Happy Birthday, Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Cast into the furnace of love, the Heart of Jesus, all your anxieties, your trials, your fears, so that He may burn them away. Mother...
Damien, A Priest Adorer
I find my consolation in the one and only companion who will never leave me, that is, our Divine Saviour in the Holy Eucharist. ....
For Those Whose Lives Have Not Turned Out As They Planned
Memorial of Blessed Damien of Molokai, Priest When Providence Writes One’s Life Blessed Damien is, I think, a very suitable patron for those who lives...
De Maria Numquam Satis
Blessed Bartolo Longo wrote: “What is my vocation? To write about Mary, to have Mary praised, to have Mary loved.” At 11:55 this morning I...
Happy Anniversary, Monsignor!
Thirty–Seven Years of Mass I am dedicating this special entry to my friend Monsignor Arthur Burton Calkins on the 37th anniversary of his ordination to...
And I Will Manifest Myself to Him
Fifth Monday of Paschaltide Acts 14:5–18 Psalm 113B:1–2, 3–4, 15–16 (R.1ab) John 14:21–26 Grateful to Saint Jude We are grateful to the Apostle Saint Jude...
The Holy Martyrs of England and Wales
Memorial of the English and Welsh Martyrs On May 4th in 1535 three Carthusian monks were put to death at Tyburn, the first of many...
Saint Joseph and the Eternal Father
I find this painting of Saint Joseph and the Most Holy Trinity (Antoni Guerra, 1699) extraordinary. The Eternal Father is pointing to Saint Joseph, indicating...
Saint Pius V
I walked to Santa Maria Maggiore this afternoon to pray before the tomb of Pope Saint Pius V. Around the tomb were burning candles and...
What will tomorrow bring?
Then again, there is also May 5th . . . O God, who raised up Pope Saint Pius V within Thy Church to uphold the...
The Secret of Mary
Tomorrow is the liturgical memorial of Saint Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort. His writings have been a lamp unto my feet and a fire in my...
Blessed Maria Rafael Arnáiz Barón
A Gifted Boy Today is also the memorial of Blessed Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911- 1938), a Trappist Cistercian Oblate of the Abbey of San Isidoro...
Saint Mark
Saint Mark, Evangelist 1 Peter 5: 5b-14 Psalm 88: 2-3, 6-7, 16-17 Mark 16: 15-20 Mark and Peter Tradition calls Saint Mark the interpreter of...
No Peace Without Chastity
A Holy Abbess The Benedictine–Cistercian calendar commemorates today Saint Franca of Piacenza, virgin (1173–1218). Franca was an intrepid monastic reformer. After enduring sufferings and persecutions...
“I will never be able to thank enough”
Blessed Maria Gabriella was “a little soul.” She has affinities with Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Blessed Elizabeth of...
Blessed Maria Gabriella dell’Unità
An Offering to the Father Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagghedu, a Cistercian nun of Grottaferrata in Italy, died on April 23rd in 1939. Pope John Paul...
Holy Mass at the Tomb of Saint Francis
The high point of my pilgrimage to Assisi with Leonard and Mark was the privilege of celebrating Holy Mass at the tomb of Saint Francis...
Saint Benedict–Joseph Labre
“I have forsaken my home, I have cast off mine inheritance: I am poor and needy, but the Lord hath taken me up” (Jer 12:7)....
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor
Here at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, I have the privilege of living just a few steps away from the Chapel of the Sacred Relics where...
O Blessed Wound!
On the occasion of the Holy Father’s 80th birthday and in response to his invitation to contemplate the wounded Side of Christ, I offer again...