"Everything" is about nothing. Everything ended with the sacrifice of the Lamb. All is consummated. We are forever and always at the Last Supper, at the Crucifixion, at the Resurrection. Time ended with the tearing of the veil and the rolling back of the stone. The rest is illusion and catching up. There is nothing to be afraid of. I awoke from a sound sleep with that repeating in my head, this morning, and grabbed a pen and wrote it down. I kind of like it. I'm not sure what it all means, … [Read more...]
Everything is Different, II
August 17, 2009 By
No, I don't mean to tease you, really I don't. I can't wait to tell you about my retreat. But you know, sometimes a thing is so incredible that it is hard to put into words; needs processing for a bit, and besides, I got a spider bite that triggered a surprising allergic reaction (and I am the least allergic of girls...) well it's all a bit jumbled, still... But I wanted to tell you about these two books, because they're going to play heavily in what I write, when I write it, and I recommend … [Read more...]
Books in the mail
December 15, 2008 By
I'm going to put up a review of Anne Rice's Called Out of Darkness; A Spiritual Confession after I get around to writing it, (I highly recommend it), but I have also received two other books in the mail that may be of interest to some: The first is a little prayerbook, Jesus is My All in All; Praying with the "Saint of Calcutta," Mother Teresa. It is edited and introduced by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who did such a superb job with Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light - The Private Writings of … [Read more...]
Vespers Podcast: Am I still fasting?
October 11, 2008 By
Someone emailed asking, "are you still" praying and fasting? Yes, I am. But remember - I'm not praying for a "win;" I'm praying that for the good of the country. Since my mind is not God's I have no idea, taking the long view of things, what that might mean. But I trust the longview. I know that things have a way of being "written straight with crooked letters." I’m thinking we’re in the middle of a mystery, that this whole, odd, unpredictable and too-long election season has been run … [Read more...]
Mornings are for Prayer & Study
October 10, 2008 By
That's actually a Dominican in the picture, but "ora et labora" is the motto of the Benedictine: Pray and Work. And study. Books are the Benedictine lifeblood. I promised myself a while back that I would take mornings to study, specifically to read books on anything but what is going on around us, although very often what I'm reading has its resonances in the day, as well, and no, I don't strictly mean scripture, but there's that, too. It is good to be quiet. In fact, it is necessary. I … [Read more...]
Morning Prayer October 01
October 1, 2008 By
Sorry to say there are a few small mistakes in this podcast, the most glaring of which is that I said I would provide the page directives and read the small bio of St. Therese in the breviary and then proceeded to accidentally cut all of that out during the edit, also, I am dealing with a sore throat and choked my way through the third psalm...apologies. Here's the podcast for morning prayer. While this is the feastday of Therese of Lisieux, we're not praying the Office of Virgins or the … [Read more...]
Compline for Monday Night; No Chant
September 22, 2008 By
And finally, the last podcast; here is Compline for Monday Night. I have linked to the whole week's recordings of Compline, to make it easier for those who wish to use them every night, and I have set up a sidebar button for easy access; look for the illuminated sheet music (under the scriptorium button) for Compline and also for the Office for the Dead for 9/11, which people seem to download a lot. As ever, you can also avail yourself of a live-feed Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, … [Read more...]
Good advice and more
September 20, 2008 By
My mother, Sister David, was ill and in bed, and I was getting ready to leave to speak to the National Council of Catholic Women. Sister David had a bird in her room, a little parakeet, and I said to the bird, "So long, Chico." And she said, "Sock it to 'em, Angelica." "It's the Lord." I told David. She looked at me and said, "No, it's Sister Regina. She taught him that." You know what the lesson there, is? Careful what you attribute to the Lord. Sometimes, it's just a bird squawking. … [Read more...]
Palin's Email Hack & A Breather…
September 18, 2008 By
Sometimes you just have to step back and be a little frivolous, in the face of all the madness, and it is both mean and crazy out there. Can you imagine the press not talking about the invasion of Sarah Palin's privacy, and the press' own unwillingness to co-operate with the FBI, because a) they're Obama-enthralled and b) they don't want to create "sympathy" for a candidate who - like unlike Hillary Clinton back in 2000 - has SERIOUSLY had her "space" invaded. And just imagine the way they'd … [Read more...]
Morning Prayer; Our Lady of Sorrows
September 15, 2008 By
In today's podcast, I read two psalms and chant one (you are warned!) from the Office of the day. I begin a little differently, though, reading excepts from a 2006 post meditating on the feast day, and the role of Mary as Mother to all of us Christians. The full text can be found here. Also, Pope Benedict XVI just wrapped up a successful visit to France that - with all of our storm and election news - we didn't hear much about in the US. He gets around pretty well for a fellow in his 80's, … [Read more...]
Questions & Comments from the email
June 2, 2008 By
From time to time I find similar questions or comments filling the email box and it seems like a cue to address them more broadly. Q: Why is your email so hard to find? A: An email asking me why my email is hard to find reminds me a little of Yogi Berra asking, "how can that guy keep striking me out, considering the stuff he's throwing?" Joking aside, the email link on the right sidebar does get more difficult to find depending on how many ads I get, and the ads help keep the site going, but I … [Read more...]
How are you liking HBO's John Adams?
March 19, 2008 By
I confess, after excitedly looking forward to HBO's presentation, I am a little disappointed. Not tremendously so, because I knew the book could never translate perfectly to the screen, but...yeah, disappointed. I had thought Paul Giamatti - an actor I admire a lot - would be the perfect John Adams, but it seems to me he has not managed to get inside him. Adams was a man with a temper, a tendency toward vanity and stubbornness, it's true, but he also seems to have had boundless energy, a … [Read more...]
McCullough's John Adams on HBO
March 15, 2008 By
Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams When I was a kid it was a rare thing to own a book and a hardcover book was real treasure, so my family, now, will often gift me with hardcover books that I put into the "to read" pile, and sometimes I don't get around to reading the book until it comes out in soft cover. David McCullogh's comprehensive and incredibly readable John Adams was a book that had been in the pile so long I nearly missed it. I picked it up last week and … [Read more...]
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