Iesu, Rex Admirabilis
I was fifteen or sixteen years old when, thanks to a fervent Trappist laybrother at Saint Joseph’s Abbey, I discovered a lovely English translation of...
2009 Belongs to Our Lady
For over thirty years now, my dear old friend Father Jacob, O.P. and I have renewed our consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of...
Misericordiam non mutavit, sed multiplicavit
My incomparable Saint Bernard (depicted above with Saint Ambrose in a 1475 painting by Francesco di Giorgio Martini) spoke so eloquently this morning of the...
At Vespers
This painting of the adolescent Jesus is in the chapel of the Casa San Francesco in Carsoli (Aquila), Italy. I preached this evening at Pontifical...
Oremus
The Prayer of the Faithful The Prayer of the Faithful for the Ordinary Form of the Mass poses a number of complex problems. The lack...
The Consolations of His Coming
December 24 Collect at the Hours and at the Mass in the Morning Come quickly, we beseech You, Lord Jesus, and do not delay, so...
Secundum Verbum Tuum
For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty word leapt down from heaven...
The Invitatory: Venite adoremus
Prepare Thy Soul One might say that, in the structure of monastic Vigils, Psalm 3 (see my previous entry) corresponds to the porch of the...
In the School of the Lord’s Service
Food for the Soul Over the past several weeks I have been reading two fascinating and inspiring biographies by Dom Guy-Marie Oury, O.S.B. The first...
Splendor gloriae tuae
I took this sunrise photo last November at Saint-Loup-sur-Aujon. It goes very well, I think, with today’s beautiful Advent Collect: Oriatur quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, in...
Avery Cardinal Dulles (1918-2008)
Cardinal Dulles died this morning, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The following lines written in 1946, and already marked by profound humility...
Cleansing of the Mind
Here is today’s Collect in the Missale Romanum and in the Liturgia Horarum. In the 1962 Missale Romanum it is the Collect of the Second...
Our Lady in Advent
This morning at Vigils the Second Reading was from a homily by Abbot Geoffrey of Admont. It was wonderfully suitable, coming after the feasts of...
The Heavenly Physician
I cannot resist offering a little commentary on the Collect of the day, one of Advent’s most beautiful prayers: Omnipotens Deus, qui nos praecipis iter...
The Beauty of God Shining on the Face of Christ
The mystery of the Face of Christ is a constant motif in the writings and teachings of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Again, at...
Ave, liber incomprehensus
At Matins this morning I listened, enchanted, to Saint Epiphanius’ rapturous praises of the All-Holy Mother of God. The witness of Saint Epiphanius is precious:...
Ioannem quaerit, Ioannem desiderat, ad Ioannem vadit
At Matins this morning there were two stupendous readings from Benedictine sources: one from Saint Peter Damian, Bishop (1007-1072), and the other from Saint Bede...
Non transalpinare necesse est
Non te opportet, o homo, maria transfretare, non penetrare nubes, non transalpinare necesse est. Non grandis, inquam, tibi ostenditur via: usque ad temetipsum occurre Deo...
Deus, in adjutorium meum intende
The Divine Office I am eager to address a number of questions that readers have raised about the Divine Office but, given that a good...
Invenisti gratiam apud Deum
Advent and the Annunciation Our Lady, the glorious Virgin of Isaiah’s prophecy (Is 7:14), is everywhere present in the liturgy of Advent, and this from...