Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
O 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 (evening prayer) for the 17th through the 23rd of December – the 24th is of course the Christmas Vigil itself. They are ancient prayers, possibly dating back […]
» Read more
The season of Advent began with last night’s vespers, and today is the First Sunday of Advent. This is the first day of the new liturgical year, so happy Advent and happy new year! For us, it’s time to pull the Advent box out of the garage and start decorating. If you are in Tacoma, please join us for chanted […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
Today is the 103rd anniversary of the dedication of our former parish church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. The church, still in danger, was dedicated on November 21, 1921. Here is what the parish history has to say about the event: Nov. 21, 1921 Thanksgiving Day. The new Church building is dedicated by the Most Rev. Edward J. […]
» Read more
Appropriate to today – the Feast of All Souls of the Benedictine Order – we once again have the Dies Iræ, the traditional sequence for Requiem Masses and the Masses of All Souls. Today we pray for the souls of all Benedictine monks, nuns, sisters, and oblates in purgatory. Servant of God Thomas of Celano Most probably written by […]
» Read more
Once again we come to a feast of All Saints. “But wait!” I hear you cry, “wasn’t that back on the first of November?” Right you are! But today on the Benedictine calendar is the feast of All Saints of the Benedictine Order. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside […]
» Read more
You would be forgiven for thinking that the Pope’s main church is St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It’s certainly the largest. But no. The Pope’s own church – his episcopal seat as Bishop of Rome – is the church of Saint John Lateran. Which Saint John? Good question. Two of them, actually, for the full name of this church […]
» Read more
So. Let’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Given the day’s importance in the life of the Church, there’s a lot of history and liturgy – and […]
» Read more
Happy Feast of All Saints! This is the day when we celebrate all the saints, known and unknown: the Church Triumphant. We ask them to pray for us. I, for one, could use all the help I can get! This day has been a feast since the sixth or seventh century, thanks to the abbots of Cluny, and it was […]
» Read more
Let us prepare our souls for the graces heaven is about to shower upon the earth in return for its homage. To-morrow the Church will be so overflowing with joy, that she will seem to be already in possession of eternal happiness; but to-day she appears in the garb of penance, confessing that she is still an exile. Let us […]
» Read more
More than a century ago on this very day in the town of Fátima, Portugal, a miracle occurred. This remarkable event occurred at the height of the Great War, and an estimated 70,000 people witnessed it. It is known as the “Miracle of the Sun”. Avelino de Almeida, writing for Portugal’s popular pro-government and anti-clerical newspaper O Século, said: Before […]
» Read more
Today, October 7 is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. For those of us who were once parishioners of Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma, it was our patronal feast. In years past, we could celebrate this on a Sunday. I thought it would be nice to mark the feast in some way, in addition to praying a daily […]
» Read more
O great work of love: death then was dead when on the Cross Life itself had died. (Antiphon 1 of Monastic Lauds for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) Today is celebrated in the western Church as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Exaltatio Sanctæ Crucis). In the eastern Church, it is known as “the Universal Exaltation […]
» Read more
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 […]
» 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 […]
» Read more
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, one of the more important (if sometimes overlooked) feasts of the liturgical year. This event definitively revealed the divinity of Christ. It appears in the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Two of the witnesses refer to it in their writings, but they do not tell […]
» Read more
The Cathedral of Santiago has published a booklet (available in PDF) for first Vespers of the feast of Saint James the Apostle. First Vespers only occur for Solemnities, and they are prayed on the Vigil. For most of the world, Saint James only has a feast, but in places where he is patron saint – such as Spain or the […]
» Read more