The First Sunday of Advent 2024 sees new Scripture readings at Mass. Although the Bible verses used haven’t changed, some of the words have. Some people will think, ‘About time, too,’ while others will complain that there was nothing wrong with the old readings. The reasons for the change go to the nature of the …
The Annunciation celebrates Christ’s Incarnation. Every year we celebrate The Annunciation on 25th March. This year (2024), however, we don’t; instead we celebrate The Annunciation on 8th April. We also postponed The Annunciation in 2013, 2016, and 2018, and shall do so again in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2035. In each of these years, March …
The O Antiphons refers to the Magnificat antiphons at Vespers during the last week of Advent. This is the culmination of the Advent time of preparation for Christmas. Advent is divided into two unequal parts. The first part looks forward to the second coming of Christ at the end of time, whereas the second part …
How many days are there in Lent? We all know that – it’s 40. Or is it? Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. There are four days before the First Sunday of Lent, then six weeks of Lent. That gives 46 days, not 40. But Sundays don’t count, so if we take off the six Sundays, …
Towards the end of September I put a message on this website saying it would be offline for a few days. It is now Christmas and the website is only just back online. In Psalm 89 we pray, ‘To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch …
22nd-27th August 2022 Why do monks need to go on retreat? Surely their whole life is one of prayer? The purpose of the monastic life is to search for God. When a Novice or Junior monk applies to make temporary or solemn profession, the letter to the Abbot states, ‘I … desiring to seek God …
Feasts this Week
All are memoria unless otherwise stated.
Sunday Cycle: Year A
Weekday Cycle: Year 2
NB: This year, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on Sunday 16th August.
Week beginning 9th August August 2026
Sunday
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday
St Laurence, deacon and martyr (Feast)
Tuesday
St Clare of Assisi, virgin and religious
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
St Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
Saturday
Daily Reading from the Rule of St Benedict
CHAPTER 58: PROCEDURE FOR ADMITTING BRETHREN
WHEN a newcomer arrives for the monastic life, he is not to be given an easy entrance, but, as the Apostle says, ‘Test the spirits, to see whether they are of God’ (1 John 4). So if the newcomer goes on knocking, and after four or five days has proved patient in putting up with harsh treatment and difficulty of getting in, and is still persistent in his purpose, then he may be allowed to come in and be lodged in the guesthouse for a few days.
After that let him live in the novitiate, where the novices study, eat and sleep. A senior monk is to be appointed over them, one who will be skilful in winning souls, and he must watch over them with the utmost care. He must try his best to see if the novice is really seeking God, if he is eager for the Work of God, for obedience, for humiliations, and let him be clearly warned of the hardship and the roughness of the road to God.
If he promises to persevere in his intention to stay, after two months have elapsed this Rule is to be read to him right through, and he is to be told: ‘Here is the law under which you wish to take service. If you are able to keep it, come in; but if you cannot, you are free to go’. If he still stands firm, then let him be taken back into the novitiate and again tried in all patience. When six months have elapsed, let the Rule be read to him, so that he may know what he is undertaking. If he still stands firm, after four months let the same Rule be again read to him. If, after thinking it well over, he promises to keep all the rules and to do all that is commanded him, then he may be received into the community, fully realising as fixed by the law of the Rule that from that day forward it will not be lawful for him to leave the monastery, or to shake his neck free from under the yoke of the Rule, which it has been open to him either to refuse or to accept during the long time he has had to make up his mind.
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The First Sunday of Advent 2024 sees new Scripture readings at Mass. Although the Bible verses used haven’t changed, some of the words have. Some people will think, ‘About time, too,’ while others will complain that there was nothing wrong with the old readings. The reasons for the change go to the nature of the …
The Annunciation celebrates Christ’s Incarnation. Every year we celebrate The Annunciation on 25th March. This year (2024), however, we don’t; instead we celebrate The Annunciation on 8th April. We also postponed The Annunciation in 2013, 2016, and 2018, and shall do so again in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2035. In each of these years, March …
The O Antiphons refers to the Magnificat antiphons at Vespers during the last week of Advent. This is the culmination of the Advent time of preparation for Christmas. Advent is divided into two unequal parts. The first part looks forward to the second coming of Christ at the end of time, whereas the second part …
How many days are there in Lent? We all know that – it’s 40. Or is it? Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. There are four days before the First Sunday of Lent, then six weeks of Lent. That gives 46 days, not 40. But Sundays don’t count, so if we take off the six Sundays, …
Towards the end of September I put a message on this website saying it would be offline for a few days. It is now Christmas and the website is only just back online. In Psalm 89 we pray, ‘To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch …
22nd-27th August 2022 Why do monks need to go on retreat? Surely their whole life is one of prayer? The purpose of the monastic life is to search for God. When a Novice or Junior monk applies to make temporary or solemn profession, the letter to the Abbot states, ‘I … desiring to seek God …