St. Peter’s

Today is the Memorial of the Dedication of the Churches of Sts. Peter and Paul – St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls.

(It’s also the memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne)

In honor of the former, I want to share a book with you – a fairly new book, written by a priest from the Diocese of Charleston:

It’s called Encountering the Lord in His Holy Court: A Walk Through St. Peter’s Basilica – and it’s exactly what it is.

Fr. Jeffrey Kirby was a seminarian at the North American College when we went to Rome in 2006. Bishop Baker suggested we contact him for a tour of St. Peter’s (that is a ministry that the seminarians at the NAC do routinely). It was a wonderful tour, and I don’t know if the book came about because Michael suggested it or then-Deacon Kirby had been thinking about it anyway, but whatever the case, he wrote it – and it is available here. It’s a very nice little book – whether you will ever go to Rome or not. (I blurbed it, btw)

Fr. Kirby is back in Rome, studying once more, and he’s blogging - it’s a very interesting blog and he has a lot going on.

Besides his blog, Fr. Kirby is keeping in contact with Charleston through writing a column for the diocesan paper, one with a focus I can’t help but be interested in - death and dying. The first column in the series is here and the archive is here.

Speaking of the liturgy and today, I was struck by this from St. Augustine in the Office of Readings:

But how can we rejoice in the Lord if he is far from us? Pray God he may not be far. If he is, that is your doing. Love, and he will draw near; love, and he will dwell within you. The Lord is at hand; have no anxiety. Are you puzzled to know how it is that he will be with you if you love? God is love.