The gift of prayer
Saturday at Matins: From a Homily by St John Chrysostom, Bishop & Doctor What is there that God has not done for us? The world...
Liturgy, Doctrine, and Discipline: the Right Order
Speaking in Vienna this week, His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke said, “The Church’s discipline can never be other than true to her doctrine.” His...
The Jerusalem Above
Friday at Matins: From the Treatise on the City of God by St Augustine, Bishop & Doctor The divine oracles given to Abraham, Isaac, and...
Open my eyes
Today at Matins: From a Homily by Origen, Priest “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy from their own hearts.” This...
The Benedicto–lantern
This pumpkin was carved by Andrew Maich, an Army medic living in Alabama with his wife Katie and three young children. Andrew said he was...
Mine Upholder, lest I fall
From the Commentary on Psalm 143 by St Augustine, Bishop & Doctor “Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for battle, my...
What is man’s greatness?
In tomorrow’s lesson at Matins, Saint Basil the Great draws upon the wisdom of Saint Paul and makes the Apostle’s teaching his own. From a...
The Clothing of a Novice
Vestition of André Goibayer Feast of Saint Miniato and Companions, Martyrs 25 October 2014 The Three Criteria André, my very dear son, In Chapter LVIII...
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...