Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
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. Let […]
» 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 the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrating that day when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, […]
» Read more
Happy Epiphany, probably! Unless you live in parts of the United States, January 6 is the Solemnity of the Epiphany. This date represents one of the Church’s oldest liturgical traditions. I am not a fan of transferring feasts in general, and perhaps Epiphany above all, as in a sense, the Feast of the Epiphany is the culmination (if not quite […]
» Read more
Happy eleventh day of Christmas! I hope you’re enjoying your eleven pipers piping. Depending on what calendar you happen to be using, today might very well be the Epiphany for you. If so, happy Epiphany! Traditionally, though, the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6. Since the calendar reforms of 1970, any diocese may choose to move the celebration to the […]
» Read more
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11) Happy Tenth Day of Christmas! Today […]
» Read more
All my own perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded upon Our Lady. (J.R.R. Tolkien) Wishing all of you a very happy new year of 2026! This day, being the Eighth Day of Christmas—the Octave Day of the Nativity—has always been a holy day in the Christian Calendar. However, the name and focus of this day have […]
» Read more
Happy fifth day of Christmas! Today, the Church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Over the years, I’ve written many articles on this, one of my favourite saints. I’ve provided links to them below. Many of these articles focus on the saint himself, his life and martyrdom, and others on his legacy to the Church, particularly […]
» Read more
Happy fourth day of Christmas! Today, the Church usually celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Because it’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, it is instead the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father. Russian Icon of the Holy […]
» Read more
In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptized and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth, and for my confirmation, I took the name of John […]
» Read more
The rest of the world thinks Christmas is over, with the possible exception of those who celebrate Boxing Day today or those fond of partridges in pear trees. Oh, how wrong they are! For like Easter, Christmas isn’t just one day, but a whole season! The Twelve Days of Christmas continue right up through the Epiphany (January 6, more or […]
» Read more
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia! Omagnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia. “The Birth of Christ” by Sandro Botticelli
» Read more
a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien Grim was the world and grey last night:The moon and stars were fled,The hall was dark without song or light,The fires were fallen dead.The wind in the trees was like to the sea,And over the mountains’ teethIt whistled bitter-cold and free,As a sword leapt from its sheath. The lord of snows upreared his head;His mantle […]
» Read more
As I do every year, I shall end this Advent chant sequence with the hymn assembled from the O Antiphons. You can also listen to one of my favourite carols, which is particularly appropriate in the deeps of Christmas Vigil. And now for a more traditional version, with the original words in Latin. May all who read these words have […]
» Read more
At last we come to the final O Antiphon, for tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the great Vigil of the Nativity. Tonight is the very last O Antiphon. Here’s what the great Dom Guéranger has to say: We adore Thee, O Emmanuel! in this Thy journey, and we reverence the fidelity wherewith Thou fulfillest all that the prophets have written of […]
» Read more
With Christmas just days away now, we hear the penultimate O Antiphon this evening. I mentioned a couple of days ago that the antiphons might sound vaguely familiar to you. In the 12th Century, an unknown composer compiled versions of the O Antiphons into a single Advent hymn, called Veni, Veni Emmanuel. You know the English version as O Come, […]
» Read more
It is altogether right and proper that we should celebrate Christ as the bringer of light on this, the day of the winter solstice. This was an ancient holy day in many religions, as indeed it continues to be. On this, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, where people for eons have begged their divinity for […]
» Read more