Emmanuel L. Di Rossetti
-
The meeting of Péguy and Lonsdale – Between heaven and earth
Michael Lonsdale invites us to discover a little gem with his show, Between Heaven and Earth. A delight. Such treasures always deserve to be given space. We must make room in the tumult, in the oppressed heart, in the life we dream of but forget to live. To live… Continue reading
-
Charlie's Destiny
“The enemy limits you, therefore shapes you and establishes you.” This quote from Saint-Exupéry aptly expresses our condition at the end of this first week of 2015. The enemy forces me to operate according to its rules, within a space it has circumscribed. I am, first and foremost, a prisoner. It chooses the terrain and compels me to… Continue reading
-
Two thousand and fourteen years ago…
Christmas can be summed up in four letters: fiat. Before being an industrial symbol, it is the word, the acceptance of Mary by the angel. This acceptance precedes all reflection. It is docility and trust in the epiphany. Four little letters like a breath but also like a feverish expectation. Thy will be done! And may all our… Continue reading
-
Novena for France
What a beautiful initiative! A novena for France. A novena to express our love for the Blessed Virgin and ask her to watch over our beautiful country with all the saints. It's pointless to rant on social media or the internet, or even in the street; it's pointless to rant… Continue reading
-
A day at the job center in 2014
An inspiring story I heard this week… A far cry from the grandstanding of our leaders on television. A day at the job center for a young unemployed woman with a project quickly turned into an ordeal. Continue reading
-
The Humanity of Cheyenne Carron — Reflections on the film The Apostle
What astonishment overwhelmed me one recent morning as I listened to the voice of a young woman being interviewed by Louis Daufresne on his program, Le Grand Témoin, on Radio Notre-Dame. I was about to learn that this young woman's name was Cheyenne Carron. A Christian, she had made a film, L'Apôtre (The Apostle), the story of a Muslim touched by grace who decides to convert to… Continue reading
-
In memoriam Alvaro Mutis
It was a year ago. Alvaro Mutis passed away. This great Colombian writer deserves to be read and reread. This brilliant monarchist built a bridge between old Europe and South America. His poems, his stories, his novels carry us through our history, particularly through the figure of Maqroll el Gaviero, a solitary, disillusioned sailor… Continue reading
-
From tradition…
“We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants; we see more than they do, and farther; not that our gaze is sharp, nor our stature great, but we are lifted up, exalted, by their gigantic size.” This quote from Bernard of Chartres (12th century) is found in Rémi Brague’s latest book, Moderately Modern (Flammarion Publishers)... Continue reading
-
To which saints should we pray?
The Marcial Maciel case forces us to confront the question of Evil. Our era avoids engaging with it. What do we know of the devil's work, and what can we do to protect ourselves from it? After attempting to conceal the good in life, should we be surprised that evil is now revealed? The works of the devil are… Continue reading
-
News about humility
The human vision of humility is like the human vision of love: limited. Humility must exert its influence at all times and in all places. Humility does not allow for a choice in whether or not to practice it. Humility thus demands infinite availability and infinite vigilance. It demands—a term that has almost disappeared from our… Continue reading
-
Ernest Hello's news on Fear
But if we move from fear in general to the fear of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives, we will find silence more fitting than speech. His Passion is a series of excesses, many of which are unknown to us, says Angela of Foligno. But these sufferings, however dreadful they were, were successive, not simultaneous. In… Continue reading
-
Gregorian chant is intended for the liturgy
Excerpt from "The Holy Mass, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," quote from Mr. Dominique Ponnau, Director of the École du Louvre, lecture given in Le Mans, September 19, 1998. "I remember. This memory is for me an almost daily cultural and human reference point. It was in June 1985, in Pont-à-Mousson, at the end of the colloquium… Continue reading
-
Letter to my friend Alvaro Mutis
One day in the 1990s, we were walking down the street, having just left the Hôtel des Saints-Pères, and Alvaro Mutis stopped abruptly. We were almost at the corner of Rue de Grenelle, and he said to me, "Emmanuel, I have the feeling we walked like this together a long time ago on a street in Cádiz. And we…" Continue reading
-
Alvaro Mutis on the monarchy
The paradox, quite painful for me, is that I was already a royalist at a very young age. I could almost say, since childhood. My first readings of history led me to seek out the origins and workings of the monarchy. I know perfectly well that the monarchy, as I conceive it and as other eras have experienced it, is now unthinkable. […] Continue reading