This Least of Rules Written for Beginners

19 February 2012
Whoever, therefore, thou art that hasteneth to thy heavenly country, fulfil by the help of Christ this least of Rules which we have written for...

That No One May Be Troubled or Grieved

18 February 2012
This painting of Saint Francesca Romana dates from the 17th century, and is the work of Giovanni Antonio Galli, called lo Spadarino. Wives and Mothers...

All the Hard and Rugged Ways

13 February 2012
This is the first part of the conference I gave yesterday, on Sexagesima Sunday, at the clothing of nine Novice Oblates in the Benedictine scapular....

Newly Received Oblate Novices

13 February 2012
Sexagesima Sunday, 12 January 2012 Newly received Novice Oblates are (left to right): Katie Kane, received as Sister Columba (Blessed Abbot Columba Marmion); Alexander Carroll,...

Sufficit tibi gratia mea

12 February 2012
Sexagesima Sunday 12 February 2012 The Introit Today’s Mass opens with a great cry asking God to wake up. The prayer is one of a...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (VI)

9 February 2012
On this day before the feast of Saint Scholastica, I thought it appropriate to post this detail of an altarpiece painting of Saint Scholastica in...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (V)

8 February 2012
My very dear Novice Oblate, The Rule Is Supple I am taking a few moments out of a very busy day to write something about...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (IV)

6 February 2012
This fresco in Monte Oliveto Maggiore depicts a youthful Saint Benedict receiving the monastic habit from the monk Romanus. My very dear Novice Oblate, Questions...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (III)

6 February 2012
Here, in a fresco at Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi depicts Saint Benedict dining with his monks. I am fond of this particular fresco...

Second Letter to Wilfrid on Prayer

3 February 2012
My dear Wilfrid, Discouragement: the Worst Enemy First of all, thank you for being honest with me about your ongoing difficulties in quiet prayer. You...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (II)

31 January 2012
My dear daughter in Christ, Praying at Home Recently, you asked me how you, as wife and mother, with children to look after from morning...

Letter to a Novice Oblate (I)

25 January 2012
This is the first of a series of letters that I will be writing to the Oblates of the Monastery of Our Lady of the...

Conversion: Saint Paul’s and Ours

25 January 2012
Image: A detail from the incomparable Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saint Paul. A Divine Inbreaking For Benedictines who make a vow of conversion — conversatio morum...

Reception of Oblate Novices

15 January 2012
Today, on the Second Sunday after Epiphany, and the feast of Saints Maurus and Placid, I received three men and four women into the year...

First Letter to Wilfrid on Prayer

14 January 2012
My dear Wilfrid, You were trusting enough, and humble enough to share with me something of the difficulties you experience in the prayer of adoration....

God’s bounty toward us has been multiplied

11 January 2012
The Lectionary used at Matins is that edited by Stephen Mark Holmes for Pluscarden Abbey. Today’s readings are especially lovely. The responsories are proper to...

Saint Paul, the First Hermit

10 January 2012
Planted in the House of the Lord Today, in our Benedictine calendar, we commemorate Saint Paul the First Hermit (+343). The Introit of the Mass,...

The Triumph of Grace

8 January 2012
A few years ago, while in France I read a biography of Dom Vital Léhodey, entitled Frère Vital, ou le triomphe de la grâce, written...

Times of Holy Mass

4 January 2012
Dear friends, On Friday, 6 January 2012, Feast of the Epiphany, Holy Mass at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle will be at...