In the older form of the Mass of the Roman Rite last Sunday is designated as "Passion Sunday" and this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. It is from Passion Sunday onwards that statues and crucifixes are veiled, marking a more solemn approach to Holy Week and flagging it up in a very visible way.In the newer form of the Mass the fifth Sunday of Lent marks this transition but it is not really marked at all, as it is just designated as the next Sunday of Lent - the fifth. However, there is a continuation from the older Missal in that from Monday of this week it is specified that we use the first of the two Passion Prefaces but we slide into this change with no formal way of marking it.
Just a little quirk I noticed.
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So there I was, armed with a white veil and then a purple one slung over my shoulder, standing on a three-foot ladder-plinth facing a five foot Lady Altar statue square in the face. No problemo! Then I leaned forward and realised that, actually, the back of the Virgin's head was more than two arms' length reach away inside the niche above the altar. Hmm. Tricky. I can't step onto the altar, of course. A-ha! A hook cane! Riiiight, easy does it, *sticks tongue out in concentration*, threads said cane into the veil and then, like trying to hook ducks at the fairground, all I'll need to do is swirl the veil around the back of the statue and then deftly sashay (yes, it's definitely a sashay movement) it forward with the cane. Et voila!
And just when I thought I'd done it, the veil went and slid down the back! Two goes. Three goes. I reached five. And then breathed in.
I had no choice. I looked the Blessed Lady in the eye, apologised humbly, and told her that there was only one thing for it, I was just gonna have to ball-it-all-up and throw it at her. Bingo! In one! It caught!
"...before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful..."
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