Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Saint Bonaventure, whose memorial is today in the Ordinary Form, received his (much delayed) doctorate in theology in Paris in 1257, in the same class as Saint Thomas Aquinas. Later that same year, he was elected Minister General of the Franciscan Order. Bonaventure spent much of his life as a theologian at the university, living in poverty as a Franciscan […]
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Today is the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia, who can safely be said to be the father of western monasticism. His monastic Holy Rule, still followed today after almost 1,500 years, spread throughout the west as the Roman Empire collapsed. Pope Pius XII lauded him, for in the perilous times that followed Rome’s fall, it was Benedictine monks who […]
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I came late to the hobby of woodworking, and I’m terrible at it. Like many people, I suppose, I took up a new pastime during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In my case, it was working wood. I use both power tools and hand tools: power tools for the big cuts and rough shaping, and handtools for the fiddly details. It’s fun, […]
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A post-Protestant friend of mine has a particular fondness for that great Doctor of the Church, Saint Irenæus of Lyons, whose feast day is today. He occasionally quotes from the saint’s great work, Adversus Hæreses (Against Heresies), and he is particularly fond of the saint’s assertion that “the proper glory of God is man fully alive.” He refers to the […]
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How 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 poor sinners at Calvary? The truth is, we can’t. The saints and the mystics may catch glimpses, but we […]
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Sir Thomas More(by Hans Holbein the Younger) Today is the memorial of one of my favourite saints, Saint Thomas More, who died at the hands of King Henry VIII (that villain). That is, today is his memorial in the modern Roman calendar, which he shares with Saint John Fisher, also executed by the same king. In my Benedictine ordo, however, […]
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We are all now finally back from our Camino. Those of you who have been following along over on our Camino blog know that – in addition to the physical and mental challenges – the Camino is a powerful tool for discernment. I’ll get back to what we were discerning later, but I was again reminded that walking the Camino […]
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We 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: Pentecost – Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308) When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,they were all in one place together.And suddenly there came from the skya noise like a strong driving wind,and it filled […]
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May the second looms large in my life. On this day in 2013, Francine and I walked into Santiago de Compostela for the first time, at the end of our first Camino. At this point, Francine had been walking for almost two weeks, and me for more than a month. I can’t describe the joy of that day. Arrival in […]
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Today, the Second Sunday in the Octave of Easter, is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. 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 by Saint Faustina. But what is the Divine Mercy? In short, […]
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There are two kinds of time. There’s the kind you can measure. That’s the kind we live through sequentially, moment to moment. The Greek word for this is “kronos”, where we get words like “chronometer” and “chronicle”. Then, there’s the other kind. The Greeks call this “kairos”. This is the time when God acts, when eternity breaks into linear time. […]
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Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one.(J. Michael Straczynski, “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars“) Today is the Feast of the Universal Doctor of the Church and one of my name Saints, Thomas Aquinas. When (certain) people, told of my conversion, said to me “oh, you’re Catholic […]
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On this day in 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The Professor is 130 today! All around the world, at 9pm local time, the Tolkien Society and the Professor’s many other devotees will celebrate his birthday with a toast to “the Professor”. I will join in, and I encourage you to do the same. The Professor’s writing, […]
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Happy Epiphany, probably! Today is… complicated. Depending on what calendar you happen to be using, today might very well be the great Solemnity of the Epiphany. Or not. In a sense, the Feast of the Epiphany is the culmination (if not quite the end) of the Christmas Season. It was once a much more celebrated feast than it is now. […]
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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 […]
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Today is the feast of the great Doctor of the Church, Saint Ambrose of Milan (340-397). Rather than prattle on about this great saint, I’m posting the second reading from today’s Office of Readings. Saint Ambrose of Milan, a contemporary mosaic portrait Although Ambrose is specifically addressing bishops in this letter, his call to evangelization is for all of us, […]
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Happy Feast of All Saints! This is the day where 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 […]
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