Interrupting the Silence

Category: Prayer

  • Waiting for Mary’s Answer

    This year the Fourth Sunday of Advent focuses on Gabriel’s annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The following is from St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel Read more

  • Alma Redemptoris Mater

    With the First Sunday in Advent the Marian hymn following compline changed from the Salve Regina to the Alma Redemptoris Mater. This will be used until the  Feast of the Presentation. There are two concluding collects: one for the Season of Advent one that is used from Christmas Eve until the Presentation. The Commonweal blog has Read more

  • Salve Regina

    Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you we cry, the banished children of Eve; to you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; lead us home at last and show us Read more

  • Feast of All Saints – Te Deum laudaumus

    You are God    Te Deum laudamus You are God: we praise you; You are the Lord; we acclaim you; You are the eternal Father: All creation worships you. To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and Read more

  • As They Love Their Cow

    “Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow – for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not Read more

  • Prayer Before the Crucifix

    The following is said to be St. Francis’ prayer before the crucifix: Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. Give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out Your holy and true command. Amen.   Read more

  • St. Francis – The Canticle of the Creatures

    October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved and, perhaps, least imitated of the saints. Too often Francis is sentimentalized and domesticated. Francis, however, sought identification with Christ through the poverty and suffering of Christ, his fellow human beings, and his own. He received the stigmata, the marks Read more

  • Angelic Thoughts and Prayers on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

    Today, September 29, is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. With every liturgy we celebrate we “[join] our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven,” who are forever proclaiming the glory of God’s Name. The liturgy here on earth becomes one with the heavenly liturgy. The voices of Read more

  • On Entering Church – Talking or Praying?

    It is interesting to watch how people enter the church each week. I am really referring to what happens in the narthex, that vestibule or hallway area just outside the nave or what most people commonly think of as the church. Traditionally, the narthex was a “part of the church building, but was not considered Read more