A short history of liturgical music
In the first part of this series on sacred music, I described the meaning of sacred music, the music of the Church’s sacred liturgy, as distinct from “religious music.”
The blessing of a chaste life: The call to holiness of homosexual persons
When the Church at Vatican II lifted high the universal call to holiness, it rightly received an enthusiastic response. For it is indeed good news for people of every time and place. How good to know that it is possible for us all to have a close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and even to become like Him.
Celebrating Wedding Anniversaries
The Church has given us a new English translation of her Order of Celebrating Matrimony. This new liturgical document offers us a good opportunity for timely catechesis on the vocation of marriage in the Church and society. Considering this, beginning today, I shall lift up some of the fresh insights and new liturgical practices found in this wonderful new ritual.
Catholic and American? Evangelizing through beauty; final in a seven-part series
If beauty has the power to lead us to God, then, why have so many people stopped believing in it?
Patron Saint of Immigrants: St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
The first American citizen to be canonized a saint was an immigrant to our country and her life was dedicated to the care of immigrants. Coming to America, however, wasn’t what Frances Cabrini had in mind when she journeyed from Milan to Rome in AD 1887 to meet with the Successor of Peter. She wanted be a missionary in China. From the time she received the Sacrament of Confirmation at the age of 8 she had dreamed of witnessing to Christ among the Chinese; and that desire had only grown as she discerned her call to Religious Life and took St. Francis Xavier as her patron. But Pope Leo XIII told her, “Go not to the East but to the West — to New York rather than China.” He urged her to follow the large throng of emigrants who were leaving Italy each week for America.
Stamina and fortitude
A new year begins in the Church’s life each Advent. This holy season reminds us that God is with us. If God is with us, St. Paul writes (cf. Romans 8:31), who can be against us?
Pope Francis’ Game Plan; Part Five: Who Do You Say I Am?
It should come as no surprise that Pope Francis has much to say about Jesus, since Peter and all his successors have been called by God to make Christ known and loved.
‘Do whatever He tells you’
“Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). These words of the Mother of God at the Wedding Feast of Cana are like a bright beacon pointing the way to our happiness and the way to the Heart of Christ.
Spiritual Warfare: The Armor of the Sacraments
Throughout the course of human history, wars have been waged and their outcomes have shaped the identity of many nations. But, there is another war, although generally unseen by human eyes, that “is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:12).
Celebrando Aniversarios Matrimoniales
La Iglesia nos ha dado una nueva traducción al inglés de su orden de celebración de matrimonio. Este nuevo documento litúrgico nos ofrece una buena oportunidad para la catequesis sobre la vocación del matrimonio en la Iglesia y la sociedad. Teniendo en cuenta esto, a partir de hoy, examinaré algunas de las ideas frescas y nuevas prácticas litúrgicas encontradas en este maravilloso nuevo ritual.
