5 Tips for keeping the 12 Days of Christmas and Beyond In American culture, Christmas seems to be over December 26. The lights come down, people stop saying “Merry Christmas!”, and the trees find their way to the curb. The bleak midwinter of January hits but none of the Christmas cheer promised in songs of…
5 untraditional tidbits about the Advent wreath and why I still make one As a teenager, I remember a Lutheran friend sharing an Advent wreath she had made at church. This surprised me, as I had known it to be a longstanding Catholic tradition. “Good for them,” I thought. Only some years later did I…
The history and meaning of the Paradeisl, a traditional Catholic precursor to the Advent Wreath. Yet again we’re lighting the dark days of Advent by a Paradeisl. A what? A Paradeisl, from the German word for “paradise,” calling to mind the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden and the need for redemption. The…
Having briefly considered why Latin is a holy and venerable language in its own right, we should also consider its practical benefits. Now there is a whole multitude of practical benefits for using so sacred a language, but I would like to focus on one, for it is one particularly relevant to my own life—and…
“…et erat scriptum hebraice graece et latine”“…and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.” (John 19:20) While Latin might prove useful for liturgical use in innumerable ways, it is a sacred language first and foremost because it was chosen by the hand of Divine Providence. As Msgr. Nikolaus Gihr wrote, “the Latin language…
“What accents did I utter unto Thee in those Psalms, and how was I kindled towards Thee, and on fire to rehearse them, if possible, through the whole world, against the pride of mankind.” -St. Augustine, Confessions If you’ve been wanting to start praying the traditional Divine Office, but are feeling a bit overwhelmed, The Little Office…
Estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes, et simplices sicut columbæ. Be ye therefore prudent (prudentes) as serpents and simple as doves. Matthew 10:16 Prudence is so often used as an excuse for cowardice, that we have come to mistake it for timidity or cautiousness. When we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place, it…
“Asperges me, Dómine, hyssópo, et mundábor.” “Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed.” (Psalm 50:9) As Paschaltide comes to an end, we will say goodbye to Vidi Aquam and see the return of Asperges Me on Sunday before High Mass. The priest about to celebrate High Mass on Sundays arrives at…
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote the following aphorism: “A dangerous resolve.— The Christian resolve to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.[1] Like most of Nietzsche’s aphorisms, this short sentence carries a great deal of meaning. Among other things, it succinctly and articulately captures Voltaire’s anti-Christian sentiment, an impressive feat that…
Part I in this two part series can be found here. But doesn’t Christ sort of do away with all these particular loves and duties? Remember the story from the Gospels: Jesus is preaching when a man comes into the room to tell Him that His mother and brethren have arrived and wish to speak…