Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
“We make Idols of our concepts, but Wisdom is born of wonder.” (Pope St. Gregory the Great) Only a handful of Popes ever get named “Great”. Today in the Ordinary Roman calendar is the feast of one of them, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, confessor and doctor of the Church (540 – 604). His feast, originally celebrated on the day […]
» Read more
Today is one of the more interesting feasts on the liturgical calendar, for today is the feast of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. OK, nowadays they’ve slightly sanitized the name; it’s now officially called the “Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist”, but for the sheer Catholic joy of calling a spade a spade, I’m sticking […]
» Read more
In this very volatile moment in our history, both of the United States and of the Catholic Church, where so much anger rises to the surface so quickly, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the meaning of our times. This anger and factionalism and the accompanying doom-saying is hardly unique to our age. Indeed, I post some version […]
» Read more
Dear Saint Monica,troubled wife and mother,many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime.Yet, you never despaired or lost faith.With confidence, persistence, and profound faith,you prayed daily for the conversionof your beloved husband, Patricius,and your beloved son, Augustine;your prayers were answered. Grant me that same fortitude, patience,and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear Saint Monica,that God may favorably hear […]
» Read more
Today, the Octave day of the Assumption, is the Memorial of Our Lady Queen of Heaven. May you have all the joy of the feast! The Queenship of Mary has been depicted in art in various forms and guises since the early centuries of the Church. I’m always amazed at how different these depictions can be, even in the same […]
» Read more
Today is the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. And at this moment in the history of the Church, we could very much use another like him. Born in 1090 to a noble Burgundian family near Dijon, he entered the monastery at age 23. In less than three years, he was sent by his abbot to found a new monastery […]
» Read more
Today is the memorial of a memorable saint. Although he is not well known in the United States, Saint Roche (or Roch or Roque or Rocco, depending on where you are) is particularly beloved in Spain, Italy, and France, especially those places near a Camino route. In fact, he is usually depicted as a medieval pilgrim, which sometimes leads to […]
» Read more
It was twenty years ago today, and I was a pagan. Now when I say pagan, I don’t mean that I was unchurched or a “None”. No, I was a card-carrying member of an ancient Egyptian reconstructionist church. I am often amused by God’s little jokes. I was raised with no religion, but both my sister and I were sent […]
» Read more
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising,fair as the moon, bright as the sun,terrible as an army set in array? (Benedictus antiphon, Monastic Office of Lauds for the Assumption) Today’s great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in the East is known as the Dormition of the Theotokos, is one that holds a […]
» Read more
“I am a Polish Catholic priest. I would like to take the place of this man, since he has a wife and children.” (Saint Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Con., taking the place of fellow prisoner Franciszek Gajowniczek at Auschwitz.) On today’s Vigil of the Assumption, we celebrate also the memory of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan Friar and priest who spent […]
» Read more
I often think about Saint Lawrence, the Deacon martyr whose feast is today. Many is the time I’ve sought his intercession. There are so many stories about him that it’s hard to sum him up briefly, although Pope Saint Leo the Great did his best: “The Lord has desired to exalt his glorious name in the world so much that […]
» Read more
Today is the Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Of old, it was the proper Vigil of Saint Lawrence, but we don’t really have proper Vigils in the calendar these days. Both of these great saints suffered martyrdom: Lawrence to the Roman Empire and Teresa Benedicta to Nazi Germany. The Vigil of Saint Lawrence is still celebrated in […]
» Read more
Today is the feast of Saint Dominic de Guzmán. He was born near Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain, just north of the Camino, in 1170. Legend has it that before his birth, his barren mother made a pilgrimage to Silos, and dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a flaming torch in its mouth – and it […]
» Read more
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, one of the more important (if sometimes overlooked) feasts of the liturgical year. This event definitively revealed the divinity of Christ. It appears in the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Two of the witnesses refer to it in their writings, but they do not tell […]
» Read more
Today is the Memorial of the dedication of one of my favourite church buildings in the world, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, also known in English as Saint Mary Major. It is occasionally known by the title of Our Lady of the Snows. When we were in Rome back in 2005, our apartment was just a few […]
» Read more
Depending on your particular calendar, today or tomorrow is the feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), a great saint and Doctor of the Church who founded the Redemptorists and wrote on the spiritual life. I particularly enjoy his Way of the Cross and a short book (pamphlet, really) called How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God. Perhaps because of […]
» Read more
Today is the memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, founder of Ignatian spirituality, and the only saints so far as I know who had a leg shot off by a cannonball. Ignatius was minor Basque Spanish nobility, raised to be a soldier. After serving as a page in the household of a relative (who happened to […]
» Read more