Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
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. Saint Joan at Holy Rosary, Tacoma She was canonized in 1920, and her memorial was first […]
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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 was a thousand years after the conversion of the Empire to Christ, almost fifteen centuries after the fall of the Republic, and 2,206 years after the foundation of Rome. This event, long in […]
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In Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma – the place where I was Baptized, Confirmed, and Married – there are all sorts of Christian symbols painted on the walls. One that always set my brain to thinking looks something like this: It is, of course, a Trinitarian symbol, reminding us in a visual way that while the Father is God, and […]
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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. The venerable Saint Bede was a monk, priest, historian, and a Doctor of the Church, all while dealing with Viking attacks. I took the name Bede when I made my final oblation as a Benedictine. Saint Bede […]
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Almost three years ago, in the letter accompanying the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis asked the bishops of the world “to be vigilant in ensuring that every liturgy be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses.” Leaving aside for a moment the truism […]
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Saint Rita, whose feast is today, is sometimes known as the patron saint of lost and impossible causes. Married at a young age against her will to a terrible, abusive husband, by her prayers she gradually reformed him into a proper Christian husband. After his murder, she entered the convent. This wounded saint received the marks of Christ’s thorny wounds […]
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We read today in the Acts of the Apostles of this great day, fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus, ten days after His Ascension, 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 skya noise like […]
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Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, ‘Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?’ Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards […]
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After the suicide of Judas Iscariot, the remaining Apostles gathered to choose another to replace him. They had some criteria: Therefore, it is necessary that one of the menwho accompanied us the whole timethe Lord Jesus came and went among us,beginning from the baptism of Johnuntil the day on which he was taken up from us,become with us a witness […]
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On this day in 1917, 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 sorts of claims with […]
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Yesterday Pope Francis officially proclaimed a Jubilee Year for 2025. The theme for this year is “hope”, as spelled out in the first words (and therefore title) of the Papal Bull Spes Non Confundit: “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). And what, exactly, is a Jubilee Year? The Vatican has a rather lengthy article, which begins with this definition: In […]
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Six years ago today, the parishioners of Holy Rosary and Visitation buried our pastor, Rev. Michael Wagner. This short, two-minute video was produced by our local newspaper. Direct link to video (in case the version below isn’t working): https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article210823929.html Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. In memoria æterna erit iustus, ab auditione mala non timebit. Absolve, […]
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Viri Galilæi, quid admiramini aspicientes in cælum? Mirroring the forty days of Lent, forty days have passed since Easter. For most of the world today is the Solemnity of the Ascension. Some dioceses, particularly in the United States and including my own Archdiocese of Seattle, have elected to transfer the celebration of this great feast to the following Sunday. Of […]
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This is an excerpt from my journal, dated eleven years ago today. God’s communications with us humans are often subtle. As the Prophet Elijah discovered, the Voice of God is often to be found in the whispering wind (1 Kings 19:11-13). Sometimes, however, God reaches out and whacks us upside the head, either physically or mentally. Often times, I tell […]
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This day, May the second, looms large in my life. On this day in 2013, my beautiful bride Francine and I walked into Santiago de Compostela for the first time, at the end of our first Camino. At this point, Francine had been walking for almost two weeks, and me for more than a month. I can’t describe the joy […]
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On this day in the Year of Our Lord 373 died a great champion and defender of Catholic Orthodoxy, a saint, and a doctor of the Church. Saint Athanasius was Patriarch of Alexandria for 45 years during the time of the Arian heresy, which he opposed with every fibre of his being. The Arians held that Christ was a creature […]
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Mary’s month of May begins with a day for her husband. Today, celebrated around the world as “International Workers’ Day” is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. There’s poetry to the fact that the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin begins by putting the focus on her husband, and therefore on their family life. Imagine the Holy Family of […]
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