Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
This morning, Francine and I received the pilgrims’ blessing from Rev. David Mulholland at Saint Patrick Church, where I was baptized and we were married. It is a beautiful and ancient rite. In its current form it appears the Missal of Vich Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, dated to AD 1078. In addition to blessing the pilgrims themselves, the packs (“rucksacks”), sticks (“staves”), and […]
» Read more
May the second looms large in my life. On this day in 2013, Francine and I walked into Santiago de Compostela for the first time, at the end of our first Camino. At this point, Francine had been walking for almost two weeks, and me for more than a month. I can’t describe the joy of that day. Arrival in […]
» Read more
In 2016, Francine and I visited the tomb of Saint Isidore of Seville. Although he is entombed in Spain, it is strangely not in the city of Seville, where he was bishop from AD 601 to 636. No, due to the vagaries of history, the majority of his bones are now in in a silver casket at the high altar […]
» Read more
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun. Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence. For […]
» Read more
Back in December of 2019, I posted some noodlings about the call of the Camino and where we might walk next. While both of the options I discussed there are still very much in our future plans, a more immediate Camino adventure calls: the Camino Primitivo. Francine and I have been talking about this particular Camino for close to a […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the fourteenth 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 and I have a funny tradition. When I […]
» Read more
Today has been a busy, exciting, and exhausting day. This morning, after a series of interviews this week, I accepted an offer from GitHub, where I have been contracting much of the year. I also contracted with them for a year or so before the Plague. There are still some formalities – a contract to sign on Monday, a background […]
» Read more
Today is the 450th anniversary of 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 of us did an extensive report on the events of this day for my freshman history class. We […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me. (Antiphon 1 of Monastic Lauds for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows) One year ago today, Archbishop Paul Etienne celebrated the final Mass of Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma. Tomorrow is the Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the following day is the Feast […]
» Read more
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising,fair as the moon, bright as the sun,terrible as an army set in array?(Benedictus antiphon, Monastic Office of Lauds for the Assumption) Today’s great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in the East is known as the Dormition of the Theotokos, is one that holds a special […]
» Read more
Fifty-two 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 […]
» Read more
Today the Church celebrates one of her most ancient feasts, commemorating the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul. I prayed at the tombs of these apostles during our pilgrimage to Rome in 2005. Icon of Saints Peter and Paul Peter With the body of Saint John Paul II mere feet from me, I knelt near Saint Peter’s tomb at the […]
» Read more
Today, it is 400 days since Ash Wednesday of 2020. Your normal Lent is forty days, but this past year with its Plague and its lockdowns and its social distancing was anything but normal. The festivities of Holy Week happened on television and, it seemed, happened to other people. In the midst of our Lenten desert, Easter was a mirage […]
» Read more
This weekend, Holy Week begins with the Sunday of Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem – 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 more
Near the beginning of our virtual Camino, February 2020 Yesterday my beautiful bride Francine and I finished walking our virtual Camino from Lourdes to Santiago, a distance of roughly 957km. You’ve heard of staycations? This was a staymino. It took us just over a year. At least I got one thing accomplished during lockdown! We mostly walked around our neighbourhood […]
» Read more