Sequence for All Souls
The Benedictine monks of the Benedictine Abbaye Saint-Maurice de Clervaux chant the Dies Iræ, the traditional sequence for Requiem Masses and the Masses of All Souls.
» Read moreDay of the Dead
Let’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Over the years, I’ve heard numerous homilies and essays that mix this day up with yesterday, All Saints’ Day. Somebody […]
» Read moreIntroit for All Souls
Litany of the Saints
Happy Feast of All Saints! This is the day where we celebrate all the saints, known and unknown: the Church Triumphant. This day has been a feast since the sixth or seventh century, and it was fixed on November 1 in the Roman calendar by Pope Gregory III in the mid 8th century. Yesterday, of course, was the vigil or […]
» Read moreComing Soon to Tacoma…
Update: When the Rain Comes
Francine injured her foot a ways back, and we have not been training as we ought. Yesterday, however, we had a nice hike with full Camino packs through Point Defiance Park. There was some trouble with water. At some point in transit to the trailhead, Francine’s backpack water bladder leaked about a liter of water into her pack. After a […]
» Read moreThe Memorial of Saint John Paul II: We Want God
Joseph Stalin famously demanded to know “How many divisions does the Pope of Rome have?” Stalin was, of course, asking the wrong question, as the saint whose feast is today finally proved. When Karol Wojtyła was elected Pope John Paul II in October of 1978, I was not only just 11 years old – I wasn’t even Catholic. It’s safe […]
» Read moreFor the Love of God
If we believe that God created the world and us in it, if we believe that He did so out of an overflowing of divine love, if we believe that we were created that we might return that love to God and to His creation, then these facts should inform everything we do. Most especially, it should permeate how we […]
» Read moreThe Sun Trembled…
Today is the feast of Saint Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England of the old line. But I’m not going to talk about him. On this day in 1307 – on the 63rd birthday of their Grand Master Jacques de Molay – hundreds of Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of King Phillip IV. […]
» Read moreRaining Cats and Dogs
It’s raining here in Tacoma, harder than I’ve seen it rain in a long time. Earlier this afternoon we had a bit of a water-dribbling-down-from-the-laundry-room-ceiling problem at Pistachio House, which required standing outside in the pouring storm – me on a ladder and nephew Jason holding the ladder steady – while I cleaned out the gutter. And then there was […]
» Read moreA Meditation
In addition to being the Memorial of Saint Denis, today also commemorates Blessed John Henry Newman. For many years, I’ve had one of Newman’s meditations hanging over my desk. Indeed, you can even find it on this site under the “Prayers and Meditations” menu above. It continues to bring me comfort, and more importantly to remind me that while there […]
» Read moreHe Never Stopped Preaching
Everybody knows a guy who just won’t shut up. Sometimes it’s not even that he has something to say, or that he likes the sound of his own voice. Sometimes these are the folks who are genuinely frightened by silence. Sometimes, they just don’t know how not to talk. If those folks had a patron saint, it would no doubt […]
» Read moreOur Lady of Victory
Back in high school, a group of us did an extensive report on the events of this day for my freshman history class. We had flip chart maps, reenactments, and gave three separate papers. For on this day in 1571, the naval forces of a Holy League, consisting of several maritime Catholic countries, met the main Ottoman fleet at the […]
» Read moreNotes on the Transitions,
Number 12 in a Series
As we head into October, the new pastors are in their places and the parishes are settling down into their new schedules. This is probably the last formal post I will make about the three transitioning Tacoma parishes. Saint Joseph On Thursday the first of October, Rev. Michael Stinson, FSSP celebrated the first Mass in the Extraordinary Form held at […]
» Read moreThe Patron Saint of Grumpy Old Men?
(This is a reprint from this day in 2011. Weirdly, it is one of my top ten Googled posts. Enjoy!) Saint Jerome should be the patron saint of grumpy old men. Born in the Roman province of Dalmatia in modern Slovenia, he studied in Rome starting in about the year 360. During a journey to Syria in 373, he fell […]
» Read more180 Days
My annual camp/cabin trip was this past weekend. Basically it’s the same group of guys every year, with the occasional comings and goings. Back in the day, we camped. One particular weekend, about seven or eight years ago now, it rained so hard that it put out our campfire. Since then, it’s been U.S. Forestry service cabins. This is the […]
» Read moreHappy Michaelmas to All!
This bright, brilliant Tuesday is the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”. Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe. In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which […]
» Read more