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Trahe nos, Virgo Immaculata; Draw us, O Virgin Immaculate; we will run after thee to the fragrance of thy ointments. (Fifth Antiphon; cf. Cant. 1:3)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

Beginning already in the earliest centuries of the Church, a debate arose as to the universal nature of original sin and its effects on the great friends of God such as Saint John the Baptist or Saint Joseph. Were they touched by this hereditary harm? Our Lord affirmed that “no one born of woman” was greater than Saint John (Mt. 11:11). Could he have been affected by the ugliness of original sin? But the question that caused the most discussion was relative to what part sin may have had in the body and soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, […]

Post haec vidi turbam magnam…After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. (Apoc. 7:9)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

What a marvelous thing it is, this epic story of the Saints! From age to age their saga fills the pages of the Church’s martyrology and captures the imaginations of Christ’s faithful, both young and old. The Apocalypse of Saint John shows us these holy men and women as they shine in the glory of Heaven; the lives of the Saints, on the other hand, present to the eyes of our soul the edifying and often dramatic narrative […]

Benedicite Dominum, omnes Angeli…Bless the Lord, all ye his Angels : you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

It is Our Lord Himself, who sets forth the spiritual and very sobering tone for today’s feast of the great Saint Michael and of all the Holy Angels. Here is what He says:

Whosoever…shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven: and he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me; but he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that […]

Assumpta est Maria in caelum…Mary has been taken up into heaven: the Angels rejoice; in hymns of praise they bless the Lord. (First Antiphon of Lauds)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

Sometimes we Christians are forced to stop and ponder, especially upon hearing more scandalous news concerning ecclesiastical matters, how the Church continues to exist at all and make its way amid the ups and downs, the persecutions and various tribulations of its history, including cruel deceptions such as the betrayal by some of its most eminent members. It is all a mystery as is commonly held. There are questions which will never fully be elucidated until the day of eternity. We can only try to understand. One factor to be considered here, however, is that the Church […]

Sancte Pater Benedicte, intercede pro nobis. Holy Father Benedict, intercede for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

According to Dom Delatte, the third abbot of Saint-Pierre of Solesmes in France, “Experience shows that no earthly fatherhood has ever so closely resembled the fatherhood of God as did St. Benedict’s” (Commentary on the Rule, Prologue). Indeed, Saint Benedict is known to us monks as “Our Blessed Father.” He has also been called by Church historians “the Patriarch of the monks of the West.” A patriarch, as we know, is the head of a family or of a family of families, the first of a line of fathers presiding over a whole people, as was the case with the Patriarch Abraham to whom God said,

I […]