Old age and infirmity have advantages
Saint Ambrose tells us that we have to humble ourselves before God, confessing that wickedness comes not from without but from within ourselves. He is,...
And of his fulness we all have received
Today, Saint Gregory Nazianzen speaks to us of the great remedy of the Incarnation. It is in the adorable mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist...
Christ is the Light and the Day
Saint Cyprian tells us that the light of Christ produces humility in a soul. The more a soul is exposed to the radiance that shines...
Where thy kiss is, there is thy heart also
The liturgical kiss is no mere token. It is not a pious convention. It is, rather, a binding contract and a declaration, at once, of...
A house of God built of living stones
From the Commentary on the Gospel of John by Origen, Priest “But he spoke of the temple of his body.” When, therefore, Christ was raised...
Audiens, orans, pariens, offerens
Marialis Cultus Among the teachings of Blessed Pope Paul VI, the Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis Cultus (2 February 1974), is remarkable for its contribution to a...
Saint Chrysostom on the Maccabees
From the Treatise on Psalm 43 by St John Chrysostom, Bishop & Doctor “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told...
Man has been made the friend of God
From the Exhortation to the Heathen by St Clement of Alexandria, Priest It will not, it will not be pleasing to God Himself if we...
Into the Garden of the Rosary
Telling One’s Beads Over Saint Luke’s Gospel I have always thought the Rosary a particularly Lukan prayer. So many of the mysteries are drawn from...
Pontifex Futurorum Bonorum
The Crucifix of San Gimignano (Benedetto da Maiano,1442-1497) And although I am about to withdraw, I remain close to all of you in prayer, and...
Tossed by waves yet not submerged
Our incomparable Saint John Chrysostom spoke to us at Matins this morning. To listen to the Fathers is to begin to see things from the...
À l’école du Père Vayssière
A Mystic of the Rosary I return, from time to time, to a couple of recent publications on a saintly Dominican, a true mystic of...
The Boy who Saw the Mother of God
“How beautiful God is, how beautiful! But He is sad because of the sins of men. I want to console Him, I want to suffer...
To seek what is human, to give what is divine
The physician who does not suffer infirmities, knows not how to cure infirmities. This was the lesson before the Holy Gospel at Matins this morning....
Prayer of Saint Birgitta
I have long taken comfort in this prayer of Saint Birgitta of Sweden, whose feast we keep today. O Lord, make haste and illumine the...
Blessed Abbot Marmion on the Rosary
Blessed Abbot Marmion chose Rosary Sunday for his reception of the Abbatial Blessing in 1909, and commemorated this event each year with a procession in...
A prayer that revives the soul
Disarmingly Simple The Rosary is a disarmingly simple prayer. The power of the Rosary is completely disproportionate to the effort required to pray it well....
Healing the deepest wounds and traumas
Praying in the Balkans Last year, a dear friend of mine who is an Orthodox Christian — husband, father, and physician serving in the U.S....
Diabólica vitáre contágia
Da, quaesumus, Dómine, pópulo tuo diabólica vitáre contágia: et te solum Deum pura mente sectári. Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thy people may...
Dixit Dominus Domino meo
The Lord said to my Lord Psalm 109 figures prominently in today’s Holy Mass and Divine Office. At Mass, we receive Psalm 109 from the...