Ut sanentur
End of the Penal Code This morning at Chapter we concluded the eight chapters of the Holy Rule (XXII-XXX) that comprise Saint Benedict’s so-called “penal...
Confirmetur in eo caritas
Chapter This morning at Chapter (a daily reflection on a chapter of the Rule of Saint Benedict) we read one of my favourite passages: “That...
Yielding to the attraction of the saints
Every Lent I choose — or rather ask Our Lord to choose for me — a saint or saints to be my Lenten companions. From...
Shrove Tuesday: Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus
In Rome and in other places, Shrove Tuesday is observed as the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. In 2007 I had the privilege...
Pro peccatoribus iugiter exorans
This profoundly moving painting is by Guercino (1647). It depicts Saint Peter weeping before the Blessed Virgin on the first Holy Saturday. Look at it,...
The Surpassing Power of Love
Preface for the Feast of Saint Scholastica, Virgin Truly it is right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you...
With Pope Benedict XVI: At the Throne of Grace
The Holy Father’s homily for Vespers on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is, as are all his homilies, a model of liturgical...
Christ’s priests have no priesthood but His
This morning His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the bishops of England and Wales on the occasion of their ad limina visit. His message was...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Nine
Blessed Columba’s Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary For those who already know of Blessed Columba Marmion’s friendship and frequent spiritual exchanges with Désiré-Joseph Cardinal...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Eight
Blessed Abbot Marmion’s entire chapter XIV, entitled The Divine Office, in Christ, the Ideal of the Priest deserves to be studied, and meditated, and brought...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Seven
A Book to Own and Meditate Today’s passage from the writings of Blessed Columba Marmion is taken from Union With God, Letters of Spiritual Direction....
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Six
Tomorrow will be the sixth day of our novena seeking the intercession of Blessed Columba Marmion. I invite the readers of Vultus Christi who are...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Five
Saint Paul and Blessed Columba Although I am writing this on Monday, 25 January, the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, it is intended...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Four
The icon of Blessed Columba Marmion was written by the hand of Brother Claude, O.S.B., monk of Mount Angel Abbey. Blessed Columba Marmion and the...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Three
Victims and Victimhood For today’s text from Blessed Columba Marmion, I chose an extract from Christ, the Ideal of the Priest, in which he presents...
Blessed Marmion Novena: Day Two
The Second Day of the Novena Saturday, 23 January 2010 O Holy Spirit, Love of the Father and the Son, establish Thyself as a furnace...
Novena in Honour of Blessed Abbot Marmion
The image of Blessed Abbot Marmion is a photograph I took of a painting in the Irish College in Rome in 2006. I remain grateful...
The Blessing of Oil in the Roman Ritual
Oil for Our Lamps The other day, a dear and generous friend, knowing that oil lamps burn in the Oratory before the Blessed Sacrament and...
Immaculata Victrix
In the spiritual combat that is the daily experience of so many priests, nothing can take the place of a confident recourse to the Immaculate...
A Prayer in All the Circumstances of Life
My Jesus, only as Thou willest, when Thou willest, and in the way Thou willest! To Thee be all glory and thanksgiving, Who rulest all...