Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
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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It seems like lately, we’re doing this every year. As was announced at the Masses this weekend, Holy Rosary and Visitation Parishes in Tacoma are getting a new pastoral team. Instead of a single priest, however, we’re getting a deacon and a priest, and their roles are not what you might expect. The Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain is appointing […]
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Tomorrow is Pentecost, the great solemnity celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The Church has long celebrated this event in three ways: the solemnity of the day itself, the octave of the day, and the vigil. With the liturgical reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, all but the day itself was suppressed, a sad testament to […]
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The Reverend Michael Wagner passed to God in the early morning hours of May 2, 2018. Since then, we’ve been caught in the whirlwind of planning and work, with hardly a moment to take it all in. On the night of his death, our parishes came together to chant Solemn Vespers from the Office for the Dead. Rev. Nicholas Wichert, […]
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Were it not Sunday, today would be the (combined) feast of four great Abbots of the Benedictine Order: Saints Odo, Majolus, Odilo, and Hugh. They were all good and holy men, and during the course of their reigns over the Abbey of Cluny and its associated priories, they reformed western monasticism – indeed, it could be fairly said that together […]
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The Season of Lent comes to its end this evening, as we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. This celebration commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the source and summit of Church life. Unlike most Protestants, the Catholic and Orthodox (and others of the Apostolic Tradition) believe that God is really there, wholly present in the consecrated bread and […]
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This weekend, Holy Week begins with the Sunday of Lord’s triumphal entry into Jersusalem – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Although Good Friday is coming – the Passion and Death are coming – for the moment, this moment, joy resounds as our King arrives in His city. In most parishes throughout the world, the principal Mass is celebrated by […]
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The following is the Holy Week schedule for the parishes of Holy Rosary and Visitation in Tacoma, Washington. It’s less jam-packed than previous years, but there’s still a lot here! Wednesday Tenebræ is not to be missed. And of course, the Holy Triduum is essentially one giant liturgy (with some serious overnight breaks) that begins with the Introit of the […]
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Although it no longer appears on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. This is the day in the year 547 when Saint Benedict of Norcia died. Saint Benedict is generally considered the founder of western monasticism, and his Rule spread throughout the west as the Roman Empire […]
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Only a handful of Popes ever get named “Great”. Today on my Benedictine Ordo is the feast of one of them, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, confessor and doctor of the Church (540 – 604). Gregory had been born into an ancient and wealthy Roman family. Before he was 30 years old, he had been a Roman Senator and then […]
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If you live in the area, please join us as we celebrate Vespers every Sunday during Lent at 6:00 pm at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Tacoma.
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At my parish of Holy Rosary in Tacoma, we had a lot going on for this first weekend of Lent. Think of this as a look into the life of a parish pursuing the vision of the New Liturgical Movement during Lent. You could almost consider this a snapshot review of our parish liturgical life. Friday Although not strictly liturgical, […]
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Come join us for some of these liturgies and devotions this Lent! This Lenten Calendar is obviously in addition to our normal Mass schedule at Holy Rosary: Saturday Vigil: 5:00 PM (preceded by Adoration, Rosary, Benediction) Sunday: 12:00 PM (with asperges and Angelus) Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 7:15 AM (followed by Rosary) Friday School Mass: 9:00 AM Plus, don’t forget simple […]
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Remember that you are dust, and to 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. Let […]
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