Solace for the Sizzling
On the Gridiron Saint Laurence is the patron saint of those who have sizzled (or may be sizzling) on the gridiron of lust. I have...
When God shall be all our love
Today, 23rd July, is the onomastico (name day) of Brother Cassian Maria. Dear Brother Cassian, today is your first nameday under the patronage of our...
Vir Dei Benedictus
One Desire: To Please God Alone Our father Saint Benedict! Saint Gregory resumes in a single phrase our father’s luminous purity of heart: Soli Deo...
Saint Basil: Letter to a Fallen Monk
Come Back Now if any hope of salvation still remains in you, any slight recollection of God, any desire for the good things to come,...
Mio Dio, la tua gloria!
Ut Unum Sint Although the Roman Martyrology notes the day of her death on April 23, 1939, the Cistercian and Trappist calendars commemorate Blessed Maria...
Thy mercy dost compass me about
Nicholas and Benjamin were welcomed as postulants today, Divine Mercy Sunday. Quasimodo Sunday: The Feast of Divine Mercy In the early Church, the newly-baptized would...
Blessed Columba Marmion: In Die Natalis
Several years ago, on a visit to the Irish College in Rome where the ever gracious Father Bernard Healy, then a student there, I was...
St Francis de Sales & the Rule of St Benedict
Holiness Is Symphonic The symphonic quality of holiness is a glorious thing orchestrated in Christ, by the Holy Ghost, to the praise of the Father....
Cum transieris per aquas, tecum ero
When Thou Passest through the Waters Saint Maurus, together with Saint Placid, is honoured as one of the first disciples of our father Saint Benedict....
Saint Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx
A Saint Full of Sympathy for Physical and Moral Infirmities Jocelin of Furness, a contemporary of Saint Aelred, gives the following account of the saintly...
And never to despair of God’s mercy
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases....
One heavy devil
Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints Who Militated Under the Rule of Saint Benedict. One might also translate the name of the feast...
Saint Willibrord: from Ireland to The Netherlands
Missionary Monk and Archbishop Saint Willibrord, whom we remember today, was educated at the monastery of Ripon in England under the direction of Saint Wilfred....
And the beauty that the faith has generated
I have often affirmed my conviction that the true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth…are the saints and the beauty...
Our life in the light of thy countenance
The Collect of Saint Bruno is, at a first glance, astonishing in that it does not even mention his characteristic grace: solitude. One would expect...
The better part
Umbratilem My first awareness of the 1924 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XI, Umbratilem, dates from about forty–five years ago. Was it in reading Dom...
Only one thing is necessary
In the Benedictine calendar, today is the feast of: Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus of Bethany, Hosts of the Lord A Place of Refreshment for...
Never to despair of the mercy of God
Meeting the Saints How and when did Saint Benedict come into my life? He was not among the saints whom I came to know as...
Saints John and Paul, Martyrs of Rome
Friends and Martyrs of the Church at Rome Today is the memorial of Saints John and Paul, named both in the Martyrology and in the...
A silence that allows the Other to speak
Ah, I Cannot Speak At Matins today, the stammering words of the prophet Jeremias are placed in the mouth of the Saint John the Baptist:...