Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle has proclaimed a “Year of the Eucharist” to begin on the external Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this coming Sunday. In his recent pastoral letter The Work of Redemption, he says: During the coming year, I ask every Catholic and every parish community to commit themselves to deepening our understanding and experience of the Eucharist, and […]
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A century ago, on May 30, 1920, the cornerstone of Holy Rosary Church in Tacoma was laid. It was the feast of Saint Joan of Arc, who had been canonized just ten days before. Here’s what our parish history says about the day: May 30, 1920 The cornerstone of the new Church is laid by the Most Rev. Joseph McGrath, […]
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Since my conversion, May the second has loomed large in my life. Shortly after my baptism, I became an Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict. Each year, we read through Saint Benedict’s Rule three times, a chapter or so each day. May 2 is one of the three days of the year where we begin the Rule again. This […]
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Mary’s month of May begins with a day for her husband. Today, celebrated around the world as “International Workers’ Day” is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. There’s poetry to the fact that the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin begins by putting the focus on her husband, and therefore on their family life. Imagine the Holy Family of […]
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With all of the livestreamed Masses going on right now, it was inevitable that the music companies and hymnal publishers would start to raise a fuss about licensing and copyright. Here’s a secret: the Latin Mass parts and the Gregorian hymns are not under copyright. I mean, there are hymnal publishers that will change a few notes or words so […]
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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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This weekend, Holy Week begins with the Sunday of Lord’s triumphal entry into Jersusalem – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Although Good Friday is coming – the Passion and Death are coming – for the moment, this moment, joy resounds as our King arrives in His city. In most parishes throughout the world, the principal Mass is normally celebrated […]
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A week ago we celebrated Lætare Sunday, a burst of joy in the midst of Lent. This coming week, the week before Holy Week, we double-down on Lent. Traditionally, today’s Fifth Sunday of Lent marks the beginning of Passiontide, when we walk with Christ on the way to Jerusalem. In the Ordinary Form this is no longer celebrated as a […]
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From Saint Peter’s Square, 27 March 2020. Parce, Domine, Parce populo tuo: Ne in æternum irascaris nobis. Spare, O Lord, Spare Your people, Do not be angry with us forever. 1. Flectamus iram vindicem, Ploremus ante Judicem; Clamemus ore supplici, Dicamus omnes cernui: Refrain 1. Let us turn back the angry avenger, Let us lament before the Judge; Let us […]
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On Lætare Sunday in 2012, Francine and I first attended Holy Rosary church for Mass. I described the event at the time like this: Rev. Jacob Maurer, First Mass, June 13, 2009 Something simply extraordinary happened today. This afternoon, I attended the Sacred Liturgy and participated in the Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Lætare Sunday), and it was […]
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Today on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, we would do well to meditate on the life of the man who helped raise the Son of God. It can’t have been easy. Tradition holds that Joseph was already an old man and a widower when he married the Blessed Virgin, who was very young, perhaps 16 or so. He had several […]
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Pope Francis calls on everyone to pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary tomorrow, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, at 9:00pm Rome time invoking “Our Lady, Health of the Sick and Saint Joseph, to protect our families from coronavirus COVID-19, especially the ill and those who are caring for the sick, the doctors, nurses, who are risking their lives”. This […]
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You may have noticed that I’ve not been posting our “Camino Photo of the Day” recently. There’s a story behind that. We’ve been in South Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Oh, not for any vacation – well, not really. We were there to complete our training as hospitaleros. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself. Prologue: Virginia City We arrived at […]
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Well that got your attention, didn’t it? It’s not quite true of course; Patrick may have been born on the isle of Britain, but in a time before the Angles had arrived and started making it Angland. No, his family were Roman Catholic churchmen from the Roman Imperial province of Britannia. Today, nobody is going to go around speaking in […]
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On this, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, it seems opportune to post an update on our Camino plans, or lack thereof. Back in 2018, we started making plans for a 2020 Camino. The basic idea is that I would start in Saint-Jean, and Francine would rent an apartment in Burgos or, more probably, Santiago, where she could do […]
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Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. In memoria æterna erit iustus, ab auditione mala non timebit. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. He shall be justified in everlasting memory, and shall not fear evil reports. Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in æternum, quia pius es. […]
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Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul and the twelfth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It’s important to mark those changes. Francine and I have a funny tradition. When I proposed to her, […]
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