The Rosary of the Seven Dolours
The Ember Wednesday of Lent, with its stational Mass at the basilica of Saint Mary Major, constitutes a Lenten homage to the Mother of God....
An Act of Hope and Confidence in God
February 15th is the liturgical memorial of Saint Claude La Colombière, Priest, S.J. My God, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who...
Nothing shalt thou have to fear
At the Stational Church Originally, the forty days of Lent were counted from this Sunday. In Rome, the stational church is the basilica of Saint...
Yielding to the attraction of the saints
Every Lent I choose — or rather ask Our Lord to choose for me — a saint or saints to be my Lenten companions. From...
Now Christ, Thou Sun of righteousness,
The Lengthening Day Lent is a lovely word. It belongs to that distinguished family of old English church words. Some of them — Shrove Tuesday...
The Crown of Thorns and Mental Illness
Union with the Passion of Christ The sacred liturgy provides man with the divinely inspired means to express his need in every situation, affliction, infirmity,...
With a Book and a Heavenly Companion
In the grey light of early morning on Quinquagesima Monday, between Lauds and Prime, we assembled in the Chapter Room to listen, once again, to...
For Our Oblates . . . and Others
Saint Benedict the Practical When it comes to the observance of Lent, Saint Benedict is very practical, very concrete. He doesn’t spend a lot of...
Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus
Reparation The last century saw, here and there, like so many points of light in the Church, men and women drawn by the Holy Ghost...
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart In the Beatitudes, Jesus, the Son of Mary, gives us the key that unlocks for us the mystery of...
Love and Confidence in the Heart of Mary
For today’s feast of the Most Pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I offer this translation of a text of Mother Mectilde de Bar....
Lord, that I may see
Gospel: Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which...
Trials, Humiliation, and Reparation
Humiliation Mother Mectilde de Bar was fond of repeating to her daughters that, “a victim of the Holy Sacrament [that is, one entirely offered and...
Litany of Reparation
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us....
Into the Ark of Salvation
Sexagesima Three figures surround the Divine Sower of the Seed on Sexagesima Sunday. The first is Noe, the second the immaculate Mother of God, and...
Sexagesima Sunday
Attend to the Antiphons If you would enter deeply into the liturgy of any given Sunday, attend closely to the antiphons. The Magnificat Antiphon at...
Martyrs Close to Home
The photograph shows statues of the martyrs Blessed Margaret Ball and Blessed Francis Taylor at Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. We keep their feast today....
Blessed Columba Marmion: In Die Natalis
Several years ago, on a visit to the Irish College in Rome where the ever gracious Father Bernard Healy, then a student there, I was...
In the Hand of His Providence
Blind and Blinkered With a touching simplicity Our Lord says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten...
St Francis de Sales & the Rule of St Benedict
Holiness Is Symphonic The symphonic quality of holiness is a glorious thing orchestrated in Christ, by the Holy Ghost, to the praise of the Father....