Perspective
Christ Is Coming: How Are We Preparing the Way?
Second Sunday of Advent The Book of Baruch, the source of this weekend’s first biblical reading, is relatively brief, only five chapters. It also is among the books called by […]
Columns Archive
Perspective
Adult Children and Christmas Mass
There are two kinds of families that I notice at Christmas Mass. The first are those with young children dressed up in their best Christmas finery, excited about the whole […]
Perspective
Fire in the Darkness
When I began this column a year ago, I dubbