Giving Thanks to God as I Prepare for Christmas

Nativity in front of the monastery, just above the main road of the village, for all to see...

Dear Friends and Family,

Just 30 hours from now I will be in the midst of offering the Midnight Mass, by candlelight, in Lanherne's historic chapel--in this place where St. Cuthbert Mayne offered the Mass in exactly the same way shortly before his martyrdom. There will be nuns off to one side, veiled behind their grill but chanting God's praises, there will be a number of the little local flock in the pews, eager to adore the newborn King, there will be some visitors--those who may have never attended a Mass before, or not for many years, and above all there will be the holy angels and saints, and the Queen of this night, the Blessed Virgin Mary, adoring the King of Kings as He is rendered present upon the altar.

And I will have the privilege of entering in procession while carrying a statue of the baby Jesus, giving Him a kiss and placing Him in the manger, kneeling to incense Him, then moving to the foot of the altar to begin the Holy Sacrifice, in which the sacred mysteries take place... then the great blessing of bringing Him to each of the Nuns, then to each of the faithful, so that He might enter their hearts and souls. Then all will kneel in adoration of the Word made flesh within them, as the Nuns chant to their newborn Savior. What a night... but one that is not done yet!

As the final blessing is given and the last Gospel--the beautiful prologue to St. John's Gospel--is read, the Nuns will prepare to intone Christmas Carols, and I will prepare to kneel once again before the statue of the baby Jesus, to incense Him, and to bring Him to each of the Nuns, to be kissed, to be adored... then to each of the faithful, young and old, that all might greet Him with a kiss as this Christmas Day begins.

After placing Him back in the manger, and returning to give thanks with the altar boys in the sacristy, all will head to the hall, for hot chocolate, perhaps some cake, and Christmas greetings.  Then, when the clock strikes perhaps 2:30 or 3:00, I'll return to the chapel--where now all will be quiet and still--to kneel before the newborn King, to thank Him for coming among us.

What an amazing privilege... God is so incredibly good to give a poor priest like me such a blessing.

Each of you will be remembered in a novena of Masses that I will be offering here, beginning with the midnight Mass. May Jesus and Mary grant each and every one of you all the spiritual gifts that you need to live well this holy Christmas season.

And to those of you across the Atlantic, who pray for me every night, who offer sacrifices for me, and who also make possible my priestly life and ministry through your donations, may God reward you. If you have two minutes and wish to see a glimpse of the mission territory I am working in, look here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/2-in-5-uk-millennials-cant-identify-baby-in-bethlehem-christmas-story . Please pray especially, this Christmas, for a number of families I am in contact with, who have drifted away or have never known the Faith. May God draw them all close to His most Sacred Heart.

Sending you much Christmas love and prayers,
Fr. Pillari

Retreat near Lourdes

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for all of your prayers these past two weeks. It was a very blessed week of retreat near Lourdes! And also a good week of studies in Toulouse.

As you may be aware, France is currently going through some crippling strikes and manifestations. Thankfully I still managed to travel safely, though without much sleep the past two nights. It is now 10PM, after a very blessed but long day of apostolate, but I wanted to at least show you a few photos.

The house at the entrance to the Monastery, where I stayed for 7 days. 

Seven days of silence with Our Lord and Our Lady--quite a blessing! Since I was so close to Lourdes, I would read an account of the apparitions during my meals, and thus had the joy of reliving the blessed days of Our Lady's apparitions to Bernadette, her childhood trials that proceeded the apparitions, the struggles and joys of her family, etc.

The days were punctuated by the morning and evening chanted offices of the Sisters of Bethlehem, who chant beautifully, and some hikes to pray the rosary. I'm too tired to write more at the moment, but it was a week full of graces. So much good comes from living in silence and solitude with Jesus and Mary. But the first Sunday night there, I was also invited to come speak to the Sisters during their evening recreation, and to begin teaching them the Traditional Mass, which they wanted to experience for the first time when I offered their Mass Tuesday and Wednesday.

A stream I hiked along back into the mountains, passed some ruins.

Early yesterday morning, as I drove to the airport in Toulouse, I was able to stop in Lourdes and spend an hour at the Grotto. Here are a few photos.

Looking toward the main church, hidden in the background. The grotto is just behind it.

