  The bike ride will be held on Saturday 27 June, and the plan is to ride from Saint James’s Church to Saint Alban’s Abbey and back.  Details can be found on the posters at the back of the church.  Do please consider taking part, if you are free and sufficiently able-bodied, or else consider sponsoring or accompanying those who do.  

 

The final event before the summer will be the celebration of our patronal feast, the feast of Saint James.  The feast itself falls on 25 July, but our celebration will be at 7pm on the previous evening, the Vigil of Saint James, and we are hoping that Cardinal Nichols will be able to celebrate the Mass.  It will be his first return visit to the church since he relinquished office as Archbishop of Westminster, and indeed it was never normally possible for him to come while he held office, because the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes always coincides with our patronal feast.  

 

The shrine of Saint James at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain has been a great centre of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages, and it is no coincidence that Saint James is the patron saint of Spain.  Hence the dedication of our own church, which as many of you know, was once the chapel of the Spanish Embassy.  Many brave pilgrims continue to walk the camino, the name given to the pilgrim way that passes through northern Spain to the shrine in Galicia.  We pray particularly for those who plan to make this pilgrimage during the coming summer.