Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi
There's something I don't talk about often: before I was a deacon, I was a music director.
Fourteen years. Organist, cantor, choir director. I felt it when the liturgy was working - and I felt it when it wasn't.
Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi. How we pray shapes what we believe shapes how we live.
The further I was formed by the liturgy and the Church - the more I read the documents, prayed the Office, studied the tradition - the more I began to desire what she truly desires. Not what a particular generation assumed she wanted. What she has actually asked for, in her own voice, across centuries.
This sabbatical is clarifying how much liturgy shapes everything else. My prayer. My sense of the sacred. My ability to serve joyfully. It's not peripheral. It's central.
Read the full reflection: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi
The One Who Stays
I finished Luke Burgis's new book The One and the Ninety-Nine last week, and I haven't stopped thinking about it.
Burgis draws a distinction between a solid self and a pseudo-self. A pseudo-self is stitched together from external pressures - whatever the crowd rewards. A solid self has a center - someone who can belong to a group without fusing with it, who can stay in a difficult place without losing themselves.
What struck me most was his reframe of the parable: What if it's not just about rescuing the one to fit back into the ninety-nine? What if it's about protecting the one's unique vocation within the whole - not absorbed by it?
The question landed hard in my sabbatical discernment: Do I run from what I don't like or agree with? Or do I do something to try to affect it from the inside?
Read the book reflection: The One Who Stays
One Week
Joseph and I leave for Walt Disney World in one week.
Just the two of us. A father-son trip we've been looking forward to for months.
More on that after we're back.
Matthew Update
Letters have slowed this week - Matthew called last Wednesday night, and it's been a busy stretch. He was on security duty during the time they usually have free to read and write mail.
Three weeks until graduation. We'll be there in San Antonio.
Four Sons Recap
Last week I wrote about all four boys having moments worth noticing in the same week:
- Thomas - cabaret in St. Louis, dreams and dreamers
- Joseph - Riverbend Youth Choir soloist, Called And Sent retreat
- Andrew - golf qualifying, Forrest Frank concert (his first ever)
- Matthew - letters from Basic, watching his flight learn what it means to step up
You plant seeds for years. You don't always get to see them bloom at the same time. Last week, I did.
Ad Alta
This week's Ad Alta Weekly continues the identity thread - how we answer "who am I becoming?" and the traps that keep us stuck.
Two Lamps
Short fiction braiding the lives of two saints across centuries. Every Friday at 6 AM Central.
This Friday: Blessed Father Michael McGivney
Lux Perpetua
A serial novel in two tracks - mystery, memory, and the weight of what we inherit.
The Living Thread - Chapter 21 is live. The Lost Crown - Chapter 18 drops tomorrow.
What I'm Reading
The One and the Ninety-Nine - Luke Burgis The book I can't stop thinking about. On solid selves, pseudo-selves, and what it means to stay in a place that doesn't completely fit.
It's Time for a Renaissance of Excellence in Catholic Liturgy - Archbishop Cordileone, National Catholic Register "The problem underlying them all is the loss of the sense of the sacred." Essential reading for anyone who cares about how we worship.
Domus Formation
WeAreDomus.com/start - 7-day free trial. Download the & Altar app. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving - all in one place.
Final Word
Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
How we pray shapes what we believe shapes how we live.
The liturgy forms us before we ever try to form it. What it forms in us matters for everything else.
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