Author Archives: John Lacken

On Saturday 21st November 2015, I delivered a talk at a Catholic family conference in Limerick, Ireland hosted by ‘The Catholic Voice’ and ‘The Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest.  The talk was titled ‘ Catholic Families will save the world and I used this talk to formally launch ‘Legio Sanctae Familiae’ – ‘The Legion of the Holy Family’. The idea of this Legion is to form an army of Catholic Families who, under the headship of husbands and … Read More

Today is Trinity Sunday.  As a Benedictine Oblate I recite the office of Lauds first thing in the morning.  Today in the Benedictine Office the ‘Athanasian Symbol’ or ‘Athanasian Creed’ is recited.  Whilst scholars do not now believe that this creed was written by St Athanasius it is nonetheless an approved creed of the Catholic Church. No harm to recite it today in Ireland given the recent apostate result of our referendum on same sex relationships.   Whoever desires to … Read More

Marriage a gift from God – The Church’s Understanding through Scripture This article was first published in The Catholic Voice in March 2014 St Peter on Marriage We have seen that Dei Verbum says “the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words.”. With this in mind let us have a … Read More

Ninth Day: Transfiguration and Ascension of Our Lord, and the Manifestations of the Holy Ghost. Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – continence and chastity … Read More

Eight Day: Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Jesus at the Jordan Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – continence and chastity Our Father…      Hail … Read More

Seventh Day: Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Mary at the Annunciation Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – continence and chastity Our Father…      Hail … Read More

Sixth Day: Fruits of Continence and Chastity Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – continence and chastity Our Father…      Hail Mary… Most holy, most divine … Read More

Fifth Day: Fruits of Faith and Modesty Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – faith and modesty. Our Father…      Hail Mary… O eternal Father, how … Read More

Fourth Day: Fruits of Benignity and Goodness Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – peace and patience. Our Father…      Hail Mary… Most holy prince of … Read More

Third Day: Fruits of Long-Suffering and Mildness – Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – peace and patience. Our Father…      Hail Mary… O blessed and … Read More

Second Day: Fruits of Peace and Patience. – Hymn: – Veni Creator – Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – peace and patience. Our Father…      Hail Mary… O sweetest and … Read More

First Day: Fruits of Charity and Joy. – Hymn: Veni, Creator Spiritus   Let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of the most Holy Trinity, and uniting our dispositions with those of our blessed Lady and the holy apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem, let us say one Our Father and one Hail Mary, to obtain, by the merits of Jesus ascended, the fruits of the Holy Ghost – charity and joy. Our Father…      Hail Mary… O most holy … Read More

On the 9th of May 1897, Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical ‘Divinum Illud Mundum’ on the Holy Spirit.  In it he decreed the following “Wherefore, We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church,this year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches, and also, if the local Ordinaries think fit, in other churches and oratories.” With this in mind I am going to put a Novena to the Holy … Read More

This article was first published in February 2014.  It looks at Dei Verbum in the light of St Paul’s sometimes difficult teachings on Marriage.  It is available to download as a pdf from the Marriage Articles page. Marriage a gift from God – The Church’s Understanding through Scripture Marriage in Scripture Christ, in the Gospels, laid down the essential foundations for marriage without which marriages cannot validly take place. Marriage must be between one man and one woman, they must … Read More

This article was first published in January 2014 and continues to look at the Catholic understanding of Marriage through Sacred Scripture. This article can be downloaded from the Marriage Articles Section   Marriage a gift from God – The Church’s Understanding through Scripture We have seen how Christ dispensed with the concession permitting divorce which was given by Moses. We also know that Moses gave this concession on account of the hardness of men’s hearts. Does this mean that with … Read More

Finally I have a little time to update the blog.  I have been operating a little shop near the Catholic Shrine in Knock since last August.  Initially I was located in a temporary premises a little bit away from the actual shrine and it was clear to me that not many people passed this way.  Fortunately, since November last year, I have relocated to another premises which is across the road from the original parish church of St John the … Read More

This article was first published in January 2014 and it looks at what is essential for a valid marriage through the eyes of Scripture. Marriage a gift from God – The Church’s Understanding through Scripture Christ nullified the concession of Moses So far, we have seen that a false notion of marriage has become prevalent throughout western society even amongst Catholics. We have seen in the Gospels how Jesus, in both Matthew 5:31-32 and in Luke 16:18, nullified the concession, … Read More

This article was first published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland in December 2013 It is available for download through the Marriage Article link at the top of the page Marriage, a gift from God – the Church’s Understanding through Scripture Notion of Marriage Undermined In the first article I noted that western civilisation has collapsed due in no small part to the ongoing collapse of marriage. The traditional understanding of marriage has been seriously undermined in our society to such … Read More

Today is the Feast of St John Damascene who lived in the seventh century.  I was interested to find out that St John was a great defender of the use of religious icons and images against the iconoclasts.  Given that I reproduce Sacred Art I might consider adopting him as one of my patrons.      

Two of my sons were confirmed in Gricigliano in Florence, Italy, at the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign priest in March of 2012.  There were eight of us there, my wife and I and six of our eight children.  One day, in order to give my wife a break, I went out for a drive with the six children in the countryside around Florence.  We came across what looked like a little forest park trail and … Read More