Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today, on the Memorial of Saint John Paul II, I am forcing myself to write. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with – no, “struggled” is too dramatic – I’ve scuffled with recurring mild depression. This will typically manifest itself as lethargy, or nearly manic episodes, or just feeling blue, or some combination or sequence of these. It’s not […]
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Often on this day, I will re-run some version of my article on the “miracle of the sun“. Feel free to follow the link and read up on that again! For today, however, I’d like to highlight Saint Edward the Confessor. He was the son of the unfortunate King Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. Being the King’s seventh son, he never […]
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On October 12, AD 40, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the Apostle Saint James near the town of Caesaraugusta in the Roman Province of Hispania, in what is now Zaragoza, Spain. He was discouraged. His mission in Hispania was largely a failure, with few converts and only a handful of ordained men to preach the Gospel here, at the […]
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Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This is the first year since 1891 that no Mass will be celebrated for this feast at what was once the parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tacoma. I’m feeling melancholy today, so I thought I’d post some photos from past celebrations of what was our patronal […]
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by G.K. Chesterton White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;For the inmost sea of all the earth is […]
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Wednesday, October 7 is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. For those of us who were once parishioners of Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma, it was our patronal feast. In years past, we could celebrate this on a Sunday – today, in fact. Altar servers for our patronal feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish (Tacoma, […]
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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 it says in scripture: There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy […]
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Saint 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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Today is the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”. Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe. In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which was marked by […]
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Francine took this video of our final Mass at Holy Rosary as a parish community. It was originally live-streamed on Facebook. Since the Holy Rosary Facebook page is now taken down, I thought it might be nice for it to live here.
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This video was made by Diana Rubio, a former parishioner of Holy Rosary and mother to two of our altar servers. All of the photos were taken over the last five or six years. See if you can find anything that says to you “unviable parish”. Diana says: After many attempts, I can finally post this video that I’ve created […]
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What kind of life could the child possibly look forward to? He was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. In these progressive days, the child very well might have been aborted after the doctor showed the mother her first detailed fetal ultrasound. Blessed Hermann of Reichenau But the child had the great fortune to be born […]
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Forty-one days ago, we learned that our parish of Holy Rosary was to be suppressed. Twenty-five days ago, we celebrated our last Confirmations as Holy Rosary ceased to be a parish in the Archdiocese of Seattle. Eleven days ago, Archbishop Etienne celebrated the final Mass for Holy Rosary parish. And then, six days ago, we received this in the mail. […]
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Saint Hildegard of Bingen is one of those medieval figures who can cause a lot of confusion to people not paying close attention. She (or, rather, a version of her with her Christianity stripped out) has been adopted by some of the New Agers as one of their own. Of course, if you strip the Christianity out of the life […]
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Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me. (Antiphon 1 of Monastic Lauds for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows) Two days ago, Archbishop Paul Etienne celebrated the final Mass of Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma. Perhaps appropriately, today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. In his blog, his excellency had this to […]
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O great work of love: death then was dead when on the Cross Life iteself had died.(Antiphon 1 of Monastic Lauds for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) At some point over the next day or so I may have some reflections on yesterday’s Mass (and unexpected procession). I’m still processing the emotions, sense of mourning, and the consolations and […]
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Today is the fourteenth anniversary of my final oblation to Saint Martin’s Abbey in Lacey. Recently, Francine and I have considered the idea of transferring our promise of stability to Mount Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, Oregon. Just another moment of uncertainty in this uncertain age. Saint Benedict. Detail from a fresco by Fra Angelico. As Oblates, we promise to […]
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