Author Archives: Steve Benner

Pandita Mary RamabaiPandita Rambai (1858-1922) faced most of the obstacles a woman could encounter in the India of her lifetime. She was denied access to formal education and was ostracized from society as first an orphan and then a widow. She experienced first-hand the effects of India’s rigid caste system that placed discriminatory walls betweenContinue reading “Oremus for Tuesday, April 5, 2022”

Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta. As the son and grandson of Baptist preachers, he was steeped in the Black Church tradition. In 1954, King became pastor of a church in Montgomery, Alabama. There, Black indignation at inhumane treatment on segregated buses culminated in December, 1955,Continue reading “Oremus for Monday, April 4, 2022”

Antiphon1 Ant. If a man would serve me, let him follow me;wherever I am, my servant will be there too.V. O Lord, hear a cause that is just; *pay heed to my cry.Turn your ear to my prayer: *no deceit is on my lips.From you may my justice come forth. *Your eyes discern what is upright. John 12;Continue reading “Oremus for Sunday, April 3, 2022”

Antiphon https://tinyurl.com/bdcp49d5 Jerusalem is built as a city bonded as one together.It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,to praise the name of the Lord. Psalm 123 God of mercy,you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost.We confess that we have strayed from youand turned aside from yourContinue reading “Oremus for Saturday, April 2, 2022”

Frederick Denison MauriceIn the same year that Karl Marx declared religion to be the “opiate of the people,” Frederick Denison Maurice wrote, “We have been dosing our people with religion when what they want is not this but the living God.” Like Marx, Maurice wanted to solve the questions of our complex society; unlike Marx,Continue reading “Oremus for Friday, April 1, 2022”

John DonneJohn Donne was born in about the year 1571 and brought up as a Roman Catholic. He was a great-great nephew of Thomas More, although this seems to have had little influence on him, as he led a somewhat debauched youth and was extremely sceptical about all religion. He went up to Oxford when he wasContinue reading “Oremus for Thursday, March 31, 2022”

Karl RahnerRahner was born at Freiburg, Germany, on March 5, 1904, into a devout Roman Catholic family. Karl joined the Society of Jesus in 1922 and became a priest in 1932.  He studied philosophy at the University of Freiburg.  There Rahner sought to expand his horizons beyond neo-Thomism. After completing a degree at the UniversityContinue reading “Oremus for Wednesday, March 30, 2022”

John KebleKeble, born in 1792, received his early education in his father’s vicarage. At fourteen, he won a scholarship to Oxford and graduated in 1811 with highest honors. He served the University in several capacities, including ten years as Professor of Poetry. After ordination in 1816 he had a series of rural curacies, and finallyContinue reading “Oremus for Tuesday, March 29, 2022”

Antiphon https://tinyurl.com/4s87yty8 Remember your word to your servant, O Lord,by which you have given me hope.This is my comfort when I am brought low. Psalm 119 Eternal God, our judge and redeemer,we confess that we have tried to hide from you,for we have done wrong.We have lived for ourselves,and apart from you.We have turned fromContinue reading “Oremus for Monday, March 28, 2022”

Antiphon Ant. Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her;*rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolationflowing from her motherly bosom.V. I rejoiced when they said to me, *“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”And now our feet are standing *within your gates,Continue reading “Oremus for Sunday, March 27, 2022”