A few years back I decided to make life easier for my lady barbers in Worcester by having the last vestiges of hair removed from the top of my head. I was taking my cue from my prematurely bald nephew, Tim, who sang the praises of the look and feel of… Read More »Hair, hair
Fr. Peter in El Paso, Texas, concelebrating Mass with Bishop Mark Seitz Today’s post is written by Fr. Peter Precourt, A.A. He is currently living in El Paso, Texas, exploring apostolic possibilities for our new foundation, which will be established this year. Hello! Remember me? In early March I had… Read More »Guest post: letter from the desert
Fr. Denys Gonthier, esteemed professor of French at Assumption for many years, was fond of quoting Gabriel Marcel, twentieth century French existentialist, to the effect that absence is another form of presence. Fr. Denys was a lover of mystery and paradox, so the effect of this statement, upending our customary way… Read More »I will not leave you orphans
In the past month, two Assumptionist brothers passed on from this life – Fr. Camillus Thibault and Fr. Oliver Blanchette. Here, Fr. Dennis reflects on the joy and zeal they brought to our lives and their ministries. Their exchanges across the table at Old English Road were often feisty and… Read More »Cam and Ollie
Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes the observation toward the beginning of Life Together, written while the German pastor was in prison for resisting the Nazi regime, that someone joining a Christian community would do well to let die the ideal of a “perfect” community. He means dying in the sense of really… Read More »Life Together in Pandemic Time
Robert T Barrett, Three Women at the Tomb I’m sure we are not all control freaks, but the inclination to want to have control over things is alive and well in most of us. This is what makes a pandemic regime so difficult, where large swaths of our lives have fallen… Read More »…and have it abundantly.
Our Jubilee got run over by a pandemic. Well, yes and no. Already, several of the events that were to highlight the 175th anniversary of our founding have been cancelled, and a number of others in the summer will likely suffer the same fate. More than the events themselves, the anxieties and preoccupations… Read More »The best laid plans…
As the curtain rises on this famous Gospel scene, we find Cleopas and the other unnamed disciple walking away from Jerusalem in something of a daze. They’re unfocused, literally disoriented – walking away from the East, away from Jerusalem, away from the Resurrection. Another component of their darkness is that… Read More »On the road to Emmaus
Eugène Burnand,The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection Happy Easter! Chances are the feelings that we associate with Easter this year are not the same as usual – and there’s something unsettling about that. I’ve always been struck by the joy of Easter morning and how it insinuates… Read More »Easter Sunday, April 12th
“Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image!” The following excerpt is froman ancient homily for Holy Saturday Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The… Read More »Holy Saturday, April 11th