Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Happy tenth day of Christmas! Today, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany. Traditionally, this feast would have been celebrated on the day following the twelfth day of Christmas, the 6th of January, but like many other feasts it fell victim to the “move it to a Sunday” mania that has gripped the Church these past few decades. For […]
» Read moreHappy eighth day of Christmas, a very happy new year, and a most blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to you! First, a word about the eighth day, and then we’ll move on to Mary. Christmas is celebrated as a day, an octave, and a season. The celebration of the octave – that is, the day and the week […]
» Read moreHappy fourth day of Christmas! Today we pause a moment in our revelry for the feast of the Holy Innocents. When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained […]
» Read moreThe 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! It continues from Christmas Day through the Epiphany (January 6). In some places, this season […]
» Read moreO 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! O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.
» Read moreAs I do every year, I shall end this Advent chant sequence with the hymn assembled from the O Antiphons. I‘ve also posted one of my favourite carols, which is particularly appropriate in the deeps of Christmas Vigil. Come to Mass! For those of you in Tacoma and environs, I invite you to come to our parish of Our Lady […]
» Read moreWe come to the last of the O Antiphons, for tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the Vigil of the Nativity. I mentioned yesterday that the O Antiphons were arranged backwards into the song Veni, Veni Emmanuel. This was by design, for the Antiphons themselves are a backwards acrostic. The first letters of the Messianic titles — Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, […]
» Read moreYou may recall that on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Francine and I attended a Rorate Mass at the nearby F.S.S.P. parish of Saint Joseph. You will also no doubt recall my inability to take a decent photo of the Mass, which was simply beautiful. Apparently, a much more talented photographer was ensconced up in the choir loft. […]
» Read moreWith 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 moreIf you can, won’t you please join us this evening at 6:00 PM for chanted Solemn Vespers at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma? Continuing on with our annual tradition, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, “the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one […]
» Read moreBy now some of you might be thinking that the O Antiphon words are sounding kind of familiar, even though you’re not really up on your Gregorian Chant. In fact, these antiphons are some of the earliest attested antiphons in the Divine Office, being mentioned in passing in the works of Saint Boethius in the early sixth century. They’re rooted […]
» Read moreToday is the second “O” antiphon, O Adonai. It has been a long time since I’ve sung these properly. Perhaps as much as eight years? Time has a way of slipping past, almost before you know it. As much as I love that we’re chanting Sunday Vespers for Advent in my parish, I very much wish that it was a […]
» Read moreO Wisdom! Advent is drawing to its close, and it’s time again for our annual look at the O Antiphons. These antiphons are part of the prayers at the liturgical hour of Vespers for the 17th through the 23rd of December – the 24th is of course the Christmas Vigil itself. They are ancient prayers, possibly dating back to the […]
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This past weekend has been what we at Pistachio House sometimes refer to as a “churchy weekend”: three Masses and chanted Vespers. The first of these was a new experience for us. At 6:30 on Saturday morning, we attended an Extraordinary Form Rorate Mass at Saint Joseph. This is a votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin celebrated in Advent. Since […]
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Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at Saint Peter’s Basilica, officially beginning the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. On December 13, the Third Sunday of Advent, Father Nicholas Wichert will open Tacoma’s Holy Doors. Perhaps I should explain. Normally for a Jubilee, the Holy Doors of all four […]
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Today, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, Pope Francis unsealed the Holy Doors at Saint Peter’s Basilica, officially beginning the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. On this coming Third Sunday of Advent, all across the world, cathedrals, basilicas, and shrines in every diocese will bless and open their own Holy Doors. Archbishop Sartain has designated a […]
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