Behold, I am here
3 Jan. 4 May. 3 Sept. And the Lord, seeking His own workman in the multitude of the people to whom He thus crieth out,...
Lollygaggers Need Not Apply
Prologue of Our Most Holy Father Benedict to His Rule 2 Jan. 3 May. 2 Sept. Let us then at length arise, since the Scripture...
Beginning Afresh
Benedictines Always Beginning Again We began today, once again, the reading of the Holy Rule from the beginning. In Benedictine life, we are always beginning...
Priests: Ministers of the Sun
On this feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, here is a particularly poignant passage from The Dialogue. The image is Giovanni da Paola’s Saint Catherine...
The Body of the Priest and the Body of Christ
In the following passage from The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena with the Eternal Father, God the Father addresses the clergy wallowing in sin....
Catherine in My Life
Images Today’s feast of Saint Catherine brings to mind how she has moved about in my life at various times. Having grown up in a...
To prove the world wrong
The Gift Above All Gifts Already today, the sacred liturgy begins to prepare our souls for the Gift above all gifts: the outpouring of the...
I Will Never Be Able to Thank Enough
A Little Soul Blessed Maria Gabriella was “a little soul.” She has affinities with Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face,...
Mio Dio, la tua gloria!
Ut Unum Sint Although the Roman Martyrology notes the day of her death on April 23, 1939, the Cistercian and Trappist calendars commemorate Blessed Maria...
Your distress shall be turned into joy
The Discourse in the Cenacle So profound, so unsearchable, so full of mystery is the discourse of Our Lord in the Cenacle on the night...
Saint Juliana of Mont Cornillon
In celebration of the feast of Saint Juliana of Mont Cornillon, it is fitting to re–read Pope Benedict’s discourse (General Audience of Wednesday, 17th November...
Thy mercy dost compass me about
Nicholas and Benjamin were welcomed as postulants today, Divine Mercy Sunday. Quasimodo Sunday: The Feast of Divine Mercy In the early Church, the newly-baptized would...
The Trust I Have In Your Mercy
On the occasion of the visit of the relics of Saint Claude La Colombière to Ireland in 2006, Father Bernard McGuckian, S.J. prepared some remarkable...
Miracle of the Sacred Thorn
Italian News services have just announced that once again, at 16:10 (Italian time) the miracle of the Sacra Spina has occurred. When Good Friday coincides...
Ave — Consummatum est
Good Friday falls this year on the feast of the The Annunciation of the Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The two mysteries intersect: the...
The astonishing humility of God
As for us, it is fitting that we should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is health and life and resurrection...
The Birthday of the Chalice
Maundy Thursday We entered singing: “For us, no boasting” (Gal 6:14). No boasting, that is, of anything that is ours. For who am I and...
Saint Francesca of Rome
This painting, attributed to Antonio da Viterbo the Elder (1450-1516), depicts Saint Francesca being clothed by the Blessed Virgin in the great white veil that,...
By your word revive me
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent John 8:1-11 Excessive Mercy Today’s Gospel almost did not make it into the canon of the Scriptures; it...
Now begin the mysteries
Saint Augustine preached this morning at Matins. The eloquence, the rhythm, the depth of his homily stir one to the depths of the soul. With...