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Continue reading →: God So Loved the World
The thing that struck me in hearing the very familiar Gospel this morning (John 3: 16-21) was this line: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The thing that hit me was that if…
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Continue reading →: To Suffer With
It struck me as interesting when I realized recently that we have two English words that can be literally translated as “to suffer with”. From the Greek: sympathy From the Latin: compassion
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Continue reading →: Mary and the Yes of Discipleship
I just happened to re-read both of these quotes recently and it struck me that there’s an essential connection: The Gospel is certainly demanding. We know that Christ never permitted His disciples and those who listened to Him to entertain any illusions about this. On the contrary, he spread no…
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Continue reading →: Institution of Acolytes
From the Rite of Institution to Acolyte, these are the words offered for the Bishop to speak to the candidates at the end of the Homily. (The instructions say “Then all sit, and the Bishop gives the Homily, which he concludes by speaking to the candidates in these or similar…
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Continue reading →: Roman Pilgrimage by George Weigel
I visited Rome almost five years ago and was immediately smitten. Since I’ve returned, I’ve almost always had a book relating to Roman history or geography on my “nightstand”. Every Lent since that trip, I’ve read Roman Pilgrimage, which is organized by the “Station Churches” of Rome. Each day of…
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Continue reading →: Stations of the Cross Collection Hits 40
It seems an appropriate post for Lent to point out that there are now 40 different Stations of the Cross (represented by the 12th station) on our Stations of the Cross Page. The variety is interesting of course, but also the similarity. Clearly a number of the three dimensional stations…
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Continue reading →: Basilica of Saint Mary
Minneapolis, Minnesota Exterior: Old Testament Figures in Stained Glass:
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Continue reading →: The Bittersweet Hope of Christmas
Fr. Mike Schmitz has a thoughtful video about the song I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day the text of which comes from a poem written by Longfellow during the Civil War. It seems like a perfect reflection for late Advent. Here is the original poem by Longfellow: Christmas Bells…
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Continue reading →: Celebrating Advent with the FamilyThese are some simple things we’ve done in our family to help make Advent a thoughtful, prayerful time for preparing our hearts and homes for Christmas. Now that our “children” are all young adults and mostly out of the house, things change more from year to year than when they…
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Continue reading →: Participation at MassIt seems that this word “participation”, apparently a key word in the conversations at Vatican II, has been much confused and abused. The document Sacrosanctum Concilium has this to say about participation: 14. Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active…