The Saints Understand One Another
Father Willie Doyle and Mother Mectilde de Bar belonged to different religious Orders, different cultures, and different moments in history. Their experience of prayer, nonetheless,...
Amen
I referred to this text of Mother Mectilde de Bar in yesterday’s homily. It is taken from Le véritable esprit [The True Spirit], the book...
The Man Enchanted With Christ
A Saint With Holy Siblings Saint Gregory of Nyssa is often overshadowed by his illustrious brother Saint Basil the Great and his remarkable sister Saint...
Mary is the Mother of Our Peace
In reading and meditating the Holy Father’s homily for January 1st, I was moved to discover that he spoke so eloquently and so simply of...
O Thou, Innocent Lamb of God
Over the centuries, souls have been drawn irresistibly to the mystery of the Infant Christ. Among these was the great Pierre Cardinal de Bérulle, the...
The Innocence of Childhood Restored
For the Feast of the Holy Innocents Those for whom I wrote and prayed this prayer today, on the feast of the Holy Innocents, will...
Thank You to Friends Unknown
But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy...
Domine Jesu, suscipe spiritum meum
The Prayer of Saint Stephen Saint Stephen had so patterned his life after that of our Lord Jesus Christ — Witness, Priest and Servant —...
Thy glory so hidden, and Thy love so despised
Among the mectildian-benedictine practices that our monastery has come to cherish is that of the Amende honorable (Act of Honourable Amendment): a prayer of adoration...
Transeamus Usque Bethleem
Monastery of Decani, Fresco of the Nativity of Our Lord MIDNIGHT MASS SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI...
The Gatehouse is Open!
Open for Business After months of work, The Gatehouse, our monastery’s bookshop is open for business! The environment is warm and inviting. We kept the...
Massacre of the Innocents
A Hellish Crime The massacre of innocent children and of others ten days before Christmas, in my own home state of Connecticut, is evidence enough...
Adore te devote, latens Deitas
O hidden God, I adore Thee. O silent God, I adore Thee. O utterly humble God, I adore Thee. O ineffably obedient God, I adore...
Beyond Compare More Glorious than the Seraphim
At the end of Holy Mass today, we renewed the devotional election of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as Abbess and Queen of our monastery, a...
From the Blight of Sin to the Bliss of Grace
Back to Creation’s Dawn The mystery we celebrate on the feast of the Immaculate Conception takes us back to creation’s dawn, to a moment of...
Advent Vespers: Conditor Alme Siderum
The Orbit Determined By Christ At the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ the new king, astrology came to an...
In My Gallery of Heavenly Heroes
December 1st is the dies natalis of four holy priests who figure in my personal gallery of heavenly heroes. Saint Ralph Sherwin, Priest and Martyr,...
The Humility of Taking Small Steps
From this morning’s General Audience: Encountering the Face of God In Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the face of God, descended from Heaven to immerse...
Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction
The painting by Albrecht Dürer depicts the afflicted Job and his wife. Affliction The verb to afflict derives from the Latin affligere, meaning to cast...
O mon Dieu, Trinité que j’adore . . .
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity + 9 November 1906 Blessed Elizabeth’s Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity, written by the young Carmelite on 21 November...