Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Nearly everybody knows about 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) I very nearly took “Francis” as my confirmation name. It might have been awkward, though, what with being engaged to Francine at the time. Reading […]
» Read moreThe Stabat Mater is a thirteenth century sequence variously attributed to Pope Innocent III and Jacopone da Todi. Here’s the beginning: Stabat Mater dolorosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosa Dum pendebat Filius Cuius animam gementem Contristatam et dolentem Pertransivit gladius At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last Through her heart, his sorrow […]
» Read moreToday is celebrated in the western Church as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the eastern Church, it is known as “the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-creating Cross”. The feast commemorates a number of events: the finding of the True Cross in 326 in Jerusalem by Saint Helena, the later dedication of the Church […]
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Scripture tells us very little about the early life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Tradition tells us that she was born to an elderly couple, Joachim and Anne. They were, it is said, beyond the years of child-bearing, but they prayed and fasted that God would grant their desire for a child. The Magisterium teaches us that she was conceived […]
» Read moreDear Saint Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius, and your beloved son, Augustine; your prayers were answered. Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede […]
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Today is the optional memorial of the dedication of my favourite church building in the world, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, also known in English as Saint Mary Major. It is occasionally known by the title of Our Lady of the Snows. When we were in Rome, our apartment was just a few blocks from this beautiful […]
» Read moreThree thoughts for today, a day of convergence. Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a feast of particular importance to the Jesuits, and a subject on which I’ve written recently. (A Wounded Heart) We attend a Jesuit parish and Rev. Kenneth Baker, S.J. appropriately celebrated his first Mass there today as our new interim pastor. […]
» Read moreWe were in Seattle for the weekend, attending my niece’s wedding. Since there were many out of town friends and relatives, the events surrounding the wedding itself stretched from Friday night through Sunday night. It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful time all around. I wish the bride and groom every happiness in the world. All over the world […]
» Read moreThe story of the Jewish people moves through Exodus to the Judges to the Kings to the Prophets. It culminates in Christ, the culmination of all things. He is Priest, Prophet, and King, and in Baptism we come to share this designation as well. We do not all share the gift of prophecy, of course, but to see it continuing […]
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The church in which I was Baptized, Confirmed, and Married has all sorts of Christian symbols painted on the walls. One of them that always set my brain to thinking looked something like this: It is, of course, an ancient Trinitarian symbol, reminding us in a visual way that while the Father is God, and the Son is God, and […]
» Read moreWe read today in the Acts of the Apostles of this great day, which in a certain way we can celebrate as the birthday of the Church: When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire […]
» Read moreIn the old calendar, the one still used in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces. Here’s where many folks go off the rails in castigating the Church as non-Christian. Mediatrix of All Graces? Isn’t Christ our mediator? Does not the scripture say For there is one God. There is […]
» Read moreOne of the more succinct descriptions of this day I’ve found has been copied all over the Internet, to the point where I’m unable to properly source it. The Ascension of Our Lord, which occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, is the final act of our redemption that Christ began on Good Friday. On […]
» Read moreTomorrow is forty days since Easter, the Solemnity of the Ascension, when Christ ascended into heaven in what has to be one of the great comic scenes in the Bible: [A]s they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly […]
» Read moreMary’s month of May draws to a close with the Feast of the Visitation. This feast celebrates the visit of Mary, pregnant with Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist (Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 1 verses 39 – 56). Luke’s account culminates in one of the great New Testament songs, Mary’s Magnificat, which we recite at […]
» Read moreSome meandering thoughts on the day. Today is several days rolled up into one. It’s the Second Sunday of Easter, with its readings of “doubting” Thomas. Blessed Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Sunday after Easter as the Sunday of the Divine Mercy (Dominica II Paschæ seu de divina misericordia) in accord with the visions of the Divine Mercy received […]
» Read moreOne of the things I love about the Church is our sense of time – the grandeur of the procession of the seasons and holy days, each in turn. Some holy days are so holy that a single day can’t contain them. Take Easter, for instance. The ancient tradition of the Church is to add an entire week to the […]
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