Christmas at Silverstream
Merry Christmas The Christmas season is like mountains that then becomes foothills before becoming a plain. The mountains are the 20 days of Christmas from...
The Name by Which We Are Saved
Homily for 5 January 2025 Most Holy Name of Jesus Non est in alio aliquo salus, nec enim aliud nomen est sub caelo datum hominibus,...
The Cast Off Christmas Tree — A Christmas-Lenten Children’s Book
Saints throughout history — like St Francis and St Thérèse — have never ceased marveling with amazement and awe at the Littleness of God. We...
The Name of Jesus Makes a Contemplative Man
Richard Rolle My favourite representative of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus is the delightfully eccentric and utterly incandescent Richard Rolle, a mystic of...
The Passion of the Infant Christ
The Child in Egypt The name Egypt occurs three times in today’s gospel. “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt” (Mt...
Wreathe the Door of Thy Heart
December 26 Saint Stephen the Protomartyr The painting is by Blessed Fra Angelico (1400-1455). Blessed Fra Angelico’s paintings are theological; they are a holy preaching...
The grace of the mystery is not past
Mother Mectilde de Bar (1614-1698) gave this Chapter conference on 17 December 1671. I share it for those who may be looking for a text...
And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day
The Burning Babe By Saint Robert Southwell, SJ As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow, Surpris’d I was with sudden heat...
One must burn with love
In her conference for the Vigil of Christmas 1694, Mother Mectilde de Bar emphasizes that the Incarnation is God’s gratuitous expression of love for each...
Pax vera descendit
This day is the true peace come down unto us from heaven. * This day throughout the whole world the skies drop down sweetness. V....
For All of Us There Exists a Path to Bethlehem
The homilies of Pope Benedict XVI cannot be consigned to some dark archive. They remain unforgettable. Pope Benedict XVI preached simply and with serenity. His...
Thy Name and Thy Countenance
O God, Who didst constitute Thine only-begotten Son the Savior of Mankind, and didst bid Him to be called Jesus: mercifully grant, that we who...
Like a fragrance filling the house
The Presence of Mary The days between Christmas and Epiphany are a continuous celebration: the festival of the Advent of God among us. There is,...
The Very Little One
This morning’s Second Reading at Vigils was from the wonderful Christmas Sermons of Blessed Guerric of Igny (+1157), one of the Four Evangelists of the...
With Saint John: into the love of things invisible
Saint John by Sir Ninian Comper, Lady Chapel of Downside Abbey Church. Thanks to the ever gracious Father Lawrence, O.P. for the use of his...
To the Infant Christ
Over the centuries, souls have been drawn irresistibly to the mystery of the Infant Christ. Among these was the great Pierre Cardinal de Bérulle, the...
And in the mouth a honey zest
Of all the English translations of Jesu, Dulcis Memoria that I have read and prayed, the one done by Gerard Manley Hopkins remains my favourite....
Radiant Beams from Thy Holy Face
This painting by Bernardino Luini (1480–1532) shows Saint Katherine of Alexandria and Saint Barbara, Virgin Martyrs, in the company of the Infant Christ and His...
The Mystery of Suffering Innocence
The Child in Egypt The name Egypt occurs three times in today’s Gospel. “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt” (Mt...
The grace of God our Saviour hath appeared
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Mass During the Night The Nocturnal Journey It is true. “The people who walked in darkness have seen...