Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today would have been Francine’s 63rd birthday. Last year, when she turned 62, having been born in 1962, she proclaimed that it was going to be her year. She called it her “golden year”. Maybe it was. This is the year that she was swept up in the arms of Jesus. I have no doubt that she is in a […]
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Francine’s funeral arrangements are in place. Vespers for the Dead Vespers from the Office of the Dead will be sung for Francine on Thursday, 10 July, 2025 at 6:30 pm Pacific Time at Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma. The principal celebrant will be our friend, the Rev. Jacob Maurer. Music will be directed by Maestra Amy Gallwas. Vespers will not […]
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My beloved bride Francine passed to God at just after midnight on June 21. On behalf of our family, I ask for your continued prayers. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,et lux perpetua luceat eis. Grant her eternal rest, O Lord,and may everlasting light shine upon her. Our family thanks all those who supported us through Francine’s terrible final illness. Funeral […]
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My beautiful bride of 17 years was taken to the emergency room at midnight of Easter Sunday. She was physically weak and having trouble with her memory. At Tacoma General Hospital, they ran every test you could imagine. They even sent a sample of her spinal fluid to the Mayo Clinic. On May 5, we received the final diagnosis from […]
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Immediately following the great Vigil of Easter, my beautiful bride Francine was admitted to Tacoma General Hospital. Symptoms were increasing mental confusion and physical weakness. She had recently suffered a bout of walking pneumonia, and during those days she was physically weak and had some small moments of forgetfulness and not being able to find words. We attributed it to […]
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The memorial of Saint Valentine was removed from the Roman calendar during the calendar reform of 1970. It seems a shame, since this is one of a vanishingly small number of saint’s feasts that have remained in the secular culture. It seems to me that it could be used as a touchstone for the new evangelization. Mind you, he’s still […]
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Today was once one of the most solemn feasts of the year. It’s gone by several names over the millennia: the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas. Coming forty days after Christmas, it was once the end of the Christmas season. Even today, there are relics of this […]
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Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the seventeenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It’s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine actually changed the trajectory of my life not […]
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This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Christ the King. Traditionally here at Pistachio House, we have had our “Franksgiving” feast on this weekend. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I forgot to take a photo of our little gathering yesterday, though I did get one of Francine with the turkey. It is right and just that we celebrate God’s bounty […]
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My beautiful bride Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we’ve been neglecting it this year, so there’s still a lot to do. The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today. I focused my energies on the raised bed behind the chapel. Because we […]
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Today is the first anniversary of my arrival in Santiago following my thousand-mile walking pilgrimage on the Via Podiensis and Camino Francés. From August 18 through October 23, 2023, I walked from Le Puy-en-Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain on pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle Saint James the Greater. I received my pilgrim blessing from […]
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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, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Back in high school, a group […]
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Just about everybody knows Saint Francis. He’s the plaster birdbath guy, right? The saint who hung around with fuzzy pastel animals. Well, sort of. “Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.” (Saint Francis of Assisi) Not Saint Francis I very nearly took “Francis” as my confirmation name. It might have been awkward, though, what with being engaged to Francine at […]
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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, my feelings have mellowed and matured somewhat. It is, however, good to recollect the day. Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me. (Antiphon 1 of […]
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It was twenty years ago today, and I was a pagan. Now when I say pagan, I don’t mean that I was unchurched or a “None”. No, I was a card-carrying member of an ancient Egyptian reconstructionist church. I am often amused by God’s little jokes. I was raised with no religion, but both my sister and I were sent […]
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Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater, known throughout the Spanish-speaking world as Santiago and in French as Saint Jacques. He was one of Christ’s Twelve Apostles. Saint James is the patron saint of the archdiocese of Seattle. May you have the joy of the feast! James and his brother John were natives of Galilee, sons of the […]
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Fifty-five years ago today, on July 20, 1969, human beings first set foot upon the Moon. My mother claims I watched the landing, at the tender age of two, hiding underneath the coffee table. If so, I don’t remember it. My lovely bride Francine, however, does. Her birthday is July 21, and she clearly remembers having a lunar module on […]
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