As I’ve studied the English Reformation, I’ve read often about the state of religious practice before Henry VIII broke away from the Pope and established himself as Supreme Head and Governor of the Church of England. As Eric Ives points out in his recent study, The Reformation Experience, 16th century Catholics in England demonstrated...
Read More »
The ordained priest shares in Christ’s artisan-work of re-crafting the divine image in man in a unique way. By being an alter Christus, he makes Christ, the Head and Bridegroom of the Church, present to the Church herself. He is an icon of Christ’s presence to the very icon of Christ’s presence in the world. He supports...
Read More »
Father Schrader speaks about the singular privledge that we, as creatures, have to consume consummate beauty Himself in the Holy Eucharist.
Read More »
This June is a very solemn month. There are four Solemnities on the Liturgical Calendar: Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Birth of St. John the Baptist. The first three are movable feasts, scheduled according to the date of Easter each year: Trinity Sunday...
Read More »
“As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch is sacrificed’ (1 Cor. 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 1, 3, p. 324). Recent changes to the Mass language underscore the importance of the laity both...
Read More »
Catholics are not accustomed to tracing the roots of our theology and practice back to the Jewish tradition, this in spite of the fact that the Gospel texts take great pains to show Jesus’ lineage and teaching is deeply grounded in the promises to the people of Israel. Both Matthew and Luke trace the...
Read More »
Pope John XXIII said he called the Council, “to renew faith, to reflect on her unity, to promote the sanctification of her members, the diffusion of divine truth, and the consolidation of her structures.” He said, “The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is … that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine...
Read More »
It has finally come again. The Season of Lent, I am speaking of. I always find it a relief. Many folks are surprised to hear me say that. I think of a scene from the vintage 1970s biopic “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” St. Francis has shed his clothing and is making a ruckus in the piazza below the Cathedral. The...
Read More »
“And it is in this immediate encounter with Christ that explains the threefold historical orientation of the sacraments. For they are first of all an anamnesis or a commemoration of the past sacrifice of the Cross because of the relation of the eternally actual redemptive act, present in the sacrament, to the historical moment...
Read More »
Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. once wrote, “Whatever else the Mass is, it is meant by Christ to be a prayer, in fact, the most sublime prayer that a creature can make to the Creator and the one most pleasing to God.” This is first of all the prayer of Christ in which the...
Read More »
Socialize!