Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today at 9:30AM, a small vial of dried blood in Naples turned to liquid, as it has done several times a year since at least the 1380s. A great crowd had gathered to witness this event. The man holding up the vial, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples, was nearly brought to tears. The announcement was greeted by a […]
» 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 […]
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“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit) This week, I’ve been thinking about endings – the end of empires, of eras, of fragile human lives. The last Habsburg Crown Prince died this week. The official notice read in part: Otto von Habsburg, eldest son of the last regnant Emperor of Austria and […]
» 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 […]
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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 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 moreHow does the human brain wrap itself around the eternal and infinite love of God for His creation? How can can we even begin to comprehend the depth of love in Christ’s wounded heart as he pours Himself out for us sinners at Calvary? The truth is, we can’t. The saints and the mystics may catch glimpses, but we humans […]
» 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 moreToday is a day of many memorials. In the United States, it is a Federal holiday honouring those men and women who died in the military service. While in the popular media this has become merely an excuse for a three-day weekend and countless barbeques, many folks, myself included, hang out the flag and do our best to honour the […]
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Last night, I was Master of Ceremonies at our parish Confirmation Mass. It was my first, but hopefully not my last, MC gig. My reflections on last night are bound to be a little rambly, but I wanted to be sure to record as many of my impressions as I could. The MC role at Mass is somewhat different from […]
» Read moreAs part of my Lenten reading, I have been devouring Pope Benedict’s book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection. This passage on the atonement appears on page 232: Again and again people say: It must be a cruel God who demands infinite atonement. Is this not a notion unworthy of God? …[I]t becomes […]
» Read moreThe comic strip “Unstrange Phenomena” is usually pretty silly and surreal, but this morning the author published something far above his normal goofiness. This is a worthy subject for meditation, for the image depicts man toiling, his image producing a shadow of words in the shining light of God’s glory. Pope Benedict XVI once described himself as “a humble worker […]
» Read moreDuring Lent, I am reading the Desert Fathers. On occasion I will post sayings that strike me during my Lectio. Here’s a little something in a martial theme, that strikes I think at the heart of our spiritual struggle: Abba John the Dwarf said, “If a king wanted to take possession of his enemy’s city, he would begin by cutting […]
» Read moreI was deeply moved today by a homily posted by Deacon Greg Kandra today. Several years ago, a priest from the Archdiocese of New York was visiting Rome. As he was walking into a church to pray, he noticed a beggar at the door. Something looked vaguely familiar about him. As he began to pray, he realized what it was. […]
» Read moreAlthough it does not appear on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. If it is true that the Irish saved civilization, it’s worth remembering that they did so largely in Benedictine Monasteries. Today, I have three short passages from one of Benedict’s spiritual and monastic forebears of […]
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