Here is the account of how St Augustine came to England, from Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History’: ‘In the year of our Lord 582, Maurice, the fifty-fourth from Augustus, ascended the throne, and reigned twenty-one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, a man renowned for learning and behaviour, was promoted to the apostolical see […]

On this day when the Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory is commemorated, we greet our dear friends in the Oxford and York Oratories. May their holy Founder live on in them! St Philip said: ‘One of the most efficient ways of keeping ourselves sinless is to have compassion for those who fall due […]

Bede was a monk of Jarrow, of which monastery ruins remain even today. Bede himself is famous for his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’. The book ends in this way: ‘And now, I beseech thee, good Jesus, that to whom thou hast graciously granted sweetly to partake of the words of thy wisdom and […]

  The Gospel today is taken from the great High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in St John’s Gospel. Here is part of it: ‘And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me […]

‘Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes …’ When we pray, we do not do so alone; we are […]

We have begun the oldest of all novenas, the nine days between Ascension and Pentecost, when Mary and the Apostles were in the Upper Room praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Here is a hymn you may like to use as a prayer in these days: ‘Come, Thou holy Paraclete, And […]

Here is part of the account of the Ascension, from the book of Acts: ‘As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why […]

Almost completely hidden from view, this fox will nevertheless leap up at the slightest sound that might herald the next meal … he is always ready! So should we be ready for the coming of the Lord. As the prophet Habakkuk wrote: ‘For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end—it will not […]

Today is also the Optional Memoria of St Dunstan, who in the tenth century was successively Abbot of Glastonbury, Bishop of Worcester, London, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Dunstan who established the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury Abbey, which continued through many vicissitudes until its Dissolution in 1539. It is still a place of […]

Today is the centenary of the birth of Pope St John Paul II. As we give thanks for his life, we ask also for his prayers for our Church, and for the world, this day. From today’s Gospel reading: ‘But when the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the […]