Surrexit Dominus vere!

Et apparuit Simoni!

Victimae paschali laudes

immolent christiani.

Agnus redemit oves:

Christus innocens Patri

reconciliavit peccatores.

They Made It!

Tom and Cristin made it safely here this morning. They seem to have had a nice time in Ireland and Rome, and we're glad to have them now in Austria.

Dear Aunt Betsy

Have a Beary Happy Birthday!

How old are you now? 19? Yikes!

Spring Has Arrived!

From our very own schlossgarten.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Maria are loving the nice weather, even if it is a bit windy at times.

Palm Sunday

The royal banners forward go,

The Cross shines forth in mystic glow,

Where Life Himself our death endured

And by His death our life procured.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,

Life's torrent rushing from His side,

To wash us in that precious flood,

Where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told

In true prophetic song of old

To all the nations: 'God,' saith he,

'Hath reigned and triumphed from the Tree.'

O Tree of beauty, Tree of light,

O Tree with royal purple dight,

Elect on whose triumphal breast

Those holy limbs should find their rest!

On whose dear arms, so widely flung,

The weight of this world's ransom hung;

The price of human kind to pay,

And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

O Cross, our one reliance, hail!

This holy Passiontide avail

To give new virtue to the saint

And pardon to the penitent.

To Thee, eternal Three in One,

Let homage meet by all be done;

As by the Cross Thou dost restore,

So rule and guide us evermore.

Amen.

Thesis Thoughts

Nearly half way through the second semester of the Licentiate course of studies here, I've finally settled on a thesis topic: papal infallibility. It comes down to this: I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be in play, so to speak, more often than frequently assumed or asserted. An academic study of a decade or so ago seems to have discovered no more than 7 ex cathedra statements in the entire history of the Church. I haven't begun any tallies myself yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few more than that even this past century. To me it seems an important question, especially since people are always lobbying to change various doctrines. We'll see where it goes.

Update: I've created a 'Licentiate Thesis' page with a slightly more developed outline of the topic as I'm thinking of it so far. It will be permanently linked on the sidebar, but you can also click here to see it. Thanks for the comments so far, and I would be interested to hear any of your opinions on it.

Happy 60th!

We love you Dad / Grandpa!

Hope you had a great day!

Passion Sunday Pilgrimage

We set out with a group of about 10 others to walk from Trumau to Stift Heiligenkreuz, a medieval Cistercian monastery about 20km away. We were rather too busy huffing and puffing to take any pictures ourselves, but here is one of our destination:

The monastery is home to the largest relic of the true Cross north of the Alps, and the monks were kind enough to expose it for our veneration at the end of our pilgrimage.

What Team to Root For

Lisa found a fun baseball flowchart which tells you what team you should root for based on your answers to various questions. It appears that I ought in fact to be an Atlanta Braves fan...

Oh well, go Tigers!

Happy Birthday, Papou!

Well, I remembered. Happy birthday, we love you very much!

And here's a video for you.

A few belated Happy Birthdays

So, I didn't exactly forget the birthdays...just forgot to update the blog. Gah. Sorry.

To Grandma (Mom), and Veronica, and a very new Adelaide, Happy Birthdays!

Whew, busy week. I'll try to remember to mention Papou (Daddy) tomorrow. But no promises. Definately a phone call, though.

Laetare Jerusalem!