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)...
The Grace of the Holy Spirit Admits of No Delay
The corpus of Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary grows apace. By means of his homilies and addresses on or around the...
Soon-to-be-Saint Jeanne Jugan
Today is the feast of Blessed (and soon to be Saint) Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879), foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Blessed Jeanne Jugan,...
Entrusting to Mary the Priests of the Whole World
Our Lady in the Life of the Priest Pope Benedict XVI has been using every opportunity to promote a fruitful observance of the Year of...
Returning to Knock
This coming Sunday evening Father Dan L. and I will be flying to Ireland and shortly thereafter we will be at the shrine of Our...
Pax tecum, Filumena
Connecticut and Ireland I am writing, dear readers, from Hamden, Connecticut where I am spending a few days with my parents before leaving for Ireland...
The Triduum: Evening II
“I will most gladly spend and be overspent for your souls” (2 Cor 12:15) In the name of the Father and of the Son and...
Doctor Zelantissimus
Siamo Napoletani Given that grace builds on nature, my Neapolitan ancestry may, in some way, account for my spiritual affinity with Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori....