First off, credit where credit is due: yesterday was Fr. Kelly’s first Easter Mass as a priest, and he hadn’t prepared a homily. He learned from a priest in seminary that the less you try and prepare things (like homilies) yourself, the more room you leave for the Holy Spirit to work through you. He… Continue reading Coming to Know the Resurrected Jesus Christ
Tag: liturgical year
Jerusalem Matins: a Beautiful Way to Celebrate Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday sometimes gets lost in the mix in Roman-Rite Catholicism. Holy Thursday is huge (the Institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood), Good Friday is huge (Christ removing the curse of sin on the Cross), and Easter Sunday is huge (the Resurrection). And Easter Vigil on Saturday night is the biggest Mass of the… Continue reading Jerusalem Matins: a Beautiful Way to Celebrate Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday
We now enter Holy Saturday. Christ is resting in the Tomb on the Sabbath, dead. To the believer, this is unthinkable. Literally. When Christ warned the Apostles that He had to die and rise from the dead, they thought He was using some obscure figure of speech (Mark 9:9-10), or tried to talk Him out… Continue reading Holy Saturday
Happy Good Friday!
Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?He grew up like a sapling before Him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in Him no stately bearing to make us look at Him, nor appearance that would attract us to Him. He was spurned… Continue reading Happy Good Friday!
Passion of the Christ to Show at the National Mall
This is incredible: Rally on National Mall in Washington, D.C. to Officially Launch the Campaign to Make Good Friday a National Holiday in the United States On April 22nd, 2011 the Campaign to Commemorate Good Friday as a National Holiday in the United States will officially launch its national campaign on the National Mall in… Continue reading Passion of the Christ to Show at the National Mall
Why We Celebrate Holy Thursday
This is from a post I wrote in 2009: Happy Maundy Thursday, everyone! For those of you who don’t know, Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. The word “Maundy” comes from the word “command,” referring to Christ’s command for His disciples to serve. Because Good Friday is the anniversary of our Lord’s death on… Continue reading Why We Celebrate Holy Thursday
Obama on Easter
Excerpted from Obama’s address to the Second Annual Easter Prayer Breakfast: “I wanted to host this breakfast for a simple reason -– because as busy as we are, as many tasks as pile up, during this season, we are reminded that there’s something about the resurrection — something about the resurrection of our savior, Jesus… Continue reading Obama on Easter
Learning the Bible Through Sunday Mass
One major difference in liturgical style between Catholics and Evangelicals is the Lectionary. Both of us rely on “expository preaching,” which means that we base our sermons/homilies off of Scripture. Evangelical pastors typically choose the passage they want to preach on — this is called “the Individual Choice Method.” Catholics, and many Protestant denominations, follow… Continue reading Learning the Bible Through Sunday Mass
What We can Learn from the Samaritan Woman at the Well
Yesterday’s Gospel reading was John 4:5-42. It’s the passage of the Samaritan woman that Jesus meets at the well. There’s a lot to be gleaned from it, and likely much more that I’m not picking up on. But here are a few things of interest: In John 4:1-4, we hear that after Jesus left Judea… Continue reading What We can Learn from the Samaritan Woman at the Well
Answering Pro-Choice Christians
This morning’s post on abortion is particularly fitting given that today is the Feast of the Annunciation, in which we celebrate the point at which the Incarnation begins: when Mary conceives Jesus in Her Womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today’s Feast is separated from Christmas by exactly 9 months, for obvious reasons.… Continue reading Answering Pro-Choice Christians