Grant Such Holiness to Your Priests
The painting is by the so-called Master of the Osservanza and dates from around 1440. Notice the lovely chasuble of the priest and the noble...
Saint Ephrem on the Mystic Names of Mary
It is not surprising that Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God, has inspired countless litanies and akathists. The mystery of Mary, or what Saint...
Adorers of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus
A Thursday of Adoration and Reparation For the very first time, our embryonic monastery observed the Thursday of Adoration and Reparation for Priests. Being three,...
Preparations
Today will be filled with the final preparations for the arrival of Diego and CJ tomorrow, and Brendan on the 12th. Thanks to the amazing...
I Will Have Mercy Upon Whom I Have Mercy
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska One might say that Saint Maria Faustina belongs to the spiritual family of the Little Thérèse whom we remembered last Sunday,...
Into the Secret Harbor
An Endorsement Once again, I want to endorse Secret Harbor — Portus Secretioris, a blog that is, quite simply, the fruit of assiduous lectio divina...
With a good courage and a willing mind
Praying for my Postulants As I chanted the responsories at Matins in the pre-dawn darkness, it became clear that they, in some way, were addressed...
Mass of the Holy Guardian Angels
Lauren Ford’s “Guardian Angel” depicts a little girl walking through the Connecticut woods that I so love, on what appears to be a late October...
Beginning with Mary
Novena to Our Lady of the Rosary and of the Cenacle September 29 to October 7, 2009 I invite the kind readers of Vultus Christi...
Saints Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs
Tomorrow, the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, is Lisa Hoffer’s 50th birthday. Born under the protection of the Holy Physicians, Lisa pursues their vocation....
Quaerite faciem eius semper
Seek His Face Evermore My plan was to write a little commentary on the splendid liturgical texts of this Ember Friday, but, as so often...
Love of Truth and the Constant Thirst for God
Ember Wednesday in September There are so many things that I would want to write about! Yesterday, for example, was the first of the September...
Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Pio
It is extremely noteworthy and significant that the Holy Father chose to spend the first Sunday of The Year of the Priest in pilgrimage to...
Mass of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Priest
There is a verse in the book of Ezra that is, I think, a wonderful expression of the life and mission of Saint Pio of...
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
In this morning’s General Audience, our Holy Father presented yet another shining monastic figure as a model of holiness for the whole Church. Those who...
The Comfort of the Beads
There is a certain comfort in praying on beads that are beautiful and sturdy, beads that somehow feel like they were destined to be held,...
Ask little and get nothing
The painting (David Teniers?) depicts Saint Anthony of Egypt and Saint Paul the Hermit deep in conversation about monastic observance. I’m reading the autobiographical memoirs...
Ipse est sacerdos, ipse est Deus
The lessons at Vigils this morning were extraordinarily compelling in the context of this Year of the Priest. (I use the Latin-French Lectionnaire monastique in...
Servant of the Servants of the Cross of Christ
Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Peter Damian The Holy Father’s audience yesterday (September 2009) on Saint Peter Damian (1007-1072) revealed him, once again, as a...
Marcel Van: A Soul for Priests
Called Not to Be a Priest, But to Be for Priests For a long time, the Servant of God, Vietnamese Redemptorist Brother Marcel Van (1928-1959)...