The Next Pope
From 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 moreLenten Regulations for the Archdiocese of Seattle, 2013
For this penitential season, the Church draws on the wisdom of the Scriptures and tradition in suggesting a time of intense prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Catholics in the United States are obliged to abstain on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the season of Lent. Catholics are also obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Self-imposed observance […]
» Read moreAshes
“Remember Man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun. Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence. […]
» Read moreSome of the Better Stories
(Source) Benedict XVI the Precedent Setting Pope: Now he surprises us again. Not for six hundred years has a pope stepped aside. He has done so quickly and unexpectedly. While his decision cannot have been sudden. The sudden effectiveness–he will be gone within a few weeks–is brilliant. There is scarcely time for the world’s cardinals to book their plane tickets–much […]
» Read moreOremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedicto
Pope Benedict XVI Like so many others, I am stunned and grieving. I was baptized in 2005 just a month before Pope Benedict’s election, and his hand on the tiller is the only one I’ve really known. We can but pray. Francine and I are beginning the Camino de Santiago shortly after Easter, and I will now offer it for […]
» Read moreAbdication
Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an […]
» Read moreAchievement Unlocked: Purchase Ticket in Spanglish
Sixty days from today, I fly to Spain. Sixty days in advance is the earliest you can purchase a train ticket in Spain using Renfe‘s web site. Since I need to get from Madrid to Pamplona (and thence to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port), I figured I would buy a train ticket today. Here’s what I learned: the train takes three hours and the […]
» Read moreFides et Ratio
Faith and reason are like the two shoes you wear on your journey. You get a lot farther with both than just one. (J. Michael Straczynski) 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 – you […]
» Read moreThe Life of Perfection
I can’t speak for anybody else, but I need all the help I can get. As a writer, I often find that I love having written much more than actually writing. I distract myself easily. It doesn’t help, I suppose, that I tend to write in bursts, like I’m emptying my brain. Then I rather need to recharge the brain […]
» Read moreThe Egyptian Father of Monks
Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the “Father of Monks”. He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of his life avoiding the sorts of comforts available to him […]
» Read moreAnother Reason Why
Codex Calixtinus Folio 4r,showing Saint James Some time ago, I ruminated on why. Why do the Camino? Here’s another answer, from the very first guide book to the Camino, the Codex Calixtinus, written some time in the XIIth Century: The pilgrim route is a very good thing, but it is narrow. For the road which leads us to life is […]
» Read morePacks and Flights and Hats
Camino planning has taken a turn for the serious this week. Francine got her backpack (a Gregory Freia 30) and ordered her trekking poles, towel, and some other equipment. Oh, and today I booked my flight to Madrid. I’ll be flying out on Easter morning (31 March) and arriving in Madrid on April Fool’s Day. Seems appropriate. Then, I’ll take […]
» Read moreOrdinary? I Think Not!
Each year about this time, I post some variation of this essay on the liturgical season boringly known as “Ordinary Time”. Ordinary? Well, what’s so ordinary about it, anyway? Christmas is over, all too soon, and we have now entered into a new season of the liturgical year. This is the time of the year that does not fall into […]
» Read moreHappy Epiphany
The Wise Men by G.K. Chesterton Step softly, under snow or rain, To find the place where men can pray; The way is all so very plain That we may lose the way. Oh we have learnt to peer and pore On tortured puzzles from our youth, We know all the labyrinthine lore, We are the three wise men of […]
» Read moreThe Professor!
On this day in 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The Professor is 121 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, […]
» Read more2013 Already!
Wishing both of my readers a very happy new year, and a most blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Let us celebrate the motherhood of the Virgin Mary, and let us worship Christ the Lord, her Son. (Invitatory antiphon for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God) Most people who are Christians but not Catholics probably wonder why we […]
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