The Testament of Pope Francis
The preaching of St. Peter Julian Eymard on the Institution of the Eucharist has deeply left its mark on me. I have returned to one particular homily many, many times through the years, even copying it out in my own...
Author: V. J. Tarantino
Arbiter of Morality: Caesar or God
These are delicate times, in the Church and in the world. Our blessed Lord has already told us how to understand the state vis á vis the Church: Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to...
JD Vance and Pope Francis on the Order of Love
It is hard to say which is more remarkable: Patristic/Scholastic theological concepts being invoked by the Vice President of the United States of America, or the Pope feeling the need to put out the fire. The ordo amoris… sure. Of course. There is an...
Sacramentality in light of Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium, Part I
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger. O blessed virgin, whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia! This evening began our last thematic celebration of the...
The Waters of the Font
One of the things we do here at Sacred Beauty, our small Association of the Faithful, is the composing of liturgical music, drawn largely from sacred texts of the saints, fathers, and doctors of the Church, in the hopes of...
A Moment of Remembrance
“I tried to shake him awake, but there was nothing. The child was stiff, blue, dark blue in color from the cold.” I read today in the New York Times of how Jumaa al-Batran, three weeks old, died of hypothermia overnight in his...
Reflection The Golden Nights of the O Antiphons, Part III
This final section of the O Antiphon literary meditation is the true destination, where the joy and hope are realized and the most beautiful citations from the saints are to be found. (Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.)...
The Golden Nights of the O Antiphons, Part II
The first installment of this literary meditation was posted on Tuesday; this second installment deals thematically with art and beauty, and with their true power. The conclusion, with its promised light and joy, will follow soon. As was the case with...
The Root of Jesse’s stem
A Brief Meditation on Today’s Mass Readings Today’s Gospel passage is nested in a literary configuring which itself tells a story: the first two chapters, alone among the pages of Luke, recall a genre specific to early Judaism, known as a...
The Golden Nights of the O Antiphons, Part I
[Author’s note: This piece explores, through the lens of my own experience, humanity’s need for salvation, with all our impulse to creativity and self-determining possibility for good or for ill. The piece requires patience, as it is not until the...
A Rainbow, an Arbiter of Peace — Sancta et Immaculata
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a dogma the full implications of which are perhaps too little considered. From the first moment I heard it sung, I fell in love with the medieval chant Sancta et Immaculata, “Holy and Spotless...
A reflection on the Eschaton for the Last Day of the year
But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. — Matthew 24:36 A week or two ago, I received an email with a question from someone I deeply...
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