In plateas et vicos civitatis
When I came to the Magnificat Antiphon at Vespers this evening, I made the delightful discovery of the text (with a splendid First Mode melody)...
Saint Alice the Leper
Ablaze With the Love of Christ Today’s Saint Alice of Schaerbeek, a Cistercian-Benedictine nun, was one of a constellation of holy women who in the...
One-Hundred-Nine Years Ago Today
On June 9, 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The eighty-nine year old Pontiff was prompted to...
Contra spem in spem credidit
Many years ago, as I was standing in the rain in front of the grotto at Lourdes on a cold February morning, a saintly old...
An Occasion of Grace for Priests
Called to a Vocation of Holiness “I would remind thee to fan the flame of that special grace which God kindled in thee when my...
Vultus Christi: The Face of God
That Mysterious Face This morning the Holy Father announced an exposition of the Sacred Shroud of Turn in the Spring of 2010. The Shroud will...
Saints Marcellinus and Peter
O God, Who by the glorious confession of the holy martyrs Marcellinus and Peter, dost surround and protect us, grant that we may go forward...
Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests
Collect of the Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest O God, by whom Thine only-begotten Son has been established High...
How Great the Mystery of Your Love
This image of the Sacred Heart is a detail of the painting in the apse of the Chapel of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial. I had...
Let Restless Hearts Find Rest in You
The Father’s love was shown to us In Christ our Saviour’s open Heart; Now we are drawn to share his Cross And in his Passion...
Salutations to the Eucharistic Face of Christ
In his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II drew the eyes of the Church to the Face of Christ...
The Amen For Which He Waits
Remember all the desert way through which the Lord your God has brought you: forty years of willful wandering. Remember the affliction and the testing....
Our Lady, Help of Christians and Hope of China
A Day of Prayer for the Church in China On Pentecost 2007, Pope Benedict XVI, addressed a letter to the bishops, priests, religious, and lay...
Evviva Santa Rita!
In those places where Corpus Christi will be celebrated on Sunday, May 25th, tomorrow, Thursday, May 22nd, may be kept as the feast of Saint...
A Saint on Pilgrimage
Notre-Dame-du-Laus Yesterday I read an account of Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s pilgrimage to the shrine of Notre Dame du Laus (pronounced Loh) in 1865. The...
The Meekness of Wisdom and the Power of Prayer
Seventh Monday of the Year II James 3:13-18 Mark 9:14-29 I am a little late in posting this meditation on today’s readings at Holy Mass....
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Cascades of Jubilation The Office of Lauds this morning was a torrent of undiluted praise. The Church gives us doxology upon doxology. She expresses her...
Timor Domini
Saturday: The Gift of Fear of the Lord The Gift of Fear of the Lord is the antidote to pride and the beginning of the...
Pietas
Friday: The Gift of Piety Pietas is a word wonderfully rich in meaning and full of nuances. It is notoriously difficult to translate. In the...
Scientia
Thursday: The Gift of Knowledge “How deep is the mine of God’s wisdom, of his knowledge; how inscrutable are his judgments, how undiscoverable his ways!...