Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors. (Saint Therese of Lisieux)
Month: March 2020
Lenten Third Sunday Music: de Lassus and Chants
For this Third Sunday in Lent, given the circumstances of the world, the suggestions of Pater Ignotus include this setting of the seven penitential psalms – 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142, 148/150 – by the the late-sixteenth century composer Orlande de Lassus, some of whose hymns are still sung in our attenuated liturgy.[…]
A Reflection on the suspension of Sunday Masses on the Third Sunday in Lent, March 15, 2020
O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts (Ps. 95). The Responsorial Psalm of the Mass on this third Sunday of Lent is Psalm 95, known as the Invitatory Psalm, the psalm that is always first recited in the official prayer of the Church, the Divine Office: Today, listen to[…]
Fear No Evil
The headlines read like something out of an apocalyptic novel, written, say, a decade or so ago: Trudeau’s son elected Prime Minister and foists death-on-demand upon a dominion, only to be ravaged by a deadly plague: Every sports league shuts down, the NBA, MLB and, gasp, Canadian’s own beloved NHL. Churches in Rome and across[…]
We see here the difficult journey we must undertake before we can arrive at the fear of the Lord. We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and search for it. Then we must understand the fear[…]
The Devil’s Deathly Dominion
Physician-turned-author Walker Percy’s final novel, The Thanatos Syndrome, published in 1987, tells the odd tale of a town wherein the ‘elites’ are devolving – or is that de-evolving? – the minds of its citizens into ape-like status by adding ‘sodium ions’ to the water supply. As they act more like chimpanzees, the townspeople become ever-more[…]
Life Is Fragile, So Use The Good Dishes
One of the greatest lessons learned during my nursing career is the fragility of human life. Many times when a patient and their loved ones are given news of a life-altering diagnosis, they’ve told me: we didn’t expect this; but I’m not ready; I should have…; but I did everything right; we thought we had[…]
On the head of religion alone I am condemned, and for that I would willingly and joyfully pour forth even a hundred lives. Snatch away that one which I have from me, and make no delay about it, but my religion you will never snatch away from me! (Saint John Ogilvie, +1615)
The Last Martyr of Scotland
Due to some technical and other issues, we’re a day late on re-posting this piece, , on the last martyr of the ‘Reformation’ – a term which I generally put in scare quotations, for the real reformation was the also-inaptly-named Catholic ‘Counter-Reformation’, led by the Society of Jesus, when they were all fresh and sound;[…]
It is most laudable in a married woman to be devout, but she must never forget that she is a housewife. And sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find Him in her housekeeping (Saint Frances of Rome, +1440)