RCIA and the Promise and Perilous Challenge of Baptism

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 5:00 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 12 A lengthy babysitting assignment has this grandparent’s mind on things far away from my next intended topic, RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. (So writing is going slower than usual.) And yet there’s a connection. Babysitting and parenting are all about facing the future with welcoming and, to be honest, trembling arms. So is Baptism. Baptism changes the Church just as a baby born changes a family.... Read more

A Jeremiah for a Homilist – If Only!

Last updated on: August 19, 2019 at 9:56 pm By Jack Hartjes

“Jeremiah ought to be put to death,” the princes said to the king. The priest-homilist at the church I visited yesterday explained why. Jeremiah was preaching defeatism instead of practical military strategy: Don’t align yourself with Egypt in hopes of salvation from the Babylonians. You can surrender and still be God’s people. This priest also helped us deal with a really hard passage in Scripture, yesterday’s Gospel. Jesus has come to bring, not peace, but fire: A household of five... Read more

St. Maximilian Kolbe, Atomic Bomb, and a Strange Connection

Last updated on: February 19, 2025 at 12:05 pm By Jack Hartjes

Today is the feast day of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, priest, missionary, founder of monasteries, publisher, amateur radio broadcaster, prisoner, and martyr. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982, and declared a martyr of charity. He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and the pro-life movement. Pope John Paul declared him “the patron saint of our difficult century.” He died at Auschwitz on this day in 1941. Born January 8,... Read more

Baptism Guarantees that the Church will Always Change

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:59 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 11 Baptism takes away Original Sin. It confers sanctifying grace. It conforms a person to Christ and makes one a member of the Church. Baptism seems to be a great sacrament for an individual person. I believe it, but there’s something missing that is equal or maybe even ahead of that in importance. Baptism is a great blessing for the Church. Crossing the threshold Baptism is a liminal sacrament. It’s... Read more

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Lamentation, Repentance, and Amendment

Last updated on: August 9, 2019 at 9:37 pm By Jack Hartjes

One of the things the Church should be able to teach the secular world is how to lament one’s sins. The Church believes in both sin and lamentation. This is actually the perfect time, when the Church’s sins are so great, for the Church to demonstrate that lesson. But now I’m thinking about two anniversaries we observe this week: the first and second (and only so far) uses of atomic weapons as an act of war. America desperately needs to... Read more

The Story of a Journey of Much More than Souls

Last updated on: August 10, 2019 at 8:35 pm By Jack Hartjes

On Souls, Reincarnation, and Journey of Souls, Part 3 Christianity tells the story of a journey. So does Michael Newton in books like Journey of Souls, where he presents what he learns about souls from clients under hypnosis. The Christian story is a good one. I’ll explain in Part One what I mean by that and how the Journey of Souls story doesn’t measure up. The Christian journey is through Earth’s time and space. This is a setting with its... Read more

Real Presence, or When is Jesus’ Presence Ever Not Real?

Last updated on: April 15, 2023 at 6:32 am By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 10 I was walking through the vestibule of a local Lutheran church and peering into the sanctuary. (The word “sanctuary” means interestingly different things for Lutherans and Catholics; but see below for that.) As I was saying, I was walking, along with the church’s pastor, and peering, and I noticed a lighted sanctuary lamp. In Catholic churches that lamp signals the real presence of Christ in the tabernacle. I wondered... Read more

Grace in a World of Grace: The Symbiosis of Sacraments and Life

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:57 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 9 We live in a world of grace. We are always in God’s presence, and this presence, this grace, is always pushing us to celebrate, especially through the sacraments. But God’s grace leads us to do many things. How important for us is our participation the sacraments? Celebrating together Imagine a family getting together at Grandmother’s house or a community getting together for a fireworks display. We celebrate because of... Read more

Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr, Has His First Feast Day

Last updated on: August 2, 2019 at 6:35 am By Jack Hartjes

Yesterday, July 28, was the first feast day of Blessed Stanley Rother (ROW-ther). Fr. Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, served in the diocese’s mission in Guatemala during the dangerous years of gorilla uprising and government oppression. He was killed for speaking out for the poor and for his parishioners, who were being tortured and killed by government forces. My pastor at St. Ray’s Church, Springfield, MN, also served in a mission parish in Guatemala. He informed... Read more

Sacraments, in the World, and for the New World

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:57 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 8 Does religion turn people away from this world in search of some better place, like maybe heaven? Some atheists assume so, and some Christians give that impression. But Jesus had little or nothing to say about that distant heaven. His words and actions were very down-to-earth. Matter shows up prominently in the signs of the sacraments, more prominently since the liturgical reforms. Water flows more abundantly, oil is more... Read more