{"id":2131,"date":"2012-02-22T12:54:43","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T20:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=2131"},"modified":"2012-03-03T17:16:20","modified_gmt":"2012-03-04T01:16:20","slug":"mass-at-the-cathedral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/mass-at-the-cathedral\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass at the Cathedral"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Altar at Saint James Cathedral, Seattle<\/p><\/div>\n

For the last several years, I’ve been attending Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint James Cathedral<\/a> in Seattle in the morning before work. Today was no exception.<\/p>\n

O<\/span>ver the years, Mass attendance at the Cathedral has varied pretty wildly. I remember one year where there was nobody sitting in my pew, or in the pews in front of and behind me. Usually there are more folks, but it’s never been crowded.<\/p>\n

This year, however, there were quite a few people there. I was actually sitting next to people! While it wasn’t packed<\/em>, it had about the density we get at my parish on any given Sunday. Considering the size of the Cathedral, that’s a lot of people.<\/p>\n

I wonder what it was about this particular Lent that has brought them?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lady Chapel at Saint James Cathedral<\/p><\/div>I spent a little time in the Cathedral after Mass and snapped some photos with my iPhone. One of the ushers saw me and gave the a quick tour of the nave. Finally, I prayed in the Lady chapel<\/a> for my interior pilgrimage over these next forty days.<\/p>\n

While I have many architectural issues with the “renovation” done at the Cathedral in the 1990s, the two side chapels are simply amazing. I have spent much time in prayer in both of them over the years.<\/p>\n

The “burning bush” tabernacle in the Eucharistic chapel takes a little getting used to, but it has moved me through consolation into the depths of prayer. I wish they’d commission some piece of fresco or mosaic behind it, as it does seem a little small in that space.<\/p>\n

About the Lady chapel, however, I’ve no complaints, no not one. It is sublime.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Virgin and Child<\/p><\/div>The candles gather like stars around the centre of their galaxy, the Queen of Heaven<\/a>. The statue of Virgin and Child is simply wonderful, with Mary’s serene smile. <\/p>\n

I’ve often wondered what the artist meant to convey with the enigmatic expression on the face of the child Jesus. Is He stern? Sad? Pouty? <\/p>\n

It’s very difficult to tell, and it seems to be different depending on one’s physical relation to the statue. Hmm. Maybe that’s the point.<\/p>\n

I must apologize for the poor quality of the photos – I’ve never really gotten the hang of taking pictures with my iPhone.<\/p>\n

Today’s collect:<\/p>\n

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
\nthis campaign of Christian service,
\nso that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
\nwe may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last several years, I’ve been attending Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle in the morning before work. Today was no exception. Over the years, Mass attendance at the Cathedral has varied pretty wildly. I remember one year where there was nobody sitting in my pew, or in the pews in front of and behind me. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,31,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-days","category-mary","category-moments-in-time"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-yn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87161,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/santiago-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":0},"title":"Santiago!","author":"Thom","date":"02 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Praise God in His angels and in His saints! At about 3:00 PM on the Memorial of Saint Athanasius, the second of May 2016, we arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.\u00a0 On the way in we met Anita, who escorted the three of us \u2013 Francine, Rebecca, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84064,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/one-year-ago-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":1},"title":"One Year Ago: the Way","author":"Thom","date":"03 May 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The way that can be walked is not the eternal Way. (Lao Tsu) Santiago de Compostela Feast of Saints Philip and James That last day was busy. After breakfast, we caught a taxi to the bus station to secure our tickets for Madrid. We spent some hours in and around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Cathedral in the early morning light","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/13909561779_752718b051_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/13909561779_752718b051_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/13909561779_752718b051_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/13909561779_752718b051_b.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84686,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/joy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":2},"title":"Joy!","author":"Thom","date":"19 February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, my Lent began with a kiss. Oh, I'd previously prayed Lauds on the train coming into Seattle, but this I do nearly every day. Lent is a time set apart, a time to spiritually prepare ourselves for the coming of Easter. To help set the season apart, it begins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holy Days"","block_context":{"text":"Holy Days","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/holy-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rooster at Saint James Cathedral, Seattle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2015-02-18-07.45.11-240x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108794,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/vespers-for-the-feast-of-saint-james-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":3},"title":"Chant on the Vigil: Vespers for the Feast of Saint James","author":"Thom","date":"24 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Cathedral of Santiago has published a booklet (available in PDF) for first Vespers of the feast of Saint James the Apostle. First Vespers only occur for Solemnities, and they are prayed on the Vigil. For most of the world, Saint James only has a feast, but in places where he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/9401468729_d6f3b51005_b.jpg?fit=765%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/9401468729_d6f3b51005_b.jpg?fit=765%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/9401468729_d6f3b51005_b.jpg?fit=765%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/9401468729_d6f3b51005_b.jpg?fit=765%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":243,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-tale-of-two-archbishops\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":4},"title":"A Tale of Two Archbishops","author":"Thom","date":"06 December 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm still processing these past days, but here are some initial impressions. A Time of Thanksgiving From the first of July until the end of November I was unemployed. I'd had a few interviews, but nothing all that promising. When I was called in for a second round of interviews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archbishop Alexander Brunett"","block_context":{"text":"Archbishop Alexander Brunett","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/archbishop-alexander-brunett\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6444,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/camino-seattle\/","url_meta":{"origin":2131,"position":5},"title":"Camino Seattle?!","author":"Thom","date":"17 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"How did I not know about this? Camino Seattle is a five-week walking\/hiking and prayer event for St. James Cathedral Parish, beginning June 24, 2012 and ending July 29, 2012, the Feast of St. James. It looks very cool, but it\u2019s practically over! And given that this weekend is Francine\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Stamps.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2131"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2222,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions\/2222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}