Maundy Thursday

I've just celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper. There were about 500 present and much excitement was caused amongst the servers when they thought they spotted a member of the Kaiser Chiefs in the congregation (they are an indie rock band and I see from wikipedia that three of them attended a Catholic school in Leeds, so I suppose the sighting is credible).

Although there have been many preparations to make these last few days, it hasn't really 'felt' like Holy Week, perhaps because of the early date of Easter and the unusually cold weather (we're half-expecting a white Easter, even down in the south-east). However, now that the first of the ceremonies is over, there is a sense of the grreat drama of our salvation unfolding. The thing I love about these days as a priest is that all the bureaucracy, meetings and 'other responsibilities' (like, for me, the archive) take a secondary place and we can concentrate on what is truly important, the unum necessarium. This is helped by the ceremonies, with their changing themes and moods - I especially love the sudden change tonight from the splendour of the Mass and procession to the Altar of Repose to the starkness and severity of the stripping of the altars, as we prepare for Good Friday.

Talking of drama, I was very sorry to hear of the death of my namesake, Paul Scofield (though he spelt his surname without an 'h'), the great actor who so memorably played St Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966). May he rest in peace and may St Thomas intercede for him.