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 […]
Supporting the Eucharistic Revival
General Instruction of the Roman Missal
Processions in the Rubrics of Lent
It’s a little hard to believe, but Ash Wednesday is less than a week away. How can Lent be so close already? The modern Roman […]
Exhortations
Saint Benedict and the Work of God
Today is the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia, who can safely be said to be the father of western monasticism. His monastic Holy Rule, […]
Resources and Reviews
resources
Chant on the Vigil: Vespers for the Feast of Saint James
The Cathedral of Santiago has published a booklet (available in PDF) for first Vespers of the feast of Saint James the Apostle. First Vespers only […]
Review
A Digression on the Star Wars
Sometime in early June 1977, in a small theater in Hegewisch Illinois, I saw Star Wars for the first time. My grandfather took my sister […]
Never Stop Preaching: Saints Denis and John Henry Newman
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, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary
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 Battle of Lepanto. In later years, the anniversary of this day was celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, and later, as the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Back in […]
» Read moreThe Majesty of Sainte-Foy
Today is the feast day of Sainte-Foy, a saint almost entirely unknown in the English-speaking world. Nevertheless, she is one of my favourite saints, and I wear a medal with her image. She has become very dear to me. Sainte-Foy was born around AD 291 in the Gallo-Roman city of Aginnum, modern-day Agen in France. She suffered martyrdom about the year 303 at the […]
» Read moreSaint Francis of Assisi: 800 Years
Were it not Sunday, today we would be celebrating the Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi. In fact, today is the 800th anniversary of his death, and the Franciscan Friars and Sisters around the world are celebrating this great jubilee. Just about everybody knows Saint Francis. He’s the plaster birdbath guy, right? The saint who hung around with fuzzy pastel […]
» Read moreFeast of the Holy Guardian Angels
Do you pray to your Guardian Angel? Do you ask them for advice or help? Why not? The Church teaches that we all receive a guardian angel at birth, an angel assigned to guide and protect us, to watch over us. As it says in scripture: There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy […]
» Read moreSaint Jerome: Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ
Saint Jerome was both a brilliant translator and expounder of the scriptures and a grumpy old man. 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 ill and had a vision that caused him to devote the rest of his […]
» Read moreFeast of the Archangels – Happy Michaelmas!
Today 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. So happy Michaelmas! In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which […]
» Read moreSaint Hildegard of Bingen, Doctor of the Church
Saint Hildegard of Bingen is one of those medieval figures who can cause a lot of confusion to people not paying close attention. She (or, rather, a version of her with her Christianity stripped out) has been adopted by some of the New Agers as one of their own. Of course, if you strip the Christianity out of the life […]
» Read moreThe Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Whither is thy Beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? Whither is thy Beloved turned aside, and we will seek Him with thee? We begin with the first antiphon of Lauds for today’s feast of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Monastic Diurnal. It has always affected me, but perhaps these days it’s affecting me […]
» Read moreAnniversary of the Last Day
Today marks the anniversary of the final Mass of the parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tacoma. These years have been filled with heartbreaking, almost unfathomable loss. This is an annual post, updated only slightly. Much of the language reflects my thoughts and feelings of the day, taken from my journaled notes. Over the past few years, […]
» Read moreNon Nobis: Some Thoughts on Forming Altar Servers
Today, I spent the morning and early afternoon on Vashon Island training altar servers at our sister parish of Saint John Vianney. This past Wednesday evening, I trained new altar servers at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish in Lakewood. Tomorrow, at my own parish, I will lead a training/retraining session for the Saint Patrick altar servers. Bear in mind that I […]
» Read moreOblation Day
Twenty years ago today, I made my final oblation to Saint Martin’s Abbey. For twenty years now, I have been an Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict, an amateur monk living in the world. As best as I can, I live according the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, adapted to my life in the world. At my oblation, I […]
» Read moreThe Nativity of the Virgin
Nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December, today we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast so ancient that it is celebrated on the same day in both East and West. Scripture tells us very little about the early life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Tradition tells us that she was […]
» Read morePope Saint Gregory the Great: Apostle of the Sacred Liturgy
“We make Idols of our concepts, but Wisdom is born of wonder.” (Pope St. Gregory the Great) Only a handful of Popes ever get named “Great”. Today in the Ordinary Roman calendar is the feast of one of them, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, confessor and doctor of the Church (540 – 604). His feast, originally celebrated on the day […]
» Read moreThe Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Today is one of the more interesting feasts on the liturgical calendar, for today is the feast of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. OK, nowadays they’ve slightly sanitized the name; it’s now officially called the “Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist”, but for the sheer Catholic joy of calling a spade a spade, I’m sticking […]
» Read moreSaint Augustine: Kingdoms and Empires have Passed Away
In this very volatile moment in our history, both of the United States and of the world, where things seem to be unravelling and so much anger rises to the surface so quickly, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the meaning of our times. This anger and factionalism and the accompanying doom-saying are hardly unique to our age. […]
» Read moreSaint Monica
Today is the memorial of Saint Monica, beleaguered mother of Saint Augustine, whose feast is tomorrow. I’ve had many occasions to pray for her intercession, but since last year, this day has hit a little differently for me. In the modern Roman calendar, her memorial is listed simply as that of “Saint Monica”, but before the calendar reform of the […]
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