Archive for April 2023

Historically Easter and its subsequent 50-day season have been a favored time for First Communion and other sacraments of initiation. Parishes and schools place First Communion in April and May—and pray for beautiful spring weather to enhance the joy of the momentous day. Do you recall your First Communion Day? Children like me who attended…

I was remembering a miracle that happened a quarter-century ago in Delphos, Ohio. The parish was having a week of religious education in the evening for children. On the last day we had prepared homemade games based on Gospel stories. Children were asked to bring a few coins for people in mission countries to enter…

The multiplication of the loaves and fish amply fed the large crowd who had come impressed by Jesus’s miraculous cures. Dolores Dufner composed “We Come with Joy,” which tells the story of Jesus blessing the fish and barley loaves “till food was multiplied [and] bounty overflowed their want, and all were satisfied.” Philip was the…

Today is my youngest sister’s birthday. I peeked ahead at the gospel for the day and read how Jesus fed five thousand and then followed him wanting more. Jesus warned them, “Do not work for food that perishes.” My sister has enjoyed cooking and preparing lovely meals since she was in seventh grade. She was…

On Saturday of this week “the night will be as clear as day.” No, there is no nocturnal phenomenon to anticipate. Rather, in Catholic churches the Paschal candle will be lit, letting Christ shed “his peaceful light on all” during the Easter Vigil. The solemn night of the Easter Vigil floods the assembly with sensory…

The Blessed Virgin was a woman of sorrows. She suffered hearing Simeon’s words that a sword would pierce her heart. Mary suffered in the flight to Egypt, on the day Jesus left for school and the house seemed so empty, when rumors claimed Jesus was “mad,” when mother and Son met on the via crucis,…

The evangelists occasionally show us Jesus getting away from it all, finding a spot to commune with his Father. On the night before he died, he crossed the Kidron Valley to pray, to agonize with his Father. “Ah, Gethsemani, my favorite garden! Thank you for the rest and calm you’ve given me after hot afternoons…

Saint Paul tells us to rejoice always in the Lord. The Church sets aside two days called Rejoice Days—Gaudete Sunday in Advent and Laetare Sunday in Lent. Two days to remind us that there is reason to rejoice despite war, poverty, mass shooting, and weather disasters among many other things that make us question “Rejoice?”…

There is no week of the year more replete with rituals than Holy Week. Rituals are not routines, even when we have memorized the gestures and words.  When ritual is done well—and that’s why lectors and singers practice—it helps us transcend our limits in sensing God’s presence. Ritual also strengthens community in its praise, hopes,…