November: Praying for the Holy Souls
Like a Gentle Rain It must have been forty-five years ago — or more — that I opened the Latin-English missal published by the Abbey...
Le peuple immense de ceux qui T’ont cherché
Here (once again) is the homily I preached in French six years ago at the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, France. Richard Chonak’s fine translation follows....
The Lord saith: I think thoughts of peace
Christ the King Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King; it is, of course, intimately bound up with the feast of All Saints...
An Irish Bishop who died in Italy
Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy We keep the commemoration of Blessed Thaddeus Machar (McCarthy) today, and I had to admit to knowing next to nothing about the...
Beholding the glory of the Lord with open face
Yesterday afternoon at Knock I had the privilege of addressing an outstanding group of Irish priests, most of them younger men, and some with only...
Walk in the presence of God (VII:1)
CHAPTER VII. Of Humility 26 Jan. 27 May. 26 Sept. The first degree of humility, then, is that a man, always keeping the fear of...
De humilitate
CHAPTER VII. Of Humility 25 Jan. 26 May. 25 Sept. The Holy Scripture crieth out to us, brethren, saying: “Every one that exalteth himself shall...
Father Blake gets it right!
“It isn’t the priest but Christ who comes to save the world; if he is fortunate on a few occasions in his priesthood, when he...
Saint Gaetano Catanoso
The liturgical memorial of Saint Gaetano Catanoso occured on September 20th. Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 23, 2005. In the homily of the...
The Hard and Rugged Paths (LVIII:1)
Chapter LVIII. Of the Discipline of Receiving Brethren into Religion 11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec. Afterwards let him go into the Novitiate, where he...
The Cross and the Face of Christ
Here is the homily that I preached at Knock on Saturday, 14 September in the Chapel of the Apparition. Glory in the Cross “It is...
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Maria Bambina Unto us a little girl is born; unto us a daughter is given. “The Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power...
But quick–eyed Love drew nearer to me
In the Presence of Love There are souls for whom philosophical concepts are unintelligible, for whom theological words are hollow and meaningless, for whom the...
O Mother of God, obtain mercy for us
Tomorrow, using a prayer inspired by the Act of Consecration composed by Berthe Petit (1870-1943), the Bishops of Syria will make a solemn consecration of...
De profundis
Coming Out of the Depths It sometimes happens that youthful souls allured by the poisonous glamour of sin, or even souls long tormented by deeply rooted...
Sleepless in Stamullen
Last Night Last night I found myself lying awake. Not good. I was worrying about — you guessed it — finances. There are bills to...
Humiliations (LVIII:1)
Chapter LVIII. Of the Discipline of Receiving Brethren into Religion 11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec. Afterwards let him go into the Novitiate, where he...
In obedience and humiliations (LVIII:1)
Chapter LVIII. Of the Discipline of Receiving Brethren into Religion 11 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Dec. Afterwards let him go into the Novitiate, where he...
An Urgent Call from the Holy Father
Here is a Vatican translation of the Pope Francis’ address this morning, given before and after praying the midday Angelus with the faithful gathered in...
Supplica to Blessed Vladimir Ghika
Monsignor Vladimir Ghika, priest and martyr, was beatified yesterday, 31 August 2013, in Bucarest, Romania. His liturgical feast is fixed on May 16th, the date...