The true religion is not reducible to a bumper sticker or “meme,” but there is a venerable tradition, rooted in the Old Testament wisdom literature, of packaging hefty drafts of divine truth in small shots. These proverbs or aphorisms have … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Easter Sunday: Deus, qui hodiérna die per Unigénitum tuum æternitátis nobis áditum devícta morte reserásti: vota nostra, quæ præveniéndo aspíras, étiam adjuvándo proséquere. Here is my translation: … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Palm Sunday, that is, the Sixth Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent), and the beginning of Holy Week: Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui humáno generi, ad imitandum humilitátis exémplum, Salvatórem … Continue reading
On the very first page of his mammoth, magisterial two-volume tome, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Père Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964), states a fundamental truth concerning man’s inner life as it is constituted by nature. Then, as one … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Passion Sunday, that is, the Fifth Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent): Quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus, famíliam tuam propítius réspice: ut, te largiénte, regátur in córpore; et, te servánte, custodiátur … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Laetare Sunday, that is, the Fourth Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent): Concéde, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, qui ex merito nostræ actiónis afflígimur, tuæ grátiæ consolatióne respirémus. Here is … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for the Third Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent): Quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus, vota humílium réspice: atque, ad defensiónem nostram, déxteram tuæ maiestátis exténde. Here is my translation: We ask … Continue reading
Going over my students’ Latin homework, I came across a sentence of Monsignor Baumeister’s that struck me with particular force. What my students were called upon to translate perfectly summarizes Saint Augustine’s doctrine in his magnificent City of God. Inter … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for the Second Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent): Deus, qui cónspicis omni nos virtúte destítui: intérius exteriúsque custódi; ut ab ómnibus adversitátibus muniámur in córpore, et a pravis … Continue reading
Musicians, actors, and other performers can be very clever at employing mental exercises to improve their performance. When I was a teenager, my older brother, Charles, told me that he had been directed by one of his teachers to read … Continue reading
The following comes from the Matins lessons in the traditional Roman-rite office for the Monday of the First week of Quadragesima. Twelve-hundred years in advance, Saint Augustine here condemns most emphatically the unbiblical notion of sola fides propagated by the … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for the First Sunday of Quadragesima (Lent): Deus, qui Ecclésiam tuam ánnua quadragesimáli observatióne puríficas: præsta famíliæ tuæ; ut, quod a te obtinére abstinéndo nítitur, hoc bonis … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Quinquagesima Sunday: Preces nostras, quǽsumus, Dómine, cleménter exáudi: atque, a peccatórum vínculis absolútos, ab omni nos adversitáte custódi. Here is my translation: Mercifully hear our prayers, … Continue reading
Memor fui óperum Dómini: quia memor ero ab inítio mirabílium tuórum. (“I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.”) — Psalm 76:12 When he received the Templeton Prize for Progress … Continue reading
Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Sexagesima Sunday: Deus, qui cónspicis, quia ex nulla nostra actióne confídimus: concéde propítius; ut, contra advérsa ómnia, Doctóris géntium protectióne muniámur. Here is my translation: O … Continue reading
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