We’ve just concluded the Christmas Season and are only a few days into Ordinary Time, but I’m already behind the 8 ball. When studying for a masters in liturgy, I was taught to prepare a whole year at one time, starting with Holy Week and working forward and backwards from

Almost daily I have the privilege and responsibility to play the piano or organ for Mass at the Sisters of Notre Dame Center in Whitehouse, Ohio. Although I am not the one who selects the hymns and ritual music, which have a greater impact on the liturgy, I imagine that

We are approaching the end of the Christmas Season, and I have only a couple days to play and sing every carol in the hymnal. A few like “Silent Night” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” have been used twice in the parish assembly. And the best interludes, postludes, and

One task today for me is to continue taking down and packing Christmas decorations. The season is about to end, and the official Ordinary Time begins. But that does not mean Christmas is over. Robert Taft, S.J., whom I was privileged to have as an instructor of the Church Year,

Perhaps you’ve seen posters suggesting we sleep well tonight; the USA Army is on the watch. I don’t need to enumerate all the terrible things going on in our world from ICE raids to starvation to floods and fires. But I find comfort in knowing my sisters, the Sisters of

Advent is a time for delight and depth. The weeks are sugar-sprinkled with concerts, parties, favorite shows, Christmas cards from long-time friends. Meanwhile, the quiet of snow beckons reflection. The book Three Wise Women by D. D Mackall provided spiritual beauty for me like cherished tree decorations, one ornament at

On an icy road two women skidded and found themselves in a car, the front wheels hanging on a cable. It was impossible for them to lift the car. Before I-phones, they decided to stand there until help came. After a time, a man offered to help and managed to

Perhaps Mary and Joseph wondered what Jesus’ first words would be. One might expect the Hebrew words equivalent to “mama” and “dada.” Either word would have made his parents proud. The word for “father” (abba) would have deep meaning, since it would reflect divine sonship—although that would take maturity, a

Unlike TV shows and Christmas commercials, the presents brought by Santa to my house were never wrapped with colorful paper and ribbon. Gifts came in brown grocery bags, and somehow my parents knew to which child the bag belonged. One Christmas I noticed a beautifully wrapped gift. It was really

Don’t you love stories, novels, movies, TV shows that have good endings? There’s something satisfying when the main character achieves his goal, when the reader or viewer puts down the book or turns off the program feeling his own life has been made better for the experience. Time has a