Domestic Church Customs: Rogationtide & Ascension Octave
"Anything with fluffy cloud-like meringue or whipped cream."
In Illo Tempore: 5th Sunday after Easter
For this 5th Sunday after Easter we are still moving through John 16, Our Lord’s Last Supper Discourse, as well as the Letter of James. Liturgically, we are close to the Ascension of the Lord, when the High Priest, the Risen Savior, entered the heavenly temple where He continuously renews His once-for-all Sacrifice to the…
I Left Eastern Orthodoxy for the Church Led by Pope Francis, and I Don’t Regret It
Editor’s note: thirteen years ago today, I received Holy Communion for the first time as a Roman Catholic. My journey from Protestantism to Eastern Orthodoxy to Rome is detailed in my forthcoming book published by St. Paul Center. I offer this article again in thanksgiving for God’s grace and thirteen years a member of the…
In Illo Tempore: 4th Sunday after Easter
Our context in the liturgical year for the 4th Sunday after Easter is our preparation for the Ascension of the Lord. We are now in the second phase of Paschaltide. The first stage looked back toward the empty tomb and drew us into the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Now the Mass formularies shift…
In Illo Tempore: 3rd Sunday after Easter
The 3rd Sunday after Easter in the Vetus Ordo draws us into that peculiar Christian experience of living between gift and fulfillment, between consolation remembered and consummation promised, between the joy of Easter already given and the greater joy that still presses toward Ascension and Pentecost. The whole formulary has a tensile quality. Expectancy. Movement.…
Beating the Bounds: the Joy of the Rogation Days
Processions take the Faith from inside the churches, and bring it out to where the majority of people are.
Is There Any Tradition More Important than the TLM? Yes. And it’s the “One Thing Necessary”
This tradition is more important than the Latin Mass itself.
In Illo Tempore: Low Sunday, Octave of Easter
We bring to completion the great Octave of Easter this Sunday, though “completion” here is to be understood in the Church’s own liturgical sense. For a full eight days, by that ancient inclusive counting which the Romans knew so well and Christians inherited, it has still been Easter Day. The Church has, as it were,…
The Ascending Way of Prayer, Part II
This is Part II of a two-part series. Click here for Part I. In the first part of this series, I listed the nine levels of prayer and described the first four, which exist along what is called “the Purgative Way.” In this second part, I will explore the second and third ways of prayer…
The Ascending Way of Prayer, Part I
This is Part I of a two-part series. Years ago I was involved in a Protestant apologetics online forum. Unlike many online forums, this one included many very bright and respectful people who expertly debated theology without rancor. Just about every viewpoint was represented: Calvinist, evangelical, liberal, conservative, even Mormon and Unitarian. I, however, was…
