Gobsmacked

Someone must have lured all the Ecclestone Square papal visit liturgy team into the basement of the bishops' offices with a promise of free felt banners and locked them in.

The Hyde Park Prayer Vigil was actually Benediction.

80,000 people were utterly, totally silent during exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Tens of thousands lining the route to the park, and who knows how many people watching on TV and on the live feed on the net. As predicted, the Pope himself and the force of the truth of his message has totally overshadowed and out shouted the secularists, and he barely raised his voice above a whisper the whole time.

Here's some of my facebook notes:

Hyde Park crowd chanting "Benedetto!" in the Italian manner.

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Doh! altar girls.

Dang. Doing so well for a minute there...

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A resounding well done! to the liturgical team organising the Hyde Park prayer vigil. And they did have a gorgeous crucifix, just a little one.

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Lead kindly light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!

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wait... what's this?

Did they make up a new Sacred Heart Litany?

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one woman in the crowd, kneeling, nodding her head in acknowledgement of the name of Jesus.

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‎...now everyone's looking up "divine praises" on Wikipedia...

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absolute silence in Hyde Park. With 80,000 people adoring Christ in the Eucharist...

Who'd have ever imagined!

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humeral veil, beautiful monstrance, six (?) candle lanterns, proper choir dress, and all of Britain, and the world, watching Benediction happening. Everyone switching over to Wikipedia to find out what "eucharistic adoration" means...

The doors have finally been opened.

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"it's as if he's a sort of counter culture" NOW you're getting it!

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Eucharistic Adoration as a normal part of the spiritual life has just been introduced to all of Britain. If nothing else good comes of this visit, that one is the most likely to change everything in hopeless Britain.

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‎"even now, His heart is speaking to your heart"

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holy cow! did he just say "hung drawn and quartered"?! +Peter Smith, paying attention to who the real martyrs were at Tyburn?

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I love hearing his voice, especially the accent. It does remind me a bit of Peter Lorre, though.

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wait! liturgical alert!! are those traditional candle lanterns? And incense? Who locked the Yookay bishops' liturgical people in the basement of Eccleston square? They're going to be very annoyed when they get let out.

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‎"Catholic and Anglican martyrs" were put to death at Tyburn to witness to their faith in Christ?

!!!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!!!!

What????!!!

Are these people actually insane?

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is watching the pope live on the BBC and the Bishops live webcast simultaneously, sending notes via email, Messenger and Skype and being kind of weirded out by modernity