Jerusalem And The Church
9th Sunday after Pentecost Today’s Gospel portrays Our Blessed Lord weeping over Jerusalem. He is sad because His people have not recognised Him, the long awaited Messiah, the One whom they had prayed for throughout so many centuries. And when He comes, for the most part they refuse to allow themselves to be cuddled under […]
Who Can be Against Us
8th Sunday after Pentecost This morning at Matins we were given to read part of the prayer of King Solomon after the construction and dedication of the first temple of Jerusalem. Since this temple was the image of the Church, the promises God made to him at the time apply to the Church and to […]
Providence and Prayer
7th Sunday after Pentecost Today’s oration tells us two vital things about our faith. The first is that God’s providence governs all things and is never mistaken in its provisions. The second is that God’s providence, even though it does not need our cooperation, nevertheless wants it. That is precisely why God made us free […]
What Is Good For Others
Solemnity of St Benedict In his Subiaco address pronounced just a couple weeks before his election as Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger pointed to our holy father St Benedict as one of those men who kept the flame of faith alive in the dark ages and prepared the Church and Europe for the real spiritual renewal that […]
The Trinity Matters
Trinity Sunday On this feast of the Blessed Trinity, I feel very much like St Elizabeth of the Trinity who at the end of her famous prayer (copies of which BTW are in the vestibule), mentions being “lost in the immensity”, “immersed in the abyss” of God. It’s difficult to know what to say and […]
God is a Consuming Fire
Pentecost On the evening of Ascension Thursday, the apostles gathered around our Blessed Lady and began to pray. Our Lord had said to wait in the city until the power from on high were to be given. They did not know what that meant exactly, nor how long they were to wait. And so they […]
Profession of BR John Mary
Mary Help of Christians Dear Brother John Mary, Divine Providence has so arranged events that this profession of your first monastic vows takes place under the maternal gaze of Mary Immaculate. Today indeed Australia celebrates its patronal feast, honouring Mary under the title of Auxilium Christianorum, Help of Christians. This title was very much in […]
Communicantes
Sunday after Ascension This Sunday after the Ascension takes us to the Upper Room where the entire Church, the apostles and disciples gathered around the Mother of God, are awaiting the outpouring of the celestial dew, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. The image of this gathering in unison has been portrayed by many artists and […]
Completion
Ascension Christi ascensio est nostra provectio. So did St Leo the Great proclaim to us this morning at Matins. The ascension of Christ is our promotion, that is to say that because our human flesh and bones are now enthroned at the right hand of the Father, encompassed as it were by the Triune Godhead, […]