Learning To Hate The Sin
Some time ago I ran across a poem composed by Blessed John Henry Newman entitled “Zeal and Love”. As I read it, I thought: “Wow, this is just what we need in the present age”. I resolved to post it then, but waited. With recent events in the Church, I think today that it will […]
St Benedict And The Liturgy As Opus Dei
Talk given at St Benedict’s Parish/Notre Dame University, Sydney, Thursday 30 August 2018 God’s work and ours Reading the Rule of St Benedict for the first time, one might be surprised to encounter a recurring expression whose meaning is not at first sight obvious. St Benedict refers often to the “work of God”, in Latin, Opus Dei. The […]
God Exalts The Humble And The Chaste
With the entire Church on earth and in Heaven, with all the angels and saints, today we honour the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and our Mother. With hearts overflowing with joy we consider the privilege this humble woman has received in being conceived immaculate, chosen to be Mother of God, and […]
Sub Tuum Praesidium – At Our Lady’s Feet
We are now in the midst of a novena to Our Blessed Mother. It started on the feast of the Transfiguration and will end on the glorious feast of the Assumption. During these days, on which we are also following a retreat guided by Fr Mark Bachmann from Clear Creek, we place ourselves before Our […]
God’s Tears
The heart-rending scene of today’s Gospel should make us stop and think. Our Beloved Saviour, on the very day of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, is moved to tears; he weeps over the holy city, lamenting her destruction which he foresaw. That terrible event which is recorded in history took place in the year 70 A.D. […]
Solomon, Sodom And The Church
At the office of Matins today, Holy Church puts before our eyes the majestic temple built by King Solomon. This edifice, one of the wonders of the ancient world, was a prefiguration of the holy Catholic Church which would be established by the true Solomon, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and would extend its spiritual dominion […]
Of Providence And Fruits
This Sunday’s collect tells us that God’s providence never fails in its disposal of events. Never. Ever. From our very limited perspective, we might sometimes get the impression that something has gone wrong up there, that things should not be as they are. In those moments we need to remind ourselves of this oration and […]
Christopher Dawson Centre Colloquium 28-29 June 2018
Any room for priests, monks and nuns in an atheistic world? Let me begin with a story. It was my first Christmas Eve in Tasmania, at a time when I was doing some of the groundwork in preparation for the monastic foundation the following year. I was going for an early afternoon stroll in Hobart. […]
The Blood That Continues To Flow
Today the traditional Roman Liturgy honours the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The desire of the Church is that we turn our minds and hearts to the contemplation of how much our redemption cost our dear Saviour, and the infinite value of that Blood shed once on Calvary, and daily poured out on […]