I've always kept terms. From long habit and a traditionalist cast of mind, always felt more at home with the rhythms of the academic calendar, with its ecclesiastical echoes. So September always seems to me the beginning of the year and I'm made glad that the Ecclesiastical New Year is marked by our brethren in the East on 1 September.



The terms traditionally called Michaelmas begin this month. The academic year already underway in most places. The new judicial term set to begin within weeks with the celebration of Red Masses invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit on all legal proceedings.



Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

vouchsafe within our souls to rest;

come with thy grace and heavenly aid,

and fill the hearts which thou hast made.