

Taste and See
“Taste and see that the lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). Complete stillness. The priest muttered inaudible prayers at the altar. Incense billowed upwards, lit up in a haze around the few twinkling candles. Time stood still, while stone walls reverberated with soft gregorian melodies. The young man was transfixed, kneeling through his first Mass at the Grande Chartreuse cloister in Southeastern France. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has no effect in a soul that is barren. Our souls are


Our Formation in the Blessed Mother
When a child takes his first steps, a mother is there to guard and guide. When the child reaches out to the world, to learn about hot and cold, love and fear, beauty and wonder, a mother is always close by, gently comforting and instructing. So it is with our Blessed Mother, the Queen of Heaven, who comforts and directs us in our formation as servants of God. The Church too, is a kind of mother. In her beautiful worship, in the Mass and the Daily Office, we discover how to be


An Enchanted World
“I felt there was no happier person on earth than I, and I doubted if there could be greater and fuller happiness in the kingdom of heaven. The whole outside world also seemed to me full of charm and delight. Everything drew me to love and thank God: people, trees, plants and animals. I saw them all as my kinfolk; I found in all of them the magic of the name of Jesus” (The Way of the Pilgrim). If we could only recognize the things that make for peace. A soul filled up with Ch


A Generous Heart
“The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself” (Proverbs 11:25). She was a constant pain in the neck. As a young girl, St. Brigid, seized every opportunity to feed the poor. Everytime her parents turned around, the cabinets were emptied. Milk, butter, porkchops, all of it passed through her hands to every passing beggar. Eventually, her father had enough. It was time for this girl to get married. He drove her away to the King of Leinster