Rise and Live
So wearied with long journeying, and never didst thou cry, Enough; still obstinate, confess thy need thou wouldst not. Alas, what anxious fears were these,...
Therefore They Shall Be Holy
The Novena Revisited I thought it might be helpful to “revisit” the Novena Prayer that some of us have been saying for the past nine...
The Indignities Committed Against Thee
This morning I offered the Votive Mass for the Remission of Sins in reparation for the grievous outrages committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament. It...
Ego autem sum puer parvus
Ask What Thou Wilt “The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what thou wilt that I should give...
Humanae Vitae, 40 Years Ago Today
I remember well the promulgation of Humanae Vitae on July 25, 1968. Subsequent history has demonstrated that Pope Paul VI spoke “with a special light...
Reparation
Answer Me Tell me, my people, what I have done, that thou shouldst be a-weary of me? Answer me. Was it ill done, to rescue...
Prayer Ever on Your Lips
I first read the life of the heroic Father Willie Doyle, S.J. by Alfred O’Rahilly forty years ago. It was the summer of 1968, and...
All Things New and Better
Mary Coredemptrix I thrilled to the passage from Saint Bernard that I read this morning at Matins of the Saturday Office of the Blessed Virgin...
Turn On Us Thy Healing Face
Two strophes from this morning’s hymn at Lauds seemed to come to life as I sang them in the sunlight of this new Day of...
Nothing Else than the Grace of God
Reading Saint Paul This morning in my lectio continua of Saint Paul, I read Romans 7:14-25. I’m using the splendid translation of Monsignor Ronald A....
Nihil Amori Christi Praeponere
Saints Benedict and Paul This Solemnity of Our Father Saint Benedict, falling in the Pauline Year, invites us — I want to say, compels us...
For the Pauline Year
I celebrated the beautiful Votive Mass of Saint Paul this morning. One of my resolutions for the Pauline Year is to offer the Votive Mass...
Pope Benedict XVI to Priests
This particular teaching of the Holy Father went straight to my heart. It is, I think, a confirmation of the service I am called to...
Between My Bed and the Wall: Saint Paul
But do thou continue in the things that thou hast learned and that have been entrusted to thee, knowing of whom thou hast learned them....
Dominus meus et Deus meus
Where deep the spear had pierced, there Thomas searched thy side, Whence for the nations’ health, poured forth the healing tide; By this and each...
Feast of the Most Precious Blood
The first time I saw Bernini’s little known depiction of the Blood of Christ, I was completely smitten by it. The Eternal Father contemplates the...
After First Vespers of Midsummer Day
Oh, the joy of First Vespers of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist: a glorious set of antiphons and (in the monastic Office) an...
The Struggle of Prayer
Relinquishing Control What does it mean to pray for someone or something? If I pray to obtain control over someone or something, I am wasting...
Pro Affligentibus Nos
Commanded from the Heart “I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). “Bless those who curse you,...
In the Light of Today’s Gospel
“But I tell you, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and insult you.” (Matthew 5:44) Prayer...