Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD. She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand.” […]
» Read moreAn old man was asked, “What is the straight and narrow way?” He replied “The straight way is this, to do violence to one’s thought and to cut off one’s own will. That is what this means. ‘Behold we have left all and followed Thee.’” (Mk 10:28). (Apophthegmata Patrum – The Desert Fathers)
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Today is the feast of the blessed martyr Saint Polycarp (he of many fishes). Burned alive in Rome for the crime of being a Christian bishop, he was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. Although I could wax on and on about the great Polycarp, I’m not going to, for as the headline to this post reveals, a truly […]
» Read moreFor the last several years, I’ve been attending Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle in the morning before work. Today was no exception. Over the years, Mass attendance at the Cathedral has varied pretty wildly. I remember one year where there was nobody sitting in my pew, or in the pews in front of and behind me. […]
» Read more“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 moreFor 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 moreOn this day in 1600, the priest, theologian, sometime Dominican friar, philosopher, and early proponent of heliocentrism, Giordano Bruno, was burned at the stake in Rome for the crime of heresy by the city’s civil authorities. His ashes were dumped into the Tiber river. My primary interest in Bruno is that I once lived in a house that he once […]
» Read moreThe feast of Saint Valentine was removed from the Roman calendar during the reforms of 1969. This was done mostly because it’s difficult to tease apart the stories of several early martyrs who shared this name. Over time, their stories and their identities accreted one to another like the formation of some new planet. There were, in fact, at least […]
» Read moreSaint Benedict was the founder of western monasticism; to this day, most monks and nuns worldwide follow some variation of his “Little Rule for Beginners”. Benedict had a twin sister, Scholastica, whose feast day is today. Under her brother’s guidance, she founded the first female monastery in the west. I often think that their parents had a sense of humour, […]
» Read moreYou often learn more about a man on the day he is committed to God than in the years you knew him. We just came back from a memorial service to a man who was a hero, a mentor, and who radically transformed our neighbourhood from the haunt of the first seasons of “Cops” to what it is today. The […]
» Read moreFaith 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 moreYesterday for World Communications Day, Pope Benedict XVI rather counter-intuitively gave an address on silence. In the spirit of the Desert Fathers, and of the monastic admonition to silence, the Pope spoke of the relationship between “silence and the word”. No dialogue is possible without both of them. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; […]
» Read moreI have written before about the 14-year old Agnes of Rome, murdered on this day at the order of the Emperor Diocletian, and of some of the traditions that have grown around her feast day. Today, I will simply leave you with a photo of the shrine containing her skull, and the marvelous words of John Keats, an English poet […]
» Read moreSuffering through a snow day here at Pistachio House when I came upon this. It needs to be shared, and I for one need to ponder the scriptures and the Pope’s words. Helping Those Called to “Recognize the Voice of God and Follow It” VATICAN CITY, JAN. 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave […]
» Read moreToday 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 moreChristmas 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 the great seasons of Advent or Christmas, Lent or Easter. Nowadays, this is given the rather uninspired name of “Ordinary Time”. This is a translation of the Latin term […]
» Read moreIn the popular imagination, today’s (slightly moved) celebration of the Epiphany is all about the Magi from the East who traveled to worship the Christ child and gift him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But that’s not the whole story, for the Epiphany actually celebrates three separate events, only one of which is Magi with their three gifts. In Vespers tonight, […]
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