Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
The church in which I was Baptized, Confirmed, and Married has all sorts of Christian symbols painted on the walls. One of them that always set my brain to thinking looked something like this: It is, of course, an ancient Trinitarian symbol, reminding us in a visual way that while the Father is God, and the Son is God, and […]
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As of today, the Easter Season has ended and we’re back in Ordinary Time. Which of course, is not so ordinary at all. Unless of course, you’re celebrating the Octave of Pentecost. Which I am. Because, why wouldn’t you? Full disclosure: the Octave is celebrated in my Monastic Diurnal. In my parish, which celebrates the Ordinary Form of the Roman […]
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We read today in the Acts of the Apostles of this great day, which in a certain way we can celebrate as the birthday of the Church: When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire […]
» Read moreYesterday evening we had a rehearsal for our Confirmation Mass, to be celebrated tonight. It was a chaotic affair, with Altar Servers, Confirmandi, Sponsors, family, and of course Catechists and Clergy. I wasn’t herding cats so much as juggling them. I was hoping that we could be out of there in an hour and a half. In the end, it […]
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The Northwest Catholic, the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Seattle, has published the official list of new priestly appointments for July, 2017. In among the quite extensive list, we of course find the outgoing pastor and the incoming priest administrator for our parishes of Holy Rosary and Visitation. Well, at least we now have current photos of both of […]
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Mary’s month of May draws to a close with the Feast of the Visitation. This feast celebrates the visit of Mary, pregnant with Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist (Luke 1:39-56). So this feast is a celebration of the very first Christian community, consisting of two pregnant mothers and their unborn children. Saint Luke’s account culminates […]
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On this day in 1431, one of the most truly remarkable women who ever lived was burned at the stake. She was 19 years old. She was known as Jehanne la Pucelle (Joan the Maiden), but today we name her Saint Joan of Arc. In 1429 at the tender age of 17, she led the French army to a string […]
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On this day in 1453, the great and holy city of Constantinople fell to the Turks and the Christian Roman Empire came to its apocalyptic end. This morning, I am reminded of Yeats. Sailing to Byzantium That is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees – Those dying generations – at their […]
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Viri Galilæi, quid admiramini aspicientes in cælum? Forty days (and more) have passed since Easter. While most of the world (and indeed, my Benedictine Ordo and our local F.S.S.P. parish) celebrate the day more properly last Thursday, in many places in the United States, today is the Solemnity of the Ascension. That moment when Christ ascended into heaven has to […]
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Today in the calendar of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is the feast of this blog’s patron, Saint Bede the Venerable. Today in the older calendars, it is the Solemnity of the Ascension. More on that later, probably. The amazing Saint Bede was a Benedictine monk, priest, historian, and a Doctor of the Church, all while dealing with […]
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Today is the feast of a most remarkable saint, Peter Celestine. Pietro Angelerio was born in the village of Sant’Angelo Limosano, in south-central Italy, in the year 1215. At age 17, he became a Benedictine monk. By the time he was in his thirties, his abbot had given him permission to enter a hermitage in a cave. He became famed […]
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Yesterday at my parish of Holy Rosary, we celebrated a votive Mass on the Marian altar. This was more or less our Mother’s Day Mass. We have been doing this for a couple of years now, and last year we added a Father’s Day Mass in June at the Saint Joseph altar. This is a laudable custom, and I hope […]
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On this day in 1917, exactly a century ago, the Blessed Virgin began appearing to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal. She appeared on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months, culminating in the great Miracle of the Sun. Regardless of miracles, Catholics are not obliged to believe these “private revelations”. Indeed, the Church is very careful to investigate these […]
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Light’s glittering morn bedecks the sky; Heaven thunders forth its victor cry; The glad earth shouts its triumph high, And groaning hell makes wild reply: While He, the King of glorious might, Treads down death’s strength in death’s despite, And, trampling hell by victor’s right, Brings forth His sleeping Saints to light. Fast barred beneath the stone of late In […]
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Years ago, I wrote a post titled “Hopes and Prayers for a new Pastor“. If the stats are to be believed, this is one of the most consistently popular posts on this blog. I wrote then: Being a pastor is one of the most difficult jobs in the world, I think. The responsibility of shepherding souls must be a great […]
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Today for the first time I served at low Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It was a private Mass, the regularly scheduled daily Mass having ended about twenty minutes before. It was beautiful. Father Insco has been training me for a while now. I did flub up a few things at the very end, and my memorization is terrible. I […]
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This past weekend, I visited Mount Angel Abbey for retreat. I’d been once before, for an amazing liturgy conference they gave last year. This year, I went to accompany my new godson as he spent the weekend in a discernment retreat. The instant I arrived, I felt like my blood pressure dropped twenty points. During the weekend, I of course […]
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