Henry II, Count of Champagne, king of Jerusalem, dies from falling out a first-floor window at his palace in Acre. His widow, Isabella I, becomes regent while the kingdom is thrown into consternation. #InTheYearOfMyNumberOfFollowers via @wikipedia.org

Sometimes I wonder if some of these friars sought out a vow of obedience, perhaps unconsciously, precisely because they resent authority and need to be in conflict with it. Family of origin issues, that sort of thing.

In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone – Christ is with me. Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, leaving me only the tiniest, last bit. ~ St. Paul Le-Bao-Tinh (Office of Readings)

I love how some friar put a note on a turkey in our freezer that says "for parish food drive," as if one of the brethren would see it and say, all right, no name, fair game! and casually thaw a big turkey and cook it up for a snack

Or, if you use a Solesmes Liber Hymnarius, and you should, for your LoH hymnody needs, the Dies Irae parts for this week start on page 126.

Don't forget kids, on ferial days this week for the hymn at Evening/Morning Prayer and Office of Readings you can sing/recite some Dies Irae. (It's in the back.) Or if you use the typical edition Liturgia Horarum, the Dies Irae parts are in line with this week's proper, as they should be.

Greeting the People of God after Mass quote of the (Lord's) day: "Father Charles is a Pisces. That's why he's so creative on the altar."

Yesterday I narrowly rescued a couple from losing their wedding deposit by a violation of our much-derided "no flower petals" policy.

From the things you never imagined having to say file: "Is he smoking weed in the vestibule again?"

People who text you memes and other such trifles early in the morning are the ones who should be deported.

Whoever prays for the coming of the kingdom of God within himself is praying rightly, praying for the kingdom to dawn in him, bear fruit and reach perfection. … Then we will be a spiritual garden of Eden for God to walk in. ~ Origen (Office of Readings) #ChristTheKing

I wouldn't make it as a Neocat. I think I'm more of a paleocat.

I went to a place and asked for some tacos and some rice and beans and the young lady asked if I wanted hot sauce. Yes. Then she asked if I wanted red or green. And at that moment I finally understood how Winnie-the-Pooh felt when Rabbit asked him if he wanted honey or condensed milk with his bread.

I get into the elevator and a friar for some reason needs me to know a current Notre Dame sports score. In my whole religious life I have never grasped in the least why it is I am supposed to care about this.

@dixitinsipiens.bsky.social Thanks for the re-bleat on that one.

@pacificwatershrew.bsky.social Thanks for the re-bleat on that one.

Shot in the dark, I know. But if someone in Cape Coral, FL were thinking about the Catholic faith and seeking a place where she could explore this gently, would anyone have any advice about where to go? A certain parish for example.

'Sing to him a new song.' Rid yourself of what is old and worn out, for you know a new song. A new human being, a new covenant; a new song. … Let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives. ~ St. Augustine (Office of Readings) #StCecilia #StCeciliasDay

Fortunately I feel like I would be too dumb for an artificially intelligent girlfriend so no threat to my celibacy from this fad

Friar who won't eat onions, garlic, or cheese is trying to tell me which local place has the best pizza.

Writing the rare letter on which I append the "STL" after my "OFM Cap.", which usually means I'm having fun being something of a crank.

Conceiving a haunting, tragicomic, slightly absurdist TV series based on my existence. Working title: Brown Mirror.

Thinking of when I was first in Rome and going to Italian school every day, how this one old Italian friar gave me this advice on how to make good progress: "Try to fall in love with the teacher."

Ha ha one of our younger friars in formation entered the church with some devout-looking person, presumably to show her the place, only to find the vestibule packed, children running around and screaming and me yelling wedding rehearsal shtick over the din as I try to line up a bridal procession.

Ah, the aftermath of the Ignatius book fair, wherein Teddy starts nitpicking the accuracy of the Carlo Acutis graphic novel “how are they playing Mario Kart on the original Xbox‽”

Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.

I'm all for this thing now that a band in the hardcore-punk-metalcore spectrum has a growling young lady for a singer with some constellation of glasses, bangs, and tattoos, but I'm glad this wasn't a thing when I was young or it would have produced even more distraction in my adolescence.

Cap'n Crunch oops all cyanide

This remarkable Epstein files business makes me think of Elizabeth of Hungary's spiritual director, Conrad of Marburg, who was assassinated after accusing some noble of conducting "satanic orgies." Folks generally don't like this stuff revealed. I feel like there has to be a trick or a catch here.

The liturgy newsletter from the Archdiocese of NY says the new English LotH will come into use on Ash Wednesday 2027. This is the first time I have heard this.

I got through Metallica cutting their hair, but Black Flag on the front page of the New York Times arts section? Now I know I have lived too long.

Thus speaks the bride, anxious about the beauty God has given her, and seeking to learn how her comeliness may continue for ever. ~ St. Gregory of Nyssa (Office of Readings)

What do we love? A good that words cannot describe, a good that is for ever giving, a good that is the Creator of all good [ineffabile bonum, bonum beneficum, bonum bonorum omnium creatorem]. ~ St. Augustine (Office of Readings)

enjoying my day off by cleaning my bathroom to the Escape From New York theme

Crisis. Five days until Christ the King and I can't find my copy of Quas primas.

From St Andrew of Crete's 'On the Palm Branches': Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that entering us with the whole of his being, he may draw the whole of our being into himself and place the whole of his in us. (Office of Readings)

One time in college we showed up for Nietzsche class but Professor Forbath had accidentally watched Beavis & Butthead the night before and so she told us about being a little girl in the Alps with passion plays and a world built out of meaning and now God help us you have the Beavis and the Butthead

Friary supper chat without context. "How did that even work? You can't just go up to the nuncio and fart."

On Monday evenings I'm with the OCIA group and I can also stay up a little later because Tuesday is my day off and I don't have to get up as early as usual. All this is to say that on Mondays I get to have an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon and it is a great delight.

About half of phones that are said with certainty to have been left in church turn out to have been left in church. You lost it. That means you're not certain where it is. Let us discipline our speech.

Pastor: "Can you listen for the doorbell? I'm expecting someone from the Cardinal's Appeal. Her name is N." Me: "Ok. What should I do with her if she arrives?" Pastor: "I don't know. Act poor."

Old post! Whatever happened to St. Elizabeth of Hungary's children?

Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. ~ Konrad von Marburg (Office of Readings for St. Elizabeth of Hungary)

why didn't the machines just make everyone their own matrix so they couldn't get in cahoots

Friar text message of the day: "Perhaps the experience of [Mass according to the 1962 missal] made him repent of concubinage."

Me: "Usually at this point [in the Order of Baptism for One Child] I give a little homily." Baby: "Pffffft!" Baby's guests: [raucous laughter]

Small child after Mass: "Hi Fr. Charles!" Me: "Hi! Good to see you today. Who's your friend?" [I indicate a stuffed animal panda in her arms.] Child: "This is my dog!"

"Let us not resist his first coming [adventus] so that we may not dread the second." ~ St. Augustine (Office of Readings)

After Mass a parishioner demanded to know if our archbishop was one of those who voted against the @usccbofficial.bsky.social special message on immigration. I'm like, bro, I should know this? I'm still waiting for him to reply to my July 2021 letter regarding Traditionis custodes art. 5.