One of the gifts of our Church is the way that our rituals are folded into the rhythm of life. So it is with the season of Advent. In our Liturgical practice, Advent is really the doorstep to Christmas and…
Advent Vocabulary
Early Gifts
Are you excited? Did you get it? What, you say? Your gift, your early Christmas gift from Jesus. It was right there, in his conversation this morning, the third day of Advent: “Turning to the disciples in private he said,…
Perfect Faith
Isn’t it exhausting? All that rule-keeping and striving to be good, doesn’t that just make you tired? The Church calls us to task about how we worship, act, think, pray and speak. Just keeping track of all that stuff is…
You Saint You
In November our Church calls us to remember the remarkable of the Church both recognized (All Saints) and those unrecognized (All Souls). We set up memorial tables, reverence the book of the dead and attend memorial Masses. All the while…
Face It
When it comes to Saints and Holy Things we all tend to get a bit overwhelmed by the realities that those situations present to us. Realities such as: 1. Saints were all simply ordinary people just like you and me….
Murderer!
The devil is in the details some say. When you see the title of this piece, pay closer attention because it refers to YOU, yes you! I’m not really a gambler, but I’d bet with pretty good odds that the…
A Place for Everything
My journey away from, discovering my roots in the Church and heading back to where I belong is a circuitous one. That’s not unlike many people. Each person, though, has mile stones that are different and “ah-ha” moments that are…
Shaped by Fire
Deep in each of us there exists a concept, a personal image of what Jesus looks like. That image was created by a lot of things. It comes from what we have heard, what others have modeled what people have…
Generosity’s Rules
We post moderns have many curiosities about the way we think and do things. For instance, some of us believe that a place for everything and everything in its place is a great way to live. It makes things neat…
But…..It’s Just Me
So we have arrived at the place that Bishop Fulton Sheen, John XXIII and JPII told us was imminent. We’re there, the society that scoffs at all forms of life, ridicules God and has named every sin as good if…