You all were in my prayers. May Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, bless and guide each of you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Annual Priestly Retreat

A 4-year-old boy, whom I hope to soon baptize, gave me a gift today when I visited his family. Apparently, it was a prize he won at school and was not given lightly.

Dear Friends and Family,

It is now almost midnight and in a few hours the next day's prayer, Masses, and then flight to Toulouse for studies will begin. So I'll have to keep this short.

Please keep me in prayer especially from Dec. 7th, in the evening, through the morning of December 15th. I will be making my annual retreat in the monastery of the Sisters of Bethlehem near Lourdes (chosen in part because it is not far from my studies in Toulouse). You can see photos here: http://bethleem.org/monasteres/lourdes.php

I hope to stop by Lourdes the evening of Dec. 7th to greet Our Lady at the grotto, and then continue on to the monastery.

You all will be in my prayers.

Studying the Holy Trinity and Our Savior

The Triumphant Lamb, Who was slain.

Dear Friends and Family,

Though this week was full of blessings--welcoming a new young family to Mass, teaching catechism to another young family, having lunch today with altar boys and the teaching them about serving for the Holy Mass, celebrating the Feasts of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the temple and of St. John of the Cross, speaking on the phone with one of my altar boys who was in a motorcycle accident today, but is thankfully OK and resting at home, and many other blessings--though I could write about those events I wanted instead to say a few words about theology studies, which I don't think I've written much about.

A week from tonight I will be flying to Toulouse for another week of theology study, this one focused on the Holy Trinity and Christology. Together with good priests from France, Spain, and Italy I will spend each morning studying St. Thomas Aquinas's teaching on the Holy Trinity as given in his Compendium of Theology, and then each afternoon studying Christology in Aquinas. Since these are two of the most important mysteries of our faith, and since good Dominican priests will be teaching each session, it should be interesting.

In the meantime, as part of the theology program in Toulouse (L'Institut Saint Thomas D'Aquin), I have been studying some of Augustine's and Aquinas' treatises on grace and the new law of the Gospel. Most recently I read one of Augustine's major works against the Pelagians, entitled "On the Spirit and the Letter"--in which he argues for the absolute necessity of grace and the assistance of the Holy Ghost in order to reach Heaven, and in order to follow God's law here on earth. It's interesting to follow his writing and get a sense of the debate then raging in the fifth century. It's beautiful to see how Augustine outlines the truth of Christ on this point. The work is not very long, perhaps 90 pages and my work was to make an outline of the text--for example, noting the Scripture passages that Augustine uses and how he interprets them--in preparation for a paper I will need to write showing the development on this point from Augustine to Aquinas. As you might guess, they both agree! But Aquinas provides some more precision on various points.

Well, for those of you not interested in theology that probably put you to sleep. But for the rest of you, it hopefully gave you a glimpse of what I will be doing in 8 days' time. Immediately following those 5 days of study I will begin my annual retreat, which I am very much looking forward to! But I will write more about that next weekend.

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Renovated Quarters

Taken on the drive home from Mass in Plymouth today. To give you a glimpse of the green countryside.

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday I moved into the renovated chaplain's quarters here at Lanherne. After a year of renovation work, and the past few months of living out of boxes in a bedsit--especially working out of boxes for my office: not the most efficient practice!--it is truly wonderful to be back in the chaplain's quarters.

The workers have done a tremendous job of preserving the historic building. For example, the floorboards in my room are apparently several hundred years old! Other parts of the building are much older. Most of their work is hardly visible as it involved repairing the roof supports, fixing windows, redoing the wiring and plumbing, removing more recent walls to go back to the original layout of some rooms (OK, that part is visible), redoing drainage and sewage, replacing the boilers, and heating system, etc. etc.

Below is the photo of the renovated chaplain's office and bedroom:

A truly beautiful space with the old window giving plenty of light.

They renovated a corridor to become a little library:

I've already begun filling the shelves with books...

It feels wonderful to be able to begin properly laying out office files, books, envelopes and stationary, different piles of "to do's" etc. etc. For those of you who have been waiting for a letter from me, I hope to finally be able to sort the letters properly and begin replying.

The space should work very well for prayer, study, work, and rest.

I also had the blessing of seeing our good bishop today, Bishop Mark O'Toole, at St. Edward's in Plymouth. He is conducting a parish visitation this weekend and spoke about future renovations and various other matters. It was a very encouraging visit. Among other things, I was struck by his sincerity, willingness to speak frankly, willingness to listen, and love for the Catholic Faith. May God protect him and guide him.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Movie Recommendation

Some of the good team of workers who have been fixing up the monastery the past 8 months.

