…much.

If you haven’t yet, visit weblog of Our Lady of the Atonement Parish in San Antonio, an Anglican Use parish pastored by Fr. Christopher Phillips

Why Fr. Phillips loves Lent:

In addition to the three Masses we celebrated, the students also assembled for Solemn Evensong just before the end of the school day. It’s my opinion that you haven’t really lived until you’ve experienced Evensong with our children. The ease with which they sing Anglican chant would be the envy of most cathedral musicians. The seriousness with which they pray the traditional prayers, hearing them tell God that they have “erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep,” it all gives me the assurance that the best of our liturgical and devotional traditions are living on.

The lines for confession are bulking up, too. Not only the scheduled times for confessions, but also the calls come in. The secretary takes the calls, “Could Father hear my confession sometime today?” And I always can. The school confessions are also coming fast and furious, with class after class being scheduled. One day last week I spent nearly three hours hearing the confessions of students, and (thankfully) it looks as though it won’t be letting up soon. I have an admission to make. I used to be able to sit for hours in the confessional on a hard metal chair, but I’ve had to give in to getting a more comfortable chair. Popping a couple of discs in my back and neck have made it a little too penitential to sit for very long on an unpadded seat!

On Friday we had Stations of the Cross. Not once, but twice. First we had them in the afternoon with all the students, plus several parishioners who like to join with the children in their extra devotions. Five hundred students and their teachers, along with a good number of others, meant that quite a few people were standing in the back of the church as we made our way around, using the new (but very traditional) set of stations we just obtained. That evening a good number of people gathered for Solemn Evensong, Stations of the Cross and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Those Friday evening devotions are always a highlight for me, and this year it was especially beautiful with the new Casavant organ supporting the music. At the actual benediction the organ begins softly, building and building, until the sound is almost overwhelming at the climactic blessing with the monstrance held high amidst heavy clouds of incense. I love it.

At Evangelical Catholic, Michael gives suggestions for basic reading on the Trinity

Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex reports on the state-ordered closure of a New Jersey abortion facility:

New Jersey State health officials ordered the mega-abortion clinic, Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood to shut it’s doors until it resolves it’s “immediate and serious” unsanitary conditions. The clinic performed over 10,000 abortions last year, which includes babies up to 6 months old.

We can only pray that the closing grants some pregnant women some added strength and some babies a reprieve. But it is still chilling: clean up your killing, folks. Surreal, almost. Except it’s real.