These stories will put our momentary fast from the Body and Blood of Christ into perspective. With dioceses around the world canceling public Masses for weeks to come, many Catholics are already feeling starved for the Eucharist. When the world is fighting a global pandemic, it seems that the Mass would be more necessary than…
We heard Matthew’s Gospel on Ash Wednesday–an invitation to Lenten traditional practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we do every year, the parish invites us to deepen our prayer life and particularly using the booklets available at the back of the church and discover and pray the Stations of the Cross alone or with a…
Fr. Gerard Lecomte, CJM The feast of the Holy Family is a relative newcomer on the calendar, first observed in 1921 on the Sunday within the octave of Epiphany and then in 1969 moved to the Sunday within the octave of Christmas. First and foremost, this Sunday is part of the Christmas season. In the…
Fr. Gerard Lecomte, CJM Here in the lazy, hazy days of summer, it is tempting to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. With summer’s heat upon us, who can blame us for congratulating ourselves for the work we have done and taking a well-deserved break? But the way the world defines…
In the patriarchal societies in which these two widows lived, widowhood was an especially dangerous condition. When a woman married, she left the safety of her household and became dependent on her husband. If her husband died, she not only lost her partner, she lost her source of income, her economic standing, her social support, and likely her inheritance rights. No wonder…
The Bride and the Bridegroom at the Supper of the Lamb By Dr. Edward Sri. Updated by Fr. Gerard CJM From the Catholic Agency Praying mass… The priest says: “Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.” These words certainly command our attention. And they underscore how the Eucharist is no…