Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
There seems to be a certain … something in the liturgical air. Anyone who has read Pope Benedict’s book on the liturgy knows him to favour more traditional liturgies than what generally passes for Sunday Mass in most parishes in the United States. Some Traditionalists have been upset that he hasn’t moved quickly (or perhaps at all) in correcting a […]
» Read moreFr. Z over at What Does The Prayer Really Say? is sitting on some great news, for which he asks prayers of thanksgiving in avance. In today’s post, true organic development has taken place, and a day of fasting offered for the renewal of the Bride of Christ has emerged for Friday (tomorrow). Please join him (and us) in both […]
» Read moreOr, putting the labora back into Ora et Labora One of my hobbies is book design. This is an honourable and ancient occupation of monks, and I worked at it long before I worked at amateur monasticism. I’ve gotten fairly proficient over the years, so I’m often asked to put together publications for folks. Currently, I’m working on two major […]
» Read moreThis story is breaking right now. Though many have expected for a long time, I doubt that many are actually prepared for it. POPE WILL BROADEN USE OF LATIN MASS Vatican, Oct. 11 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI is preparing to release a motu proprio extending permission for priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, Vatican sources have confirmed. The […]
» Read moreThis week, I am praying with a new breviary. For the last year and more, I’ve been using the four volume Liturgy of the Hours. It is an immense blessing to my prayer life, particularly the Office of Readings (Matins), which has introduced me to the works of the Fathers and other Saints and to some of the Concillar documents. […]
» Read moreToday is Yom Kippūr, the day of atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. This is the day where observant Jews fast and forgive all those who have wronged them in the previous year. In the time of the Temple, this is the day when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, sacrificed, and made atonement for all […]
» Read moreOn September 10th, I made my final oblation to Saint Martin’s Abbey in Lacey. I am an Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict. It is quite an indescribable thing to be a monk in the world. As at confirmation, one is expected to take on a new name. I chose Bede, as he is a Benedictine Saint (always a […]
» Read more(This is something I wrote back in April in another forum. -ed.) This evening we will attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which marks the beginning of the Triduum – the holiest (and at three days, the shortest) season of the liturgical calendar. This celebration commemerates the institution of the Eucharist, the “source and summit of Church life“. Unlike […]
» Read moreI am reminded of something I wrote in another forum this time last year. Not a thing has changed, except that the renovations are done, and I’ve finished the book. When Pope Urban IV established the Feast of Corpus Christi, he asked St. Thomas Aquinas to compose hymns for it. This is one of the five hymns Aquinas composed in […]
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Into Great Silence, which we saw at SIFF last week, is ostensibly a documentary about the Carthusian monks of Grande Chartreuse. I say ostensibly, because it is actually a great deal more and less than that. Like the lives of these monks themselves, this film is a meditation on silence. If you are looking for a typical documentary, with history […]
» Read moreI post this for future reference. One cannot walk forward without being mindful of where one has already walked. The First Brush I have been a student of religion since I can remember. Indeed, one of my earliest conscious definitions of a human is “an animal with the desire for enlightenment,” or if you prefer, “Truth”. To this day, for […]
» Read moreThis blog is being created as an outlet for various rants, Catholic and historic. I am a progressive. As GK Chesterton said in Orthodoxy: “The corruption in things is not only the best argument for being progressive; it is also the only argument against being conservative…. [A]ll conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you […]
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