Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
This has been a crazy year. Here at Pistachio House, we had designated 2018 as the “Year of Hygge“. This was going to be the year that we concentrated on coziness. Pistachio House would be finally made into the cozy home we imagined. There would be coffee cake, walks, and new furnishings. It started out strongly enough, and it certainly […]
» Read more
We come to the last of the O Antiphons, for tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the great Vigil of the Nativity. I mentioned yesterday that the O Antiphons were arranged backward into the song Veni, Veni Emmanuel. This was by design, for the Antiphons themselves are a backward acrostic. The first letters of the Messianic titles — Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, […]
» Read more
With Christmas just days away now, we hear the penultimate O Antiphon this evening. I mentioned a couple of days ago that the antiphons might sound vaguely familiar to you. In the 12th Century, an unknown composer compiled versions of the O Antiphons into a single Advent hymn, called Veni, Veni Emmanuel. You know the English version as O Come, […]
» Read more
It is altogether right and proper that we should celebrate Christ as the bringer of light on this, the day of the winter solstice. This was an ancient holy day in many religions, as indeed it continues to be. On this, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, where people for eons have begged their divinity for […]
» Read more
Continuing on with our annual tradition, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, “the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open”. The key is the symbol of authority. Christ is the Key of the House of David who opens […]
» Read more
By now some of you might be thinking that the O Antiphon words are sounding kind of familiar, even though you’re not really up on your Gregorian Chant. In fact, these antiphons are some of the earliest attested antiphons in the Divine Office, being mentioned in passing in the works of Saint Boethius in the early sixth century. They’re rooted […]
» Read more
Today is the second “O” antiphon, O Adonai. O Sovereign Lord! O Adonaï! come and redeem us, not by thy power, but by thy humility. Heretofore, thou didst show thyself to Moses thy servant in the midst of a mysterious flame; thou didst give thy law to thy people amidst thunder and lightning; now, on the contrary, thou comest not […]
» Read more
O Wisdom! Advent is drawing to its close, and it’s time again for our annual look at the O Antiphons. These antiphons are part of the prayers at the liturgical hour of Vespers (evening prayer) for the 17th through the 23rd of December – the 24th is of course the Christmas Vigil itself. They are ancient prayers, possibly dating back […]
» Read more
Last year about this time, our parish of Holy Rosary celebrated a Rorate Mass in the Ordinary Form. And what, pray tell, is a Rorate Mass? The name comes from the opening words of the Entrance Antiphon, Rorate cæli desuper, Latin for “Drop down dew, ye heavens”. The Rorate Mass is a Solemn Votive Mass in honor of the Blessed […]
» Read more
Advent begins with tonight’s vespers, and tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent. Behold, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, and His glory fills all the earth. (Magnificat Antiphon for I Vespers on the First Sunday of Advent, Monastic Diurnal) Not sure exactly what Advent is? Here’s a two-minute snapshot. Meanwhile, I’m doing my annual fumbling to remember […]
» Read more
This Advent, as in past years, our parish of Holy Rosary in Tacoma will be chanting Vespers on Sunday evenings. Because of the damage to our beautiful church, this year we’re celebrating Vespers the school auditorium. I know, I know, the poster says the chapel, but we decided at the last moment that the chapel perhaps wouldn’t hold everybody. The […]
» Read more
Appropriate to today – the Feast of All Souls of the Benedictine Order – we once again have the Dies Iræ, the traditional sequence for Requiem Masses and the Masses of All Souls. Today we pray for the souls of all Benedictine monks, nuns, sisters, and oblates in purgatory. Most probably written by Servant of God Thomas of Celano near […]
» Read more
Can we talk about Gregorian chant? Because All Souls Day – coming up on November 2nd – has some doozies. I confess that I was a fan of chant long before I was a Catholic. In part, God used the beauty of this kind of music to draw me to Him. Specific chants are prescribed for each Mass in both […]
» Read more
Saint Luke is my kind of writer. Luke the historian and Luke the lyrical poet are both in evidence in his New Testament writings, his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He freely admits that he never met Christ in the flesh, that he was not a witness to the events he describes in his Gospel. Like any good […]
» Read more
Do you pray to your Guardian Angel? Do you ask them for advice or help? Why not? The Church teaches that we all receive a guardian angel at birth, an angel assigned to guide and protect us, to watch over us. As Francine and I embark on our pilgrimage today, we will certainly be asking their help. As it says […]
» Read more
Whither is thy Beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? Whither is thy Beloved turned aside, and we will seek Him with thee? We begin with the first antiphon of Lauds for today’s feast of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Monastic Diurnal. The Blessed Virgin Mary is sometimes called Our Lady of Sorrows – […]
» Read more
So saith today’s saint, the incomparable Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347–407). He was, of course, himself a bishop. It seems that this pithy quote is a popularization of the full (attributed) quote, where the saint is talking about the relatively few in number who will be saved and the bad shepherds who are responsible: The road to Hell is paved […]
» Read more