The Novena to Saint Joseph
There are Catholics, belonging to a certain theological “caste”, who sniff condescendingly at novenas and other expressions of popular devotion. They forget, perhaps, the words...
Benedict XVI: God Has A Face
In a questions–and answers–session with the clergy of Rome on February 22, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI returned to what had already become a leitmotif of...
Rosary With the Holy Father
Tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI will lead university students and young people from all over Europe in praying the Holy...
Three Connecticut Natives and Saint Francesca Romana
The Monastery of Tor De’ Specchi of the Benedictine Oblates of Saint Francesca Romana is open to the public but one day a year on...
Io vado in paradiso
I must have been in fourth grade when, thanks to Sister Mary Clara’s school library, I discovered The Life of Saint Dominic Savio by Saint...
Thursday: A Weekly Festival of Corpus Domini
Every Thursday in our choir chapel (located on the second floor of the monastery and just behind the organ chamber of the Basilica) we have...
Cistercian Martyrs of England
I was deeply moved when the martyrology for today, March 8th, was read in Chapter. Hearing the names of these English Cistercian martyrs read out...
Ecce ascendimus Ierosolymam
Second Wednesday of Lent Jeremiah 18: 18-20 Psalm 30: 4-5, 13, 14-15 Matthew 20: 17-28 The Sorrowful Passion of the Lord “Behold, we are going...
Condemned
Monday of the Second Week of Lent Daniel 9:4b-10 Psalm 78: 8, 9, 11 & 13 Luke 6:36-38 Sin’s Slimy Trail Last Friday the Gospel...
Vultum Tuum, Domine, Requiram
The Second Sunday of Lent The Transfiguration of the Lord Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Psalm 26: 1, 7-9, 13-14 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 9:28-36 The Transfigured Face...
Convertens Animas
Saturday of the First Week of Lent Entrance Antiphon The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful,...
Please Join Me in Prayer
I received two urgent requests for intercessory prayer today: From Massachusetts, Father Jim O’Driscoll asks for prayer for his sister–in–law Emily suffering from cancer. Her...
If You Would Know His Heart, Seek His Face
Just as one learns what is in the heart of one’s dearest friend by looking at his face, just as a wife can know what...
At the End of These My Twisting Paths
Didyme wrote this prayer. I took the liberty of translating it from the French. It is every sinner’s psalm. The last two lines are extraordinary....
Sackcloth and Gladness
Wednesday of the First Week of Lent Jonah 3: 1-10 Psalm 50: 3-4, 12-13, 18-19 (R. 19b) Luke 11:29-32 Nineveh Nineveh is in the news....
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata died on February 27, 1862 at twenty-four years of age. Pope Benedict XV canonized him on May 13, 1920. A...
Draw Me to Thy Open Side
In response to the Holy Father’s invitation to contemplate the wounded Side of Christ, I offer my own translation of a prayer “Alla Piaga Del...
Ninth Day of the Novena
Yesterday in his Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI returned to the subject of his Lenten message: the contemplation of the Sacred Side of Jesus, pierced...
Eighth Day of the Novena
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata, even from his place in glory, makes friends easily. Like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy...
Seventh Day of the Novena
The Merciful Christ wants us for Himself. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32). And should anyone out...