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings on Remembrance Sunday! Here in England, we are marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and commemorating the many men and women who lost their lives. Every priest is permitted to offer a requiem Mass for the repose of the souls of all who died in the two World Wars last century. I had the blessing of offering two such Masses this morning--at Lanherne and Plymouth. And the day had many other blessings.

It began with quiet prayer, the Divine Office, and Confessions, but then I blessed a new mother (or rather a mother who had just given birth to her 5th), in the traditional "Churching of Women" ceremony, which offers special prayers for the mother. After the Mass in Plymouth, I had the joy of eating with the young adults (18 - 30) of the congregation and spending time talking and laughing with them. Then, here at Lanherne, there was an evening Baptism of the newest member of our congregation. The children and all present (perhaps 30 people) were especially reverent and prayerful. It is always a joy to baptize a baby and then hold him in my arms as I consecrate him to Our Lady.

Next weekend I will be, God-willing, moving back into my room, which the workers have been studiously transforming and preparing, along with the rest of the presbytery. They have done an excellent job of replacing all the piping, wiring, much of the roof, fixing windows, a new heating system, etc. etc. and in addition have made the rooms look quite nice. I hope to share some photos with you. Am quite looking forward to moving back upstairs as I will once again be able to pull my office and various other items out of boxes and operate in a good workspace. But the looks of things, the end result will be well worth the wait!

But as the title of this post indicated I wanted to recommend a movie to you: The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952). I watched it this week in order to evaluate it for a local family. I am pleased to say that it is better than I remembered it. Cinematographically well-done and entertaining. More importantly, it conveys a good sense of the basic events and environment of the apparitions. While to be sure artistic license was taken, I find it to be a wholesome, family-friendly movie that will lift your hearts to God and renew your thanksgiving for the beautiful gift of Fatima, which came in the midst of World War I.

May Jesus and Mary watch over each of you and guide you this week.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Rome Video + Week Full of Blessings

Dear Friends and Family,

In case any of you have insomnia and need something to put you to sleep.... (or for my mother who is always happy to see her son in a video), you will find a video of the talk I gave to young men in Rome here, along with the text: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/young-men-become-leaders-by-imitating-the-intense-suffering-of-christ

This week was very full--so full that I forgot to take a photo to share with you all! Though I don't usually like to list a bunch of activities in a blog, I'll do so here to give you a glimpse of what the week was like:

Tuesday: a deanery meeting and lunch with the priests took up most of the day, in St. Austell, on the south coast. The evening was largely spent in an online Greek class. Preparing Sermon for All Saints' Day and special preface to be chanted the next morning.

Wednesday: dentist appointment, visit to a young family where the mother just gave birth to her firth--a beautiful baby boy!--then an evening "Eve of All Saints' Day" celebration at a local farm, featuring homemade pizzas, the telling, and even acting out, of saints' stories, and the rosary. It was a very nice four hours. The best presentation was done by a child dressed as the Angel of Portugal from Fatima.

Thursday: All Saints' Mass in the morning for the Nuns and local families, along with the beautiful long office of Matins, preparing the sermon for All Souls' Day, meeting with the foreman to work out the design for part of my office here at Lanhrerne, then an evening All Saints' Mass at St. Edward's in Plymouth.

Friday: 6 AM First Mass of All Souls' Day, by candlelight at Lanherne, 8 AM Mass for Nuns and faithful, various work during the day, then an evening Mass at St. Edward's in Plymouth.

Saturday: Prepare formation talk. 4 PM Rosary and gathering at a family home in Plymouth, to present the 3rd of the Twelve Steps to Holiness and Salvation, pray the rosary with them, then back to Lanherne to finish preparing today's sermon.

Sunday: Rise for a quiet Holy Hour and the Divine Office. Remember that I forgot to print today's announcements and so type those up and print them out, then head to the chapel to prepare the sanctuary for Mass, and then begin with Confessions and the usual flow of the day.

It was a very blessed week and now I am looking forward to a desert day tomorrow... Thank you all for so many prayers on my behalf. God is so good to me to give me opportunities such as the above. May Jesus and Mary watch over each of you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari