Exhortation At The Clothing Ceremony For Brother Augustine Mary Withoos
My Dear Brother, “Let it be done to me according to Thy word”. Those beloved words of Our Blessed Lady resound in our ears on this feast of the Annunciation. Once again we go in spirit to the humble house of Nazareth where we hear the discourse of the angel, and wait in awe for […]
Seeing, Rejoicing And Being Sent To Suffer
St John tells us in today’s Gospel that when the disciples saw the Lord, they rejoiced. Seeing the Risen Lord gives joy, joy the world cannot know, joy that even the faithful cannot express, but only experience. That joy gives them to follow the Saviour and to go out on whatever mission He might send […]
Washing, Serving and Dying
Maundy Thursday brings before us the profound words of Our Lord to His apostles during the Last Supper when there was a dispute among them about who was the greatest: “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and they that have power over them are called beneficent. But you not so. But he […]
Of Palms And Blood
It would be hard to find the equivalent, in terms of contrast, of the Roman ceremonies of Palm Sunday. It’s easy to explain historically: Rome had long celebrated the Sunday before Easter as a commemoration of the passion of the Lord with all the pompous mourning of which she was capable. But then from the […]
Was There No Other Way?
Passiontide which begins today again brings before our eyes the great and at once awful mystery of the cruel death of our Beloved Saviour. If we love Him in the least, or even if our heart is not so hardened that it cannot compassionate with One so cruelly and unfairly treated, then we may ask […]
Rejoice Jerusalem
Today, Laetare Sunday, Holy Mother Church invites us to rejoice. You who till now were in the sadness of penitential practices, rejoice now, for we have reached the middle of our Lenten observance and the paschal solemnities are just a step away. How can we be joyful in a world that offers so much bad […]
Go To Joseph!
Today we start the novena for the feast of St Joseph. Each evening after Vespers we will sing the Litany of St Joseph, and we invite you to join with us, for all the needs of our community as well as for the intentions of our benefactors. As a reminder here is the text of […]
Eyes Always To The Lord
Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, says the psalmist in today’s introit. My eyes are always turned towards the Lord, for He it is who will deliver me from the snares of my enemies. I am alone and poor, but the Lord is with me. It is through the eyes that images are received into our […]
And He Was Transfigured Before Them…
St Leo the Great, among others, tells us that the disciples were allowed to see Our Lord transfigured in order to strengthen their minds and hearts, so that when they would see Him in agony and handed over to evildoers, they would not lose faith and hope. The Lord deals with His faithful souls in […]