This Good Shepherd Sunday marks the interregnum anniversary when we were without a pontiff. Pope Francis died the morning after Easter Sunday (April 21) while the college of cardinals gathered soon thereafter to elect his successor, Pope Leo XIV (May 8). Francis was the first pope from the Americas and Leo is the first to […]
In their famous 1988 song, Fairytale of New York, the Pogues tell the story of a young Irish man and woman who fall in love with each other while dreaming of fame in America. After exchanging romantic expressions of infatuation and fantasy, things go south and they hurl vicious and condemning insults back and forth […]
While leaders of the world try to carry out their jobs to make their country a better place, so does the pope have his job in guiding the universal church to reflect the message and mission of Christ around the globe. Jesus is often called The Prince of Peace. His resurrection greeting is a message […]
The fifty days of Easter celebrated in Christianity each year mirror the fifty days of the first disciples following the death of Jesus. During that time, the acts of the Apostles changed from those of despairing lost souls to those of courageous people of faith. It began at the tomb where the stone had been […]
About thirty percent of the Gospels are dedicated to recounting the passion and death of Jesus (42% of John’s Gospel), but only one week of the church’s liturgical year is given to the same focus. Much happens between the upper room of Holy Thursday as the sun sets and the empty tomb of Easter Sunday […]
Palm Sunday is the only Sunday of the year in which Mass attendees begin the service outside their church building and enter together. The united movement symbolizes Jesus’ entry into the holy city, Jerusalem, where He was accompanied by a large crowd to inaugurate His passion. “Jerusalem” means peace realized. The ritual saunter also points […]
The late Rabbi Harold Kushner once said: “I don’t believe in a God who looks for reasons to punish people for being less than perfect. It is bad religion to teach that—just as it’s a mistake for parents to be excessively disappointed every time their child makes a mistake. I believe, instead, in a God […]
“Lorica” comes from a Latin word that describes a shield or breastplate which soldiers carried or wore in battle to protect them. The term has come to be associated with Saint Patrick’s breastplate that contained a prayer of protection as he encountered adversaries in presenting Christianity to natives of the Emerald Isle and is carried […]
Our annual Lenten journey begins in an ash heap that offers us numerous experiences and encounters. Marked with a sign of mortality, ashes in the form of a cross on our forehead, we embark on a pilgrimage of encounter. It starts by recalling that we are of the earth—ashes to ashes and dust to dust—and, […]
Missouri weather this time of year can fluctuate markedly with several consecutive days of temperatures in the seventies followed by several in the teens before reversing again. This lion-lamb effect goes beyond atmospheric pressures and barometric measures, for there is also fluctuation within the Lenten soul. As we journey from Ashes to Easter, it’s like […]
