Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Yesterday, my Lent began with a kiss. Oh, I’d previously prayed Lauds on the train coming into Seattle, but this I do nearly every day. Lent is a time set apart, a time to spiritually prepare ourselves for the coming of Easter. To help set the season apart, it begins with Ash Wednesday, where we enter into the penitential season […]
» Read moreNormally, we ask the servers, lectors, and extraordinary ministers to arrive thirty minutes before Mass. I was coming from work, and due to the train schedule I arrived an hour before Mass was scheduled to begin. I walked from the train station to the church in a refreshingly cool evening rain. Father was hearing Confessions, and there were a small […]
» Read moreOn the morning of my first day of high school, the principal swept into my homeroom class. He was an Augustinian friar, and he moved in a precise way, as though every gesture had been planned in advance. I’d never met a friar. I’d never gone to a Catholic school before. I wasn’t even Catholic. My academic career to this […]
» Read moreTen years ago, on the 15th of August 2004, Francine and I walked into Saint Patrick’s Church in Tacoma. This was the Solemnity of the Assumption, and ever since we have counted this as our “Catholic anniversary”. On that day, I discovered in a moment that every doubt I ever had about the truth of Christianity had collapsed. God in […]
» Read moreThis arrived in the post today. It’s the seventh edition of the Monastic Diurnal, published in 2011 by Saint Michael’s Abbey Press. You can purchase it in the United States from Clear Creek Abbey. It’s a beautiful book. This should give you some idea of the size. In an odd coincidence, the table of dates at the front of the […]
» Read moreThe Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, having carefully assessed the needs of the People of God in the Archdiocese of Seattle, and after careful consultation with the Christian Faithful and the Priest Personnel Board, makes the following pastoral appointments in accord with the 1983 Code of Canon Law, effective July 1, 2014, unless otherwise noted.
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Today on the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, I was privileged to serve at Mass for the fifth anniversary of the ordination of a good and holy priest, Rev Jacob Maurer. I rearranged my work from home day to be at the 8:00AM Mass. Our visiting seminarian, Peter Guthrie, was the principal server. I enjoy serving with Peter because […]
» Read moreIt’s been a long time since I last talked about my own life here. Obviously, there was a whole lot of journalling when Francine and I walked the Camino, but since then not so much. When I started this blog, I was discerning whether God was calling me to the Diaconate. Since the Archdiocese of Seattle currently has no plans […]
» Read moreYesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, the Year of Faith drew to a close. Pope Benedict XVI established it as a time to re-dedicate ourselves to professing the faith, celebrating the faith, and witnessing to the faith. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience […]
» Read moreBlessed John Paul II famously said “Europe has two lungs, it will never breathe easily until it uses both of them” (Euntes in mundum, 1988). He was referring to the division between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, split in about the year 1054 over matters more relating to politics and misunderstanding than to doctrine or dogma. Over a […]
» Read moreSo yesterday amid the Papal hoopla and huzzahs, my old friend Rev. Bryan Dolejsi invited me to be a guest on his radio show. Father Dolejsi is the Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Seattle, and his show, called “Vocation Radio” is broadcast on Sacred Heart Radio several times a week. So we munched on the pizza ordered by […]
» Read moreLet us pray together for the Cardinals as they go into conclave to elect the next Successor to Saint Peter: Heavenly Father, Give us a Shepherd after your own heart – endowed with supernatural wisdom and courage, with unshakable faith and deep humility, capable of sacrificial service. May he be zealous to defend Holy Mother Church, her sacred teaching, the […]
» Read moreAt 8:00 in the evening Roman time tonight, the Chair of Saint Peter falls vacant. Not since 1415 has a Pope abdicated, and not since 1294 has a former Pope been alive during the election of his successor. I say “his” successor, but of course under the language of the Church, each Pope is the direct successor of Saint Peter. […]
» Read moreFrom First Things: We have lived through fifty years of self-inflicted wounds, some very deep. John Paul II and Benedict XVI felt these traumas, of course, and they responded effectively. John Paul II spoke forcefully about the non-negotiable objectivity of moral truth and the unity of faith and reason. Benedict XVI emphasized the renewal of the liturgy and promoted firm […]
» Read moreMy parents are visiting for a week, and this morning my father and I attended a beautiful Thanksgiving Day Mass at Holy Rosary. Crazy manic running around now, to prepare everything for the feast. One sad bit of news: Vera the Dominique (beloved sister of Violet) did not survive the night. Although Francine had treated her enlarged crop, this was […]
» Read moreDear President Obama, In my capacity as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I write to express my congratulations on your re-election as President of the United States. The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility. The Catholic Bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength […]
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