Category Archives: Spiritual Practices

Spiritual Practices

Ash Wednesday

Prayer the highest good

The highest good is prayer and conversation with God, because it means that we are in God’s company and in union with him. When light enters our bodily eyes our eyesight is sharpened; when a soul is intent on God, God’s inextinguishable light shines into it and makes it bright and clear. I am talking, of course, of prayer that comes from the heart and not from routine: not the prayer that is assigned to particular days or particular moments in time, but the prayer that happens continuously by day and by night.

Indeed the soul should not only turn to God at times of explicit prayer. Whatever we are engaged in, whether it is care for the poor, or some other duty, or some act of generosity, we should remember God and long for God. The love of God will be as salt is to food, making our actions into a perfect dish to set before the Lord of all things. Then it is right that we should receive the fruits of our labors, overflowing onto us through all eternity, if we have been offering them to him throughout our lives.

St John Chrysostom

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We should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favour except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?

Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, Let us hasten towards the Goal of PEACE, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of PEACE and all his blessings.

Pope St Clement
Letter to the Corinthians

Ash this Wednesday

the Morning Star

We possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts.

You have tasted that the Lord is good.* Come to him, a living stone,*.. chosen and precious in the sight of God and like living stones, let yourselves be built* into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2nd Letter of Peter

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Rest in the Lord

Rest in the Lord for he is your refuge

Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.

Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.

Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For this fountain is God himself.

Saint Ambrose

Trinity w Mary & John the Baptist
icon by Gallery Zograf Nadia



1st Annual Josephology Symposium . March 20

Symposium Speakers

Rev. Boniface Hicks, OSB

“St. Joseph presides over this intentional surrender to childlike obedience [which] takes place in St. Teresa’s fourth mansion [and] Joseph holds the lantern for us that can help us navigate this night,” explains former atheist, Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB, author of Through the Heart of St. Joseph and spiritual director. His talk will unveil how Joseph is a “secret weapon” of the spiritual life who can “increase” our spiritual wisdom and pace up the holy mountain.

Rev. Edward Looney

The Founder of JSI will give the Inaugural Address, giving us a thumbnail sketch of JSI’s hope and dreams, its inception, mission, goals, and an overview of the symposium’s theme and speakers.

Dr. Robert Fastiggi

This talk will explore Joseph’s role in God’s plan of Redemption, the requisite special graces he was given, his unique proximity to the order of the hypostatic union, such that, as Mary, the virgin God-bearer, can be called Coredemptrix because of her maternal cooperation with the Redeemer, is it possible to call Joseph, the virgin God-raiser, a Coredemptor due to his paternal cooperation with the Redeemer?

Dr. Christopher West

If Theology of the Body is a theological time-bomb set to explode in our millennium, then St. Joseph is its fuse! Dr. Christopher West, a spark-plug speaker and author himself, will ignite your understanding on Joseph’s manly purity and total gift of self in this dynamite talk steeped in the mind of John Paul II.

Dr. Elizabeth Lev

Art historian Dr. Elizabeth Lev, based in Rome, will provide a visual tour de force of Josephological art from the 200s AD up to present day, exploring how Joseph is “a beacon” today for godly fatherhood, masculinity, and chastity as she writes in her book Silent Knight.

Free Registration

Online Event

March 20, 2025