Our Lady of Ashes

When I'm not homeschooling the kids, being a stay-at-home Dad and Handy Husband, I teach Theology at a local Catholic High School.  As G.K. Chesterton said: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” So here are some ways to say Grace before tests/exams/assignments and ask the blessing and aid of Divine Wisdom before you "dip the pen in the ink" and put the pen to the test ... or cursor to the document, as you will. Come Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth. Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit help ...

In the Liturgy of the Hours there are several canticles, or songs, from the Book of Revelation.  These are powerful hymns of praise to Jesus Christ worthy of meditation, and incorporating into your own prayer life, whether on the nights indicated, or as you read the Book of Revelation, or as you feel called to offer worship to the Lamb of God. from Vespers for Tuesdays — Revelation 4:11, 5:9, 10, 12 O Lord our God, you are worthy * to receive glory and honor and power. For you have created all things; * by your will they came to be and were made. Worthy are you, O Lord * to receive the scroll and break open its seals. For you were slain; * with your blood you purchased for God men from every race and tongue, * of every people and nation. You made of them a kingdom, † and priests to serve our God, * and they shall reign on earth. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain * to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, * honor and glory and praise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, * ...

The Book of Revelation is a rare text to be a part of the Lectionary for the Mass. But it is read under some circumstances and here are some of the notable moments and feasts when that happens. The Chrism Mass on Thursday of Holy Week Revelation 1:5-8 is the second reading at this Mass at which the Bishop blesses the Oil of the Sick and the Oil of Catechumens and consecrates the Chrism. The reading is likely included at this mass—which is to be "a manifestation of the Priests' communion with their Bishop" and at which the Bishop is urged to make his homily "about priestly anointing"—is likely included because it lauds Christ "who has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father." It is the second reading for the Sundays of Easter, Year C , and in Year II it is the "Epistle"/First Reading for the weekday masses of the Thirty-Third and Thirty-Fourth Weeks of Ordinary time. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug 15) At the Ma...

Wednesdays for many Catholics are dedicated to devotion to St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of our Lord, Jesus. I’ve been trying to grow my devotion to Joseph by asking for his intercession throughout the day, but a lot of the St Joseph prayers I’ve found are longer, not easily memorized, and often a bit … effusive. Looking for something more like the Angelic Salutation of Mary, aka the “Hail Mary,” I turned to Scripture (what little there is about Joseph) to compose something comparable without sounding totally derivative (it’s admittedly a little derivative…).  Joseph has his own Angelic Salutation “Joseph, son of David” (Matthew 1:20) during a dream and in later dreams he is repeatedly called to “Rise” (Mt 2:13, 20) which I made part of the petition. That Joseph names Jesus (Mt 1:21, 25), the name above all other names  (Phil 2:9) strikes me as key to Joseph’s identity in addition to his betrothal to Mary. “Shadow of the Father” applied to Jos...

 Edward Scissorhands is a great Christmas movie. Now I don't mean that it's a great movie set at Christmas time (enter the Die Hard debate), though indeed there is a Christmas party and snow, I mean that it is a movie that brings the meaning of Christmas to the screen. On the exterior, the suburbian neighborhood where the movie primarily takes place is clean, well ordered, regular as clockwork, as evidenced by the smooth ballet of cars as the husbands leave for work. Everything seems, at least, pleasant. But there are hints that all is not well; bored housewives seduce the handyman, there is a preoccupation with looking good rather than being good, absentee parents deny their children a reasonable share in their goods, justice outweighs mercy, gossip runs rapant, and the only evidence of religion is a judgmental, neurotic religion. Frankly, this is a lot like the world in general Enter Edward. Peg Boggs, an Avon salesperson, the personification of obsession with appearance an...

  O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis O Key of David, opening the gates of God's eternal Kingdom: come and free the prisoners of darkness! We often speak of having a "God-sized hole" in our hearts, a variation of Augustine's "our hearts our restless until they rest in you." I have been struck this year, even before the O Antiphons began, with the notion that Jesus' is THE key that fits this hole (which means the whole does indeed have a definite shape, only to be fitted by a particular key). But rather than the key turning to open the gates that reveal the mysteries of God, the key is the still point of Creation, and it is we who must turn around him,  that is, we must convert,  con-verte to turn  around (Lat.). Our whole life must make Christ the center, everything must be fitted to him, or the gates to God's ete...