“I’m sorry about Benedict.” I turned from my dog to my daughter. “Did he die?” I asked my daughter. “Yeah,” she said. “Who died?” said my six-year-old son. “Pope Benedict, the former pope.” I was taking it in. It wasn’t …
Category: Sacraments
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 …
Metaphysical Beauty made Visible
Man’s purpose in life is to know, love, and serve God with all of his mind, heart, and strength. This succinct answer to the world’s most vexed question holds compelling poetic beauty. Its strong, rhythmic monosyllables are like the rap …
“Easy Virtue”: Comfort and Ease as Basic Givens of the Liturgical Reform
The sin of Peter recounted in Matthew 16 — “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee” (v. 22) — is the archetype of papal sins …
ANNOUNCEMENT: Latinmass.com to Double TLM Worldwide
The team behind the popular Mass of the Ages documentary trilogy has announced our plans to create an online platform designed to increase Latin Masses worldwide. The platform will host the popular “Mass of the Ages” documentary trilogy; stunning short …
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 …
Healthy Food for Grown-Ups
When the feast of St. Martin of Tours comes around each year—that’s November 11th, a day he shares on the Roman calendar with St. Mennas, a great soldier, desert solitary, and martyr in Egypt—I always think about food. The reason …
The Lifting of the Chasuble at the Elevations: Touching the Hem of Christ’s Garment
Above: Detail from a stained glass window, St. Francis of Assisi Chapel, Lincoln, NE All of us who have sufferings to bear and faith in Jesus have a desire to be healed by Him, in some way, at some level. …
Is the Mass “Just” the Mass?
Above: Bishop Athanasius Schneider in Lancaster, PA. Photo by Allison Girone. In my life, I have often encountered people who say something like the following to Catholics who love the traditional liturgy—or, for that matter, who wish to see the …
Seeing Holy Mass with Jesuit Eyes
Above: mosaic of St. John Ogilvie returning to Scotland where he was martyred by heretics in 1615. Photo by Fr. Lawrence, OP. Part I: Seeing Holy Mass with Benedictine Eyes Part II: Seeing Holy Mass with Carmelite Eyes Part III: Seeing …