Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Let’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Over the years, I’ve heard numerous homilies and essays that mix this day up with yesterday, All Saints’ Day. As […]
» Read moreHappy Feast of All Saints! This is the day where we celebrate all the saints, known and unknown: the Church Triumphant. This day has been a feast since the sixth or seventh century, and it was fixed on November 1 in the Roman calendar by Pope Gregory III in the mid 8th century. Yesterday, of course, was the vigil or […]
» Read moreThis is one in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. The new Mass translation is coming! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation and work, the new English translation is finally ready. At every Mass, the priest repeats the words […]
» Read moreProfessor Tolkien’s works embody his deep and abiding Catholic faith and worldview. Today in the calendar of Middle Earth, it is Durin’s Day. Durin J.R.R. Tolkien The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No words were laid on stream or stone, … When Durin woke and walked along. He named the nameless […]
» Read moreEnter the KING WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day! KING. What’s he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark’d to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater […]
» Read moreThis is the latest installment in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. I will publish the others as they they appear. The new Mass translation is coming in just a few weeks! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation […]
» Read moreThis is this past Sunday’s first reading, which I read at Mass, from the 45th Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp, subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred: For the sake of […]
» Read moreThis is the latest installment in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. I will publish the others as they they appear. The new Mass translation is coming on November 27! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation and work, […]
» Read moreThe Liturgy of the Hours runs through the psalms in a four-week cycle. Every fourth Wednesday at the hour of Vigils (a.k.a. Matins, or the Office of Readings) we pray Psalm 103. There’s one stanza that never fails to give me pause. As for man, his days are like grass; he flowers like the flower of the field; the wind […]
» Read moreThis past Sunday, Reverend Eugene Delmore SJ was installed as the fifth pastor of our little parish church of Saint Rita of Cascia in Tacoma. The Most Reverend Eusebio Elizondo MSpS, Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle, was the principal Celebrant. He was joined at the altar by Fr Delmore and his Jesuit Superior, Reverend John Fuchs SJ. It was my second […]
» Read moreThis is the latest installment in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. I will publish the others as they they appear. The new Mass translation is coming in Advent! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation and work, the […]
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Back in high school, a group of us did an extensive report on the events of this day for my freshman history class. We had flip chart maps, reenactments, and gave three separate papers. For on this day in 1571, the naval forces of a Holy League, consisting of several maritime Catholic countries, met the main Ottoman fleet at the […]
» Read moreBy an extraordinary coincidence, today is the feast day of both the saint who gave the Divine Mercy devotion to the world, and of one of the disciples of Saint Benedict. Interestingly, neither of these feasts are on the universal calendar. Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905 – 1938) was a Polish nun who received a vision of Christ as the […]
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Nearly everybody knows about Saint Francis. He’s the plaster birdbath guy, right? The saint who hung around with fuzzy pastel animals. Well, sort of. “Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.” (Saint Francis of Assisi) I very nearly took “Francis” as my confirmation name. It might have been awkward, though, what with being engaged to Francine at the time. Reading […]
» Read moreThis is the latest installment in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. I will publish the others as they they appear. The new Mass translation is coming in Advent! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation and work, the […]
» Read moreLet me preface this by saying that I rarely remember my dreams these days, but this one ended in a most vivid and frightening fashion. I’ve recorded it here primarily for my own use. I was in a building, teeming with children. I had the impression that it was some sort of summer youth program sponsored by the owners of […]
» Read moreSaint Jerome should be the patron saint of grumpy old men. Born in the Roman province of Dalmatia in modern Slovenia, he studied in Rome starting in about the year 360. During a journey to Syria in 373, he fell ill and had a vision that caused him to devote the rest of his long life to the service of […]
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