A BUSY HOLY WEEK FOR OUR COMMUNITY

There was plenty of action for visitors as well as for parishioners in this area during the week.




 Jo and Bob spent part of Holy Week here in Lymington and we spoke to them as they were leaving after the Palm Sunday Vigil Mass at Our Lady of Mercy.  
 They are parishioners of St Mary's, Studley, in Warwickshire.   Their church was also designed by Joseph Hansom and was opened in 1853, a few years before ours.  It is served by the Benedictines of Douai.   

On Wednesday in Brockenhurst Christians of various denominations met at St Anne's for Stations of the Cross arranged by Brockenhurst Churches Together and led by Fr Danny.   At least forty people, of whom about half were not Catholics, took part in a quiet prayerful service with meditations composed by an Anglican minister.   This was, in appearance at least, a substantial change from the repetitive creaky kneebending and necktwisting performances of our childhoods, but there was an impressive atmosphere of silent contemplation as the beautiful words were read and the strikingly different images unfolded.

The first part of the Easter Triduum, the Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper, took place in our own Church of Our Lady of Mercy and St Joseph.   Tom's feet were washed by Fr Danny, just as Our Lord washed the feet of his disciples, to show that the life of a Christian is a life of service to others.

Then Tom was presented with a Papal Apostolic Blessing because of his outstanding work in the service of others through the Society of St Vincent de Paul.   Tom is president not only of the New Forest Conference, but also of the Winchester District Council, and he sets us all a fine example by the frequency of his visits to sick and housebound people in this area.

On Good Friday morning the Reverend Dave Goodridge, pastor of the Lymington Baptist Church, led an ecumenical service organised by Lymington Churches Together in the forecourt of the United Reformed Church in the High Street.    A big congregation of Christians from different denominations watched a dramatic depiction of the necessity of grace, sang hymns with gusto and listened to a rousing homily. 

The second part of the Triduum, the Good Friday Service of the Lord's Passion, was held at our Lymington Church.  This beautiful ceremony began with the entrance and prostration of the celebrant.   The prayer and the introductory readings were followed by a rendering of the Passion and the general intercessions.   To enable the deeply moving Veneration of the Cross to proceed smoothly despite the crowded pews ministers held crucifixes both at the front and the rear of the church. The service ended with the distribution of Holy Communion.

 The last Good Friday ceremony at our Lymington Church was a version of the ancient Catholic ritual of Tenebrae, led by Cathy and Mary.     The traditional fifteen readings were reduced to five, while the score or so indomitable parishioners who turned up were led from the church into and around the parish rooms, finishing back at the altar.   The themes of betrayal, denial, humiliation, emptiness and loss were sensitively explored with the help of Vanstone's imagery and a few simple objects.     The darkness, the candles and the quiet atmosphere helped to foster prayer, and provided a most suitable close to this year's Holy Week.