Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
This Wednesday evening at 8:00pm, our parish of Holy Rosary will celebrate a Tenebræ service. You are most welcome to join us. What is Tenebræ? The word itself is Latin for “shadows”. It is a Holy Week service tied to the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours, being a concatenation of Matins and Lauds, anticipated the night before. In […]
» Read moreThis weekend, Holy Week begins with the Sunday of Lord’s triumphal entry into Jersusalem – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Although Good Friday is coming – the Passion and Death are coming – for the moment, this moment, joy resounds as our King arrives in His city. In most parishes throughout the world, the principal Mass is celebrated by […]
» Read moreOn this Friday, a week before Good Friday, the Church has traditionally remembered the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. While the commemoration was removed from the calendar in 1970, it survives in the Extraordinary Form, as well as in many local calendars including that most Catholic country of Malta and many Hispanic countries. The commemoration is so widespread, that […]
» Read moreOne year from today, Easter Sunday, 27 March 2016, Francine and I intend to board an airplane and set out on our second Camino. Because next year is a leap-year, that’s 366 days from today. Yesterday, I celebrated the tenth anniversary of my Baptism. A year from today, Easter will fall on exactly the same day that it did back […]
» Read more
Ten years ago today, on the night of the 26th of March 2005, I was baptized into the Church at the great Vigil of Easter. I used to think that it was a rare thing that one could point to a specific day, a specific moment, and say with certainty, “that’s it; that’s when everything changed”. As it turns out, […]
» Read more
The mercy of God is a scandal – Christ offers His infinite mercy to every worst kind of sinner, excluding no one. This eternal upwelling of mercy overflows, cascading upon the whole of the human race. It extends to murderers. It extends to rapists. It extends to thieves, and liars, and stalkers, and vandals. It extends to tax collectors and […]
» Read moreA week ago we celebrated Lætare Sunday, a burst of joy in the midst of Lent. This was, coincidentally, the third anniversary of our first Mass at our parish of Holy Rosary. This week, the week before Holy Week, we double-down on Lent. Traditionally, this past Fifth Sunday of Lent marks the beginning of Passiontide, when we walk with Christ […]
» Read moreIf you haven’t yet discovered Sister Vassa’s videos, you owe it to yourself to take a look. She’s an Orthodox nun and teaches Liturgical Studies at the University of Vienna. And she’s fantastic. Her YouTube channel. Her web site.
» Read more
Although it no longer appears on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. This is the day in the year 547 when Saint Benedict of Norcia died. Saint Benedict is generally considered the founder of western monasticism, and his Rule spread throughout the west as the Roman Empire […]
» Read moreHere’s an insight into how my mind works. As I was walking in to work one morning a couple of years ago, commuter coffee mug firmly in hand, it suddenly struck me: the reason we call coffee “joe” is because it gets us through our morning, much as Saint Joseph got his foster-son Jesus through the “morning” of his life. […]
» Read moreWell that got your attention, didn’t it? It’s not quite true of course; Patrick may have been born on the isle of Britain, but in a time before the Angles had arrived and started making it Angland. No, his family were Roman Catholic churchmen from the Roman Imperial province of Britannia. Today, nobody is going to go around speaking in […]
» Read morePope Francis has announced a Jubilee Year for 2016. Traditionally, these happen only every 25 years, the last being proclaimed by Saint John Paul II in 2000. VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis announced an extraordinary jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy, to highlight the Catholic Church’s “mission to be a witness of mercy.” “No one can be excluded from […]
» Read moreIt’s been a while since I’ve posted links to some of the many interesting things I’ve been reading online lately. I blame FaceBook. It’s easy to just post a single link there, and then I never get around to posting groups here. Well, since I’m off Facebook for Lent, I’m reviving the ancient custom. I’m cheating by starting with a […]
» Read moreA couple of months back, Francine and I took a short hike that absolutely winded us. Wiped us out. Clearly, we’re out of shape. So we’ve started our 2016 Camino training much the way we did for 2013: we’re beginning with loops around Snake Lake. There’s a flat loop of trail around the lake, and a fairly steep hill-climb with […]
» Read moreIt’s a truism that one doesn’t need a map to walk the Camino. After all, there’s a yellow arrow painted or printed or engraved somewhere every twenty yards or so. If you haven’t seen one in a while, you’ve probably wandered off the right path. Having said that, I like maps. I especially like maps that represent terrain, distances, and […]
» Read moreFor the first time since the last of the Benedictines left our parish, possibly longer, we celebrated chanted Vespers in the church last night. So that’s the first time in twenty years at least. Probably closer to forty. It was glorious. I really wish somebody had thought to take photos. We had originally printed thirty booklets for the congregation, but […]
» Read more