Here is another book worth reading slowly, and using as a guide to meditation. The book is entitled “Knowing the Love of God”, a collection of retreat conferences given by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1864), a French Dominican priest and brilliant theologian ..read more

Meditations and Readings for Lent from St. Thomas Aquinas, Translated by Father Philip Hughes (London, Sheed and Ward, 1937). Daily meditations for Lent from the Angelic Doctor. Meditations for Lent by Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (Bishop Bossuet was a great orator in the 17th century. His works were favored by saints and Popes (such as Pope Pius XII). Because of his great piety and eloquence, he was considered the greatest preacher of his time ..read more

Septuagesima Sunday falls on January 28 this year and Ash Wednesday falls on February 14, Valentine’s Day. Plan accordingly if you intend to fast on Ash Wednesday. I have not been posting much on this blog recently because I have been busy moving my household to a small island in the Mediterranean. But I have been praying, meditating, and doing a lot of spiritual and classical reading. My recommendation for reading during this penitential season is Dante’s Inferno, the Robert Hollander translation. I’m taking a recorded online course on the Divine Comedy, offered by Dr. Robert Royal on The Ca ..read more

Amoretti: Sonnet 62 by Edmund Spenser The weary yeare his race now having run, The new begins his compast course anew: with shew of morning mylde he hath begun, betokening peace and plenty to ensew, So let us, which this chaunge of weather vew, chaunge eeke our mynds and former lives amend; the old yeares sinnes forepast let us eschew, and fly the faults with which we did offend. Then shall the new yeares joy forth freshly send into the glooming world his gladsome ray: and all these stormes which now his beauty blend, shall turne to caulmes and tymely cleare away. So likewise love cheare you ..read more

November lends itself to introspection and meditation. As the days shorten and the weather cools, we retreat into cozy rooms and thick blankets. The month begins with two solemn feast days: All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day. Holy Mother Church dedicates the entire month to meditating on the Four Last Things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. Modern man, the creature produced by the Industrial Revolution and Liberalism, is loathe to reflect on death. Every aspect of modern life deflects our attention from the truth right in front of our eyes every minute of the day — that at any moment, we can ..read more

The green elm with the one great bough of gold Lets leaves into the grass slip, one by one, The short hill grass, the mushrooms small milk-white Harebell and scabious and tormentil, That blackberry and gorse, in dew and sun, Bow down to; and the wind travels too light To shake the fallen birch leaves from the fern; The gossamers wander at their own will. At heavier steps than birds’ the squirrels scold. The rich scene has grown fresh again and new As Spring and to the touch is not more cool Than it is warm to the gaze: and now I might As happy be as earth is beautiful, Were I some other or wi ..read more

Meditations on Death by Thomas à Kempis is not on most people’s beach reading list for summer 2023. Yet if there’s one thing that everyone on earth will experience, it’s death. Meditating on death isn’t only a Catholic practice. Buddhists meditate on death to cultivate detachment. Buddhist monks have meditated for centuries in charnel grounds to impress upon them how fleeting life is. The Catholic Church has always encouraged us to meditate upon death to impress upon us just how temporary our sojourn in this world is and how urgently we need to prepare our souls for the moment when it leaves t ..read more

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This devotion began in France after the apparitions of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paray-le-Monial in the 17th century. The Sacred Heart devotion became popular and spread to many countries. Later, Pope Leo XIII established June as the month of the Sacred Heart. I recommend a book published in 1875 entitled “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus : Practical Meditations for Each Day of the Month of June” by Abbé Berlioux. There is an entry for each day in June, focusing on an aspect of the Sacred Heart, a story of a sinne ..read more

Supercharge your Lent by using Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Lent (from The Liturgical Year). This book contains a chapter on the history of Lent, the mystery of Lent, morning and evening prayers. For each day in Lent, you read the prayers of the Mass and commentaries by Gueranger, which are perfect for meditation. Download the book in PDF format from Archive.org (either print it or upload it to your iBooks for easy reading ..read more

“et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebræ eam non comprehenderunt” —John 1:5 Today is Septuagesima Sunday. During this two-and-a-half week season called Septuagesimatide, which bridges the Christmas season just ended and Ash Wednesday, the Church through the Divine Liturgy and traditional practices, urges Catholics to prepare for Lent. For centuries, Catholics have observed Septuagesima devoutly until one day in the 1960s, the modernists cancelled tradition and piety, and in its place, introduced . . . nothing, just “ordinary time “. There’s nothing ordinary at all about the period just before Ash ..read more