Tonight is a night of vigil. The Lord is not sleeping; the Watchman is watching over his people (cf Ps 121:4), to bring them out of slavery and to open before them the way to freedom. The Lord is keeping watch and, by the power of his love, he is bringing his people through the Red Sea. He is also bringing Jesus through the abyss of death and the netherworld. This was a night of vigil for the disciples of... Read more
He is in the tomb. Holy Saturday is such a quiet day—a day of reflection and prayer, of introspection, of acute awareness of God’s abiding love. Tomorrow He rises, and we celebrate with colored eggs and chocolate and a sumptuous glazed ham dinner with the people we love. But for now, we think of this: of Christ lying still, grey, in the cool gloom of the sepulcher. This painting is titled Lamentation of the Dead Christ, and portrays the body of Christ supine... Read more
What if you go to buy a baby and there’s a some kind of parentage mix-up, or the seller lies to you about whose child this really is? That’s just one of the avoidable crises that are spawned by a culture in which human life is a commodity, to be bought and sold, brought into existence or extinguished at will. Wesley Smith, special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture, has a truly disheartening article over on LifeNews.com about a... Read more
Archbishop Charles Chaput, archbishop of Philadelphia, was among five signatories on a new statement on religious liberty, published today by Public Discourse, the online publication of the Witherspoon Institute. Noting that there has been a great deal of mistruth over the past several days surrounding legal efforts to protect religious freedom in Indiana, Archbishop Chaput joined with other religious and moral leaders to urge Americans to remember the moral roots of their constitutional system, and to engage in a sensible national... Read more
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, fainted at the Holy Thursday Mass and was transported to a hospital. The 84-year-old cardinal was the celebrant and homilist last night at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland. According to the Washington Post, he had delivered the homily; but during the service, he passed out in a chair and 911 was called. A Montgomery County rescue crew responded to the church for the report of an unconscious man.... Read more
A PRAYERFUL TRADITION Atop Mount Adams, the highest point in Cincinnati, Ohio, stands Holy Cross Immaculata Church. Overlooking the downtown area and the Ohio River, it is a beacon of faith to local Catholics. And each year on Good Friday, pilgrims from the local community and around the world flock to the historic church for a 155-year-old tradition called “Praying the Steps.” From midnight on Holy Thursday until midnight on Good Friday, more than 10,000 pilgrims climb the long winding... Read more
Brothers and sisters:I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks,broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.Do this in remembrance of me.”In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For as often as you eat... Read more
Do you remember when Pope Francis spoke of the Church as a field hospital for sinners? In a September 2013 interview which was published in Jesuit publications worldwide, the Holy Father said: “I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal... Read more
Yesterday, Palm Sunday, we welcomed Jesus, waving palm fronds in a reenactment of Christ’s jubilant entrance into Jerusalem. This week will be full of reenactments from Jesus’ last week on earth, culminating with a jubilant celebration on Easter. Holy Week—the week from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday—is a sacred time on the Catholic calendar, for it is the period when we commemorate the last week of Jesus’ life on this earth. These are the days leading up to the great Easter Feast. The... Read more
Could you take a few minutes to say a prayer for Cardinal George? For the second time this month, Cardinal Francis George, retired archbishop of Chicago, has returned to Loyola Hospital–this time for pain management and hydration issues. The 78-year-old cardinal, who has been facing recurrent cancer in his liver and kidney, returned to the hospital on Saturday, March 27. The cancer, which was discovered in August 2012, has been described by his doctors as “very painful.” Cardinal George, who had... Read more
Seasons of Grace
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