If you haven’t noticed, the traditional practice of Eucharistic Adoration is making a comeback. Many were given the impression in the seventies that adoration was passé, a relic of pre-Vatican II spirituality. But all the Popes since the Council have emphasized its importance, and in this year of the Eucharist we see more and more […]
I recently had the pleasure of reading Difficulties in Mental Prayer by M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R. Ave Maria Press has issued a new edition of this work which was first published in 1943. Obviously the world has changed a great deal in nearly seventy years. The Church has changed a lot as well, as has […]
It is a Catholic tradition to acknowledge and honor the unselfish and holy life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One way of doing that is for a family to plant, maintain and enjoy a Mary Garden. In the Middle Ages, missionaries and travelers spread stories across Europe about flowers named after Mary and various times of […]
There is beauty in the world. There is peace in the world. There is joy. In fact, there’s lots of it. Only, there’s lots of other stuff too. Sometimes trying to recognize the good things is like trying to find the right web-site. Your search returns 6 million hits. So where’s the one you want? […]
“Liberal” and “conservative.” The definitions of these terms are seldom stated. Usually they are just presumed. Often people call “conservative” those who like old-fashioned things and “liberal” those who favor the latest ideas, trends, and values. But for the Christian, the ultimate question is not personal preferences of style, or whether something is old or […]
“I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh” (1 Cor. 3:2-3). To wit, I would submit that the changes that have taken place in the sacred liturgy since the Council closed find their impetus […]
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8: 22-23) This passage from St. Paul to the Romans is […]
Peoria, Mobile, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlantic City, and now Milwaukee, my home town, has been plagued by violent flash mobs. And that’s just in the past week. Flash mobbing initially began as an experiment in social networking. On June 17, 2003, a crowd of about 100 people, drawn by text messages, emails, and blogs, gathered in […]
Sometimes words comfort, and heal. Not a drug to control anxiety, not any type of mind-numbing alcohol, but words. Words which speak “heart to heart” (to use the motto of Blessed John Henry Newman) — one might almost say “logos to logos.” Speaking words “heart to heart” transmits life. Words bear meaning, are meaning. They […]
Walking in Rome in recent days, I noticed on a newstand the cover of the Italian magazine Focus. It has a picture of a human face in two parts, half-normal and half-transformed into a futuristic being. The title says “Uomo 2.0” (Man Version 2.0) and the subtitle reads: “Siamo un’altra specie” (“We are a new […]
The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the wafer and the wine really become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever met anyone who finds this a bit hard to take? If so, you shouldn’t be surprised. When Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in John 6, […]
Sunday, June 26, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, previously known as Corpus Christi. This used to be a major feast day of the Church with processions and everything — a really big feast, up there with Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. We celebrate the Blessed Sacrament to affirm […]
Beauty. At first the concept is difficult to define. Instinctively I feel that beauty is real to everyone. Once I have made my mind that something is beautiful I know it in the same sense that I know what the number one is. The natural number does not represent something: one is simply one. Beauty […]
June 21 is the first day of summer because it is the day of the summer solstice. Okay, just a quick review of your high school astronomy. In summer and winter we have solstices — the summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the winter solstice is the shortest day of the […]
The first readings for the daily liturgies this week tell the story of Abram and his family. On Monday, God promises that Abram’s descendents will inherit the land he has brought him to. He was seventy-five years old at this point. Tuesday, God makes the promise again.” I will make your descendants like the dust […]
Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity? God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion […]
Celebrations – those joyous affairs that offer a welcome distraction from the drudgery of everyday life; a time when the weight of worldly concerns takes a backseat to festivity and lightheartedness; a venue in which happiness is allowed to prevail, even if only for a moment, buoying the spirits of those who but surrender to […]
Bismarck, North Dakota… It’s Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire on the Apostles’ heads and everyone could understand what was being said. We could use a little of that around here as each day more all-time record floodwaters scream down 750 miles of the Missouri river, leaving an every […]
Bin Laden is dead. Terror and terrorism continues. So does martyrdom. But what a difference between the two types of deaths. A terrorist takes his life and others. The martyr gives his life for others. One is an act of violence in which evil destroys goodness and humanity. The other is an act of love […]
In the same way that Eucharist is the conjoining of the past, present and future, personal prayer is a present participation in the time to come. It is a glimpse of the Eschaton and an entry into the kingdom which has been inaugurated but not yet consummated. Prayer unfolds in time, but essentially it transcends […]
As a teen, I thought the clergy were supposed to do everything. We laity were just called to pray, pay, and obey. Oh yes, and keep the commandments, of course. The original 10 seemed overwhelming enough. Then I discovered the Sermon on the Mount and nearly passed out. Perhaps this is why many inactive Catholics […]
There has only been one official schism in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. That occurred in 1988, when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops against the express instructions of Pope John Paul II. That led to the excommunication of Lefebvre and those four bishops, and the schism of Lefebvre and his […]
When I was a little girl, my mom would sometimes pack a supper for my dad, who worked second shift as a foreman at a steel manufacturing plant. Then she’d pack me up, load the supper and me into the car and drive over to the plant. I’m not sure whether those were days on […]
When I woke up today, I did not know I was going to hold a dying woman’s body in my arms. I did not know I would have to push through skin, muscle and fat tissue to tie a tourniquet around her leg, which was nearly severed from her body. I was heading to our […]
