Colligite Fragmenta – 4th Sunday of Advent: Let us “Pry”!
A formulary was pieced together from the Masses of the Ember Days, which gave people who couldn’t attend on those days themselves an opportunity to have something of an Ember Day experience.
Colligite Fragmenta – 2nd Sunday of Advent: “Slap in the Face Obvious”
On the 1st Sunday of Advent it was the Church’s duty, which as a good Mother she fulfilled, to urge us to do penance in view of the end times and judgement at the Second Coming. This week she points to the joy that awaits us after penance and judgement, encapsulated in “Jerusalem”. We are…
Diebus saltem Dominicis: The Sons of David
When I visit Rome, at least once during my time there I go to the Ara Pacis or “Altar of Peace” of the Emperor Augustus Caesar (+14), which is housed in dreadful building that looks like a gas station. I don’t go in to see the actual altar. What I revisit is the supporting wall…
Advent Reflections on the Four Last Things: Judgment
You who burn with righteous indignation at the sins of the Holy Father, do you burn with charity also to forgive him?
Cardinal Zen on Advent
St. Augustine said that our good merits are God’s gifts.
The Demanding Glory of Advent’s Ember Saturday
Above: Greek icon depicting Christ with the Winnowing Fan from an Orthodox monastery in Arizona, United States. Photo by Fr. Lawrence, OP. This coming Saturday will be the third of the Advent Ember Days in the Roman Rite. (As always, the Ember Days come in threes: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, the ancient penitential rhythm.)…
3rd Sunday of Advent: Let nothing disturb thee
In the movie Bridge of Spies, set in the depths of the Cold War, Tom Hanks’ character is a lawyer assigned to defend an accused and obviously guilty Russian spy. Meeting in prison for the first time, Hanks explains to the spy that everyone wants to send him to the electric chair. The Russian spy…
2nd Sunday of Advent: Living in the Unity of Faith
For this 2nd Sunday of Advent the Roman Station church is the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem where the wooden beams of the Cross and relics of the Passion brought to Rome by the Empress Helena were deposited and are venerated still today. Last week we were stationed at St. Mary Major where…
Two Saints at the Start of Advent: Bibiana and Francis Xavier
In the traditional calendar, December 2 is the feast of St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr. Having been imprisoned for her faith, she refused the sexual advances of her jailer, and was beaten to death with lead-loaded thongs. The Collect for her feast is magnificent: Deus, omnium largitor bonorum, qui in famula tua Bibiana cum virginitatis…
Here We Are at the End
It’s not a coincidence that the shortening days of a coming winter coincide with the last days of the Church year. It’s here, at the dark end of the year, that we reflect on the dark end of the world. The times prior to Christ’s return will be frightening, the readings remind us, full of…
1st Sunday of Advent: Our Savior expects to find us ready
In 589 Deacon Aigulf trekked home to Tours with relics he had collected in Rome. St. Gregory of Tours relates in his Historia Francorum that Aigulf saw with his own eyes the disasters that struck Rome that year. The Tiber rose to such a flood that buildings were washed away, ancient temples destroyed, and the…