The Final Post

Dear Ones,

I am moving to New York.  I will pray for you and for the Archbishop and the Priests of the Cathedral, to whom this little nobody owes a very great debt.  I will pray for the on-going restoration of the Cathedral because it is for the salvation of souls and the glory of God.  

In your kindness, pray for me too.

Episcopal Boyishness

Bishops share a laugh outside St. Michael's Cathedral last May.

It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes. 

                    – St. Thomas Aquinas

Our Lady

Our Lady is called by the devotional title Morning Star in the mural above the Lady altar in St. Michael's Cathedral.

Our Lady's love is like a stream that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows back to its Source. 

        - St. Marguerite Bourgeoys

An Irish Saint's Wish-list

An angel from above the nativity scene in St. Michael's Cathedral.

I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts. I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that he would bestow a good blessing upon me. I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity. 

                      – St Brigid

Prayer for a Stressful Time

A representation of the Holy Spirit on the ambo in St. Michael's Cathedral. We don't call Him "the Comforter" for nothing.

May He support us all the day long,

till the shades lengthen, 

and the evening comes,

and the busy world is hushed,

and the fever of life is over and our work is done!

Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging,

and a holy rest, and peace at the last. 

                - Blessed John Henry Newman

On the Anniversary of Roe v Wade

The Holy Family in a stained glass window of St. Michael's Cathedral.

America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation...Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign. 

                   – Blessed Mother Teresa

Archbishop Dennis T O'Connor, CSB

The likeness of His Grace Archbishop O'Connor, 3rd archbishop of Toronto, hangs in the sacristy of St. Michael's Cathedral.

His Grace was the first Basilian priest to be consecrated to the episcopate and the first Ontario-born Bishop of Toronto. Let us pray for him and for the great mission of his episcopate (1899-1908): 

Truly Catholic education in truly Catholic schools.

The Holy Trinity

An angel in the stained glass windows of St. Michael's Cathedral.

I adore You, O most Holy Trinity,  O One God in the Holy Trinity,  for having enobled the Immaculate in such a divine way. And I will never cease daily from the first moment I awake to adore You most humbly, O Divine Trinity, with my face to the ground, repeating three times: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now,  and will be for ever. Amen. 

                         – St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

Thy Cross

A Crucifix on the main altar of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord! Thy cross is my resting place. 

              – Blessed Angela of Foligno

While We Have Time

A grave marker for the Hughes Family in the basement crypt of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Brethren, let us do good while we have time.  – St. Francis of Assisi

Requiem Aeternam...

The area around St. Michael's Cathedral was filled with Police and media vehicles today, following the injury and subsequent death of Toronto Police Sergeant Ryan Russell 

at nearby St. Michael's Hospital. 

 ...dona ei, Domine et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.

Going Back to The Gospel

The ambo in St. Michael's Cathedral.

Let us go back to the holy source, to the Gospel, the word of God.  Let us draw from it lessons of moral strength, heroic patience, tenderness for all creatures and for souls.  Let us Christians be sure never to “break the bruised reed” nor to “quench the smoking flax.”...Let us beware: nothing is so delicate and so sacred as the human soul, nothing is so quickly bruised.  Let each one of our words and deeds contain a principle of life that, penetrating other spirits, will communicate light and strength and will reveal God to them. 

         – Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur 

J*M*J

The Holy Family in the Nativity scene at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Yours truly often writes J*M*J in honor of the Holy Family at the top of personal letters and (in case you think you’ve seen it all) I happen to know that these two crazy kids have placed their marriage under the patronage of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It might also interest you to note that the Eucharistic Adoration available on weekdays at St. Michael's Cathedral played a role in their love-story.  

Almost By the Sheep

Shepherds and sheep attend the Nativity scene in St. Michael's Cathedral.

The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings. 

                  – GK Chesterton

20+C+M+B+11

The Magi adore Our Little Lord in the Nativity scene at a side altar in St. Michael's Cathedral.

If the Magi had come in search of an earthly King, they would have been disconcerted at finding that they had taken the trouble to come such a long way for nothing. Consequently they would have neither adored nor offered gifts. But since they sought a heavenly King, though they found in Him no signs of royal pre-eminence, yet, content with the testimony of the star alone, they adored: for they saw a man, and they acknowledged a God. 

              - St. John Chrysostom

Singing is a Service

Members of the St. Michael's Boys' Choir sing.

Always remember that your singing is a service. It is a service to God, offering him the praise that is due. It is a service to other worshippers, helping them raise their hearts and minds in prayer. And it is a service to the whole Church, a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy in which the choirs of angels and saints unite in one unending song of love and praise. 

       -    Pope Benedict XVI

      (Address to the Pueri Cantores Federation, 2010)

  

Fish

Fisheye view of St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo source

The power of obedience! The lake of Gennesareth had denied its fishes to Peter’s nets. A whole night in vain. Then, obedient, he lowered his net again to the water and they caught ‘a huge number of fish.’ Believe me: the miracle is repeated each day.


                      – St. Josemaria Escriva

Behold Thy Mother

Statue for the Marian Year outside St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Lord wills to let his face shine upon us through the face of the Mother of God. We serve a Mother who seems to grow more beautiful as new generations rise up and call her blessed.

                    - G.K. Chesterton