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

Look Outside the Sacramental Celebration. It’s not a Distraction.

Last updated on: June 29, 2021 at 3:26 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 7 Sacraments are celebrations. That seemed like a new idea after the Council. Actually, the idea was there before but far in the background, behind more practical descriptions of Catholic worship like “service” and “spiritual food.” Now it seems to me that “celebration” describes sacraments perfectly. Formerly, if I thought about celebrating at all, I might have thought: Jesus, who died for me, is alive and comes to me in... Read more

Metaphor: The Right Kind of Language for a Limitless God

Last updated on: August 10, 2019 at 8:34 pm By Jack Hartjes

On Souls, Reincarnation, and Journey of Souls, Part 2 Journey of Souls by David Newton chronicles the experiences of souls not as much in past lives as in their lives between incarnations. These souls can recount in detail their experiences in a world of spirits, but they have very little to say about God. The traditional picture of God as a person, they say, is too limiting. Rather than even use the word “God,” they speak, but rarely, of the... Read more

Learning about Sacramental Signs

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:55 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 6 I have lived through a time of renewal in the Church and in her understanding of sacraments. The renewal of my own understanding of sacraments had its own timetable and path. Throughout it was the special nature of the sacramental signs that fascinated me. The starting point for the Catholic understanding of sacramental signs is that they effect, they bring about, what they signify. When I went to church,... Read more

Emotions in Play: Liking or (Only) Loving the Sacraments

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:54 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 5 Catholics through the ages have loved the sacraments, loved the grace, the closeness to God, they find in church. Other things that happen in our everyday lives, however, bring out in us more various and down-to-earth emotions. We enjoy things, we suffer them, we endure them, we get wild about them, we feel bound by them, or we freely commit ourselves to them. When you look close enough, all... Read more

Two HomiliesToday, and the One in Action was Better

Last updated on: July 23, 2019 at 4:04 pm By Jack Hartjes

I got my churches mixed up while visiting a daughter in Madison, Wisconsin, and came to Mass in the Middle of the homily. The brand new priest was giving a moving account of the round-about path to his ordination. A central piece of the homily was his experience of the sacraments, especially Eucharist and Reconciliation. The young priest concluded with a thought about our goal—to spend eternity with God in heaven. That’s something we all want to do, but it’s... Read more

A Good Liturgical Celebration Speaks Clearly. Believing it is what’s hard.

Last updated on: July 23, 2019 at 4:04 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 4 In a good liturgical celebration you can pick out easily some moments of special closeness of God and great wealth of graces being shared. But the new liturgy wants to be more for us than a time to get close to God. God is close to us and sharing an abundance of grace all the time, and the liturgy wants to make that fact visible and believable. We can... Read more

The Mystery that is Not Hidden in the Sacraments

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 4:50 pm By Jack Hartjes

Celebrations of Grace: The Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Part 3 A reflection on the mystery of the sacraments can be about an entire world of mystery as well. The way we do sacraments expresses our understanding of the world and our place in it. Now, many years after the Second Vatican Council, you can read in the new shape of the Church’s sacramental celebrations an understanding of the world that we live in. You can contrast that with the... Read more

Old Soul – Now I Know what it Means, Sadly

Last updated on: July 23, 2019 at 4:05 pm By Jack Hartjes

A couple of times recently I heard someone call my 13-year-old granddaughter an old soul. It was a compliment, I’m sure. That’s not what “old” generally is. Things don’t always improve with age, but apparently souls do. That’s what a book that some friends recommended I read tells me, anyway. My wife and I were enjoying a too-rare visit with folks we partied and prayed with in days gone by. They had, in their words, a shock for us –... Read more