Picture Sunday Mass in a typical parish. A mother comes up for communion holding a small child in her arms. As she approaches the priest, she awkwardly holds on to her infant with one arm in order to free up the other to take the Eucharistic host and quickly pop it into her mouth before … Continue reading Has Tradition Become a Dirty Word?
Liturgy Wars: What’s Latin Got To Do With It?
Who would have expected the Glorified Body of Christ, the eternal perfected Body, to include the horrible wounds inflicted on the flesh-and-blood human body here on Earth?
Practical Apologetics: The Geometry of Faith
outside.” Those of us who have been out and now are in (back in, for some of us) know how true it is. And it stands to reason: as both a worldly and a spiritual entity, the Church cannot be contained within purely physical bounds.
Who’s really “politicizing” the Body of Christ?
An unusual and unfamiliar expression, "Eucharistic Coherence", has been showing up on a lot of Catholic websites lately. I've written about the abuse of language on more than one occasion in the recent past (here and here, for instance), but this term is not itself abusive, rather it's intended to expose and correct abuse. It refers … Continue reading Who’s really “politicizing” the Body of Christ?
Don’t Be So Judgmental!
My, how times have changed. We used to have the Seven Deadly Sins and the Sins That Cry Out to Heaven For Vengeance. Most of these don't seem of much concern to most people any more, even in many institutions that claim to be Catholic; some are even treated almost as virtues. In their place is … Continue reading Don’t Be So Judgmental!
“The Way” To Where, Exactly?
Beware of anyone whose key concept is power. It's not a problem just for "other people". Each one of us has our own little "Synodal Way" inside of us. We all have a desire to make our judgments the final word in questions of theology, church governance, and most especially, morals. We want to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: we think we can be like God.
The Christian Cannot Live Without the Eucharist
We need the Eucharist. The Second Person of the Trinity did not simply become man: He suffered as man, died, and was resurrected as man, so that He could share his Divine Life with us. The primary, tangible means with which he does that in this world is through the Holy Eucharist . . . that's why the early martyrs told their Roman persecutors, "The Christian cannot live without the Eucharist", that's why St. Tarcisius gave his life protecting the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ.