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Behold Thy King!

If Today You Hear His Voice... “Just as what brings heat make things expand, so it is the gift of love to stretch hearts wide open; it is a warm and glowing virtue…For there is nothing which so draws a man to return love, as when he understands that he who loves him is urgently longing for his affection.” - St John Chrysostom Early in the morning of this day, J...

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Tenebrae: Descending into Darkness

Tenebrae factae sunt—and it was dark (Mt. 27:45). Before the revision of the celebration of Holy Week in 1955, the Church traditionally chanted Tenebrae during the three days leading up to Easter, known as the Sacred Triduum. This dramatic ceremony was sung during the hours in darkness—hence its name, as Tenebrae is translated from the Latin for “darkness” or &ldqu...

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My People, What Have I Done to You?

On Good Friday, choirs around the world sing the Reproaches, also known as the Improperia, a series of antiphons and responses meant to be reproaches from Christ to His people. These reproaches are haunting, and worth listening to on this saddest of days, when the Creator of mankind was deserted, betrayed, tortured, and brutally murdered by the people He created to love and to love Him in retur...

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He is Risen! Alleluia!

As divine justice could not allow the Body that was united to the Word to see corruption, and there wait, like ours must, for the Archangel’s word to “rise and come to judgment,” so neither could it permit the dominion of death to be long over such a Victim. Jesus had said to the Jews: “A wicked generation seeketh a sign; and a sign shall not be given it, but that of Jon...

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A Sacred Heart Primer

“Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a movable feast, always falling 19 days after Pentecost. This year, it falls on June 24th. This primer is intended to help you understand and make the most out of this amazing devotion to the most lovable and lo...

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Te Deum Laudamus

The Te Deum is a traditional hymn of joy and thanksgiving. It’s author is unknown, although It is often attributed to Sts. Ambrose, Augustine, or Hilary. It is sung or prayed at the end of the Office of the Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours on Sundays outside of Lent, daily during the Octaves of Christmas and Easter, and on Solemnities and Feast Days. A partial indulgence is granted t...

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The Month of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord

In today's entry in his seminal work, The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger begins, “John the Baptist has pointed out the Lamb, Peter has firmly fixed His throne, Paul has prepared the Bride...” We've heard this many times before, but there are no coincidences with God. It is not a coincidence that we just celebrated, on June 23rd, the Birth of St John the Baptist...

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St Edith Stein, Pray for Us

The deeper a soul is bound to God, the more completely surrendered to grace, the stronger will be its influence on the form of the church. Conversely, the more an era is engulfed in the night of sin and estrangement from God the more it needs souls united to God. - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was born Jewish, lapsed into atheism, and ...

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Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell: nor wilt Thou give Thy holy one to see corruption. --Psalm xv. 10 On the third day after Mary's death, when the apostles gathered around her tomb, they found it empty. The sacred body had been carried up to the celestial paradise. Jesus Himself came to conduct her thither; the whole court of heaven came to welcome with songs of triumph the Moth...

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Piercing the Heart of a Saint

On August 26th, Discalced Carmelites and the community of Apostoli Viae celebrate the feast of the Transverberation (or Transpierecing of the Heart) of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin, Doctor, and Reformer of the Carmelite Order. The transverberation is a mystical grace wherein the Saint’s heart was pierced with a “dart of love” by an angel. St Teresa describes this experience ...

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