The wider our contemplation of creation, the grander is our conception of God. (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, +386/387)
Year: 2025
Saint Jan Sarkander, Martyr for Confession and the Faith
Jan Sarkander (1576 – 1620) was a Polish Catholic priest, tortured to death by Protestants over the course of a month at the beginning of the Thirty Years War. Jan was born in Silesia, into a loving family – one sister and three brothers. He thought of becoming a priest, but decided to marry instead.[…]
Daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing, because of the promises of heaven. (Saint Patrick, +5-6th c.)
Charitable Status to be, or not to be, Revoked – and Then Some: Whither the Church in Canada?
Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2) Many of the persecutions in history began as bland, bureaucratic laws. Latent therein, however, was deep evil. The persecutions in ancient Rome were a simple request to[…]
Motets in Honour of Two Very Just Men
Arvo Pärt , an Estonian composer (born 1935, and still going – those hardy Estonians!), is known for his method of tintinabulli, which is not, as may first seem to some readers, setting to music the wonderful comic dramas of Georges Remi, whose pen name was Hergé (even if that would be quite delightful). Rather,[…]
But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)
Second Sunday of Lent: Our Transfigured and Suffering Lord
He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself (Phil. 3:21). ⧾ On the second Sunday in Lent we always read the Gospel of the Transfiguration our Lord. We do so[…]
The First Message of His Holiness, Saint John Paul II, for Lent
(In the spirit of beginning our Lenten journey, here is a retrospective of the first Lenten message by Pope (Saint) John Paul II. A blessed and grace-filled Lent to all! Editor) You ask: “What has happened to Lent?”. Going to some small extent without food does not, you think, mean much, at a time when[…]
The Ave Regina Caelorum
The Ave Regina Caelorum is the Marian antiphon sung during Lent. Its origins and composer are unknown, but manuscripts exist from the early 12 century onwards. There is the standard Gregorian chant, sung at Compline each night: But there are also any number of polyphonic renditions. Alonso Lobo (1555 – 1617) was a Spanish composer,[…]
Pope Francis’ Thirteenth
Thirteen years ago, on a fateful March 13th in the year of Our Lord 2013, Jorge Bergoglio was elected the 266th Pope, taking the name Francis, until then never chosen as a pontifical name. And this pontificate has been a series of ‘firsts’, not all of them felicitous ones. There’s three thirteens in this anniversary,[…]