Paraclete Press Blog

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Psalm 50:2 I take pleasure in providing blessings for My children. The beauty you see and enjoy is a gift of My love. You have a super abundance of it … Continue reading →

By Sr. Fidelis This week is the anniversary of the Dedication of the Church of the Transfiguration at the Community of Jesus, and we opened the festivities with First Vespers on Saturday night. The chants selected for the feast were … Continue reading →

By Faithful Friar As the weather steadily improves, we look forward to ringing in our tower on sunny days, with the doors wide open, and we also look forward to welcoming the many guest ringers who come to share our … Continue reading →

By Sr. Fidelis If you look in one of the chant books for the Divine Office, you will note that the services during “Ordinary Time” have a heading for the weekday offices, Per hebdomadae, which means “through the week.” The … Continue reading →

By Faithful Friar As you may have read, seen or heard, the CJ Ringers hosted a day of ringing this past Saturday, and we were thrilled to have expert ringers join us from various towers around the globe. We had … Continue reading →

By Faithful Finch I have been taken with this fresco of St. Francis for the last two months. Monsignor Timothy Verdon spoke about how St. Francis spontaneously threw off his cloak to offer it to a nobleman he met who … Continue reading →

By Sr. Spero Recently a sister wrote about learning to leave well enough alone—learning not to straighten the crooked picture. That’s not my bent. My struggle is careless inattention to detail. I’m more apt to say: “crooked picture? what picture?” We are … Continue reading →

By Sr. Fidelis In 2007, I had the privilege of being part of a group of four cantors who spent the entire summer studying chant with Mary Berry in Cambridge, England. Dr. Berry taught us much about chant, and welcomed … Continue reading →

By Sr. Spero I was checking the title of a book about John Henry Newman, with the same title as his poem which became a popular hymn. The three words are Lead, Kindly, and Light, but there was also a comma, … Continue reading →