May 19th was Pentecost, the Cinderella of the great Christian festivals. I've
posted before about my attempts to adapt the old ritual of the Pentecost Vigil to a parish setting, lifting the ideas of the baptismal and apostolic mission of the Church and the intercession of those who have trodden the journey of faith before us from the old rites and transferring them into an ordinary local church, even down to the picturesque business of the priest breathing on the water of the font. We couldn't do it last year because we were worshipping in the church hall thanks to the refurbishment, but did this year, and even fitted in an actual baptism which was rather appropriate.
This photograph from St Gertrude the Great in Ohio is supposed to be the first image of the traditional Pentecost Vigil posted online. Leaving aside the folded chasubles and lowering the Paschal Candle into a steel bucket, it shows quite a
clerical occasion, and you do wonder how much attraction the full, old Roman Missal rite would have to an average congregation, with its lengthy, repetitious prayers and elaborate liturgical organisation.
However, it does lead me to reflect that there is wisdom in the Church concentrating effort on the spiritual life of its priests. To convert the world is an ambitious aim. To convert priests to holiness is more achievable. It is not for nothing that even the Church of England insists that priests recite the Office each day and renew their oaths each year, demands it does not make of laypeople, so that their minds are continually recalled to the presence of God and refashioned after the continuous prayer of the Church. As the old saying has it:
If the parish priest is a Saint, his people will be holy;
If the priest is holy, but not yet a Saint, his people will be good;
If he is good, his people will be lukewarm,
and if he is lukewarm, his parishioners will be bad.
And if the priest himself is bad, his people will go to Hell.
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