He Who Prays Learns Hope
A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can...
Spes Nostra, Salve!
The Holy Father’s Encyclical Spe Salvi ends in a splendid prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Spes Nostra, Our Hope. One of the high points...
Où donc est ta demeure?
A number of years ago, I composed music for a French Office hymn for the feast of Saint Andrew. It was a feastday gift for...
All Saints Day Homily
I took this photo of the sacred relics of the saints exposed in the monastery chapel after Second Vespers of All Saints. At Holy Mass...
November: Praying For the Holy Souls
It must have been forty years ago — or more — that I opened the Latin-English missal published by the Abbey of Saint-André-de Bruges and...
The Holy Spirit will teach you
[A note came from Fr. Mark in France today; he hasn’t been able to post to the blog, but he did send this homily which...
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
12 September Feast of the Holy Name of Mary Think of Mary, call upon Mary. Collect Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that to all...
A Little Bit of Heaven Present on Earth
Monday of the Twenty-Third Week of the Year I Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Good Counsel Colossians 1:24–2:3 Psalm 61:5-6, (R. 7a)...
The Earlier Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary
For some years now, especially around the Marian feasts of September 8th, September 12th, November 21st, and December 8th, I have prayed my rosary while...
God Shows Us His Face and Opens to Us His Heart
Rather than preach my own homily this morning, I read the homily given by the Holy Father today at Mariazell. When the Successor of Saint...
Imago Dei Invisibilis
Twenty-Second Friday of the Year I Colossians 1:15-20 Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For in Him...
Iesu, Iesu, Iesu, Esto Mihi Iesus
Luke 5:1–11 The Fisherman’s Boat Today’s Gospel opens with the people “pressing upon” Jesus to hear the Word of God. Eagerness to hear the Word...
Gratia agentes Deo Patri
Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week of the Year I Colossians 1:9-14 Psalm 97:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6 (R. 2a) Luke 5:1-11 Toward Mariazell On this eve of...
Mercy Above Every Misery
Twenty-Second Wednesday of the Year I Luke 4:38–44 Jesus in the House of Simon Jesus has just left the synagogue of Capernaum. He was teaching...
What God Expects of You in Christ Jesus
At the Monastery of the Glorious Cross, O.S.B., September 4, 5, and 6 will be marked by a triduum of Votive Masses in honour of...
The Wisest Investment of All
The Holy Father is on pilgrimage today to Loreto. My heart is on pilgrimage with him. Twenty-First Saturday of the Year I Matthew 25:14-30 The...
Father Weller’s Roman Ritual in Three Volumes
When I was a lad in New Haven, Connecticut, I had the privilege of knowing Father Philip T. Weller. He spent a year or two...
Twentieth Century Martyrs
One of the books on my summer reading list was The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, A Comprehensive World History, by Robert Royal. George...
Weary With Holding In
I offered the Sunday Vigil Mass in a suburban parish last Saturday in order to help out a friend and brother priest. Father is very...
Saint Monica, Mother of Saint Augustine
Sirach 26:1-4, 13-16 Psalm 130: 1bcde, 2, 3 Luke 7: 11-17 Walking in the Light of His Face Today we see Jesus on his way...