An Endorsement

Statue of St. Joseph and infant Jesus in St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

I do not remember that I ever asked St. Joseph at any time for anything which he did not obtain for me.  – St. Teresa of Avila

Sacred Heart

Jesus reveals his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary in a stained glass window at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Behold this Heart which has so loved man.

 - Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary

The Gates

The bars of a gate at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The gates of Heaven are open for all creatures (who repent). 

Remember Mary Magdalene.  

 – St. Padre Pio

Red Mass

The Red Mass is held today in St. Michael's Cathedral.

I die the King’s faithful servant, but God’s first. – St. Thomas More's last words before his execution.

St. Thomas More, you heavenly patron of statesmen and lawyers, pray for us.

The Fire

Fire alarm in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

After communion if you do not feel some spiritual nourishment, this is a sign of spiritual infirmity or spiritual death. The fire has been put in your breast, but you have not felt the heat. The honey has been placed in your mouth, but you have not tasted the sweetness.

But if you do feel some consolation, it is no credit to you, but to His immense goodness, which reaches out to the bad and consoles the ungrateful, and so you say in your heart: I have detested your mercy and cursed your gifts. If God has done such good to me, a sinner, what would He do, if I were to correct my life? Thus of all people I want to change myself and come close to You forever.  

                                       – St. Bonaventure

Darkness

St. Michael's Cathedral in crepuscular light.

Lord my God, You who have formed and reformed me, tell my desiring soul what You are besides what it has seen so that it may see clearly that which it desires. It strives so that it may see more, and it sees nothing beyond what it has seen save darkness. Or rather it does not see darkness, which is not in You in any way; but it sees that it cannot see more because of its own darkness. Why is this, Lord, why is this? Is its eye darkened by its weakness, or is it dazzled by Your splendour? In truth it is both darkened in itself and dazzled by You.

                                     - St. Anselm

Origen on Baptism

A scallop shell (a common symbol of our Christian baptism) in the moulding in St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

If you transgress, you write unto yourself the handwriting of sin. But, behold, when you have once approached to the cross of Christ and to the grace of baptism, your handwriting is affixed to the cross and blotted out in the font of baptism.  

                         - Origen

St. Paul on the Love of God

Statue of St. Paul in St. Michael's Cathedral.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

                           – Romans 8:38-9

Treasures

A squirrel enjoys a nut in the side garden of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  

                           – Luke 12:33-4

Motherhood and Cathedrals

smart-mouthed photo source : )

A mother is the most important person on earth. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any Cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. 

                 – Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

    

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

A processional cross at St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo credit

O Crux, splendidior cunctis astris, mundo celebris, hominibus multum amabilis, sanctior universis: quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi, dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens pondera!

St. John Chrysostom on Chit-Chat in the Church

The altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Michael's Cathedral with the Tabernacle lamp hanging in front.

When you are before the altar where Christ reposes, you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there are troops of angels and archangels standing by you, and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration. 

                - St. John Chrysostom

Flowering of the Soul

A planter outside St. Michael's Cathedral in bloom.  Face of St. Edwin of Northumbria visible in background.

The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self.  There is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.           

                          – St. Padre Pio

A Thought for September 11th

A marker for the Murray family burials in the basement crypt of St. Michael's Cathedral.

If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. 

                               – St. Gregory the Great

Proverbs 22:6

The junior boys' choir from the nearby St. Michael's Choir School.

Give me a boy until the age of seven and I shall show you the man.  

                         – St. Francis Xavier

Send your son to learn Gregorian chant and Catholic manhood in a school affiliated with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome.  Then just sit back in your pew and swell with pride when he sings with the angels at Holy Mass in St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Price

A cash register in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral is used for the sale of religious items for restoration of the organ.

Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur married a non-practicing Catholic (Felix Leseur) who became increasingly hostile to her Catholicism. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1912 she told her husband:

I am absolutely certain that when you return to God, you will not stop on the way because you never do things by halves…You will someday become a priest.

To this he responded: “Elizabeth, you know my sentiments. I’ve sworn hatred of God, I shall live in that hatred and I shall die in it.”  After she died in 1914, her husband discovered a note written to him among her papers:

In 1905, I asked Almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day that I die, the price will have been paid. Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband.

In 1923, at the age of 62, Felix Leseur was ordained a priest.

An Urgent Reminder

Statue of Mary and Jesus in a niche at the Lady altar in St. Michael's Cathedral.

It’s your mother’s birthday.

Nativitas gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ ex semine Abrahæ, ortæ de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David. Nativitas est hodie sanctæ Mariæ Virginis, cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

Him Who Is the Light

A charming decorative light fixture in the tiny narthex of St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist … fix your eyes on Him Who is the light; bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart; ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him, the love of loving Him, the courage to serve Him. Seek Him fervently. 

                  – Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Admirable Heights

A dormer window at St. Michael's Cathedral adds height and light.

O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him. Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally...

                               – St. Francis of Assisi

Suffering

A set of crutches leans against  a column in the nave of St. Michael's Cathedral.

From here on earth, love cannot live without suffering. It is through loving the cross that we discover His Heart, for divine Love never lives without suffering. I want my whole life to be inspired by love. He who loves, does all things easily, or, if he suffers, he suffers bravely. Why is suffering necessary? Because on earth, pure love cannot exist without suffering. O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross when I think of yours! 

          - St. Bernadette Soubirous

Cup of Salvation

Detail of chalice at St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo credit

Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.

Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.

The Duty of the Moment

A garbage can in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral has been shined like new by some dutiful person.

The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you...There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God.  

             – Servant of God Catherine Doherty