Last month, the residential community here were fortunate enough to have Mass said for us - our first in the House, and altogether - at one of our weekly community nights, followed by a very nice shepherd's pie cooked by two of the girls. It was a special occasion, and in many ways confirmed and solidified the foundations of our life at Benny House.
Last night was the second Mass to be held here: this time, for a meeting of the Frassati Society. All six House members were present for this too, along with a priest and fourteen more St Mary's students. Most of these have, at one time or another, come out with us on a Monday night, though a pleasing number were completely new to the House, completely new to the Frassati Society, and - in one instance, I believe - completely new to a Catholic Mass.
The latter is an important point, and central to the gradually forming charism of Benedict XVI House. For the House is, in fact, by no means an excusively Catholic community. All St Mary's students interested in a life of prayer, community and service are very welcome to apply to live here. One of our current residents is an Anglican, and a fair proportion of Frassati members, and those who are involved with the House through other ventures (more on these in a later post), are not Catholics. One Monday night Frassati regular couldn't be at Mass last night as she had a Christian Union meeting. Fortunately though, was able to join us for the tail-end of dinner (vodka pasta, homemade focaccia, and a couple of homemade cakes) and drinks afterwards. Benedict XVI House is open to, and enriched, by all.
But importantly, none of this stops the House being named after the Holy Father, the Oratory being in honour of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, our prayer life being centred around the Divine Office, our regarding our faltering attempts at charity as 'the corporal works of mercy', or our having (hopefully more) regular Mass. Based as we are in what will hopefully soon be this country's first Catholic university since the Reformation, we see no point in building some lowest-common-denominator, for-everyone-and-therefore-for-noone sandpit to play in. We're striving instead to build our House upon the rock - and indeed, that same rock whose current 'alias' that House is named after.
Fortunately (stretching the metaphor a bit here) it's a big rock, and, if presented correctly, an attractive one. There's plenty of room on it for others to come, visit us, and stay awhile. The trouble with big rocks, such as mountains, is that from a distance they can look daunting and austere. But once you're on them - even for a brief while - the view can be exhilarating. Perhaps, in one or two cases, our friends might spend enough time on our tiny part of what is built on the rock, and enjoy their time here sufficiently, that it might just come to feel like home (as indeed it did, much to our surprise, to several of us). Then again, perhaps not - but having come to visit once, they'll hopefully always feel welcome back to visit again.
Two more pictures from last night below (note the delightfully overfull oratory and dining tables!):
Thanks to Shaun and Lucy for taking the pictures! (
More here.)
Of course, the most important aspects of community life here aren't the ones that get blogged about. Weekdays' lauds and vespers (more and more parts of which are now being sung, sincerely albeit sometimes falteringly); chats around the dinner table, or - more often - in front of the television (the Apprentice being a big House draw); cooking for each other, whether impromptuly (yes, that is a real word) or on a designated 'community' night (which we try to have once a week, though don't always manage due to everyone's different commitments). Things aren't always fun and games, naturally. But our 'joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties' are shared - and, it has to be said, so far we've had rather more of the former than we have of the latter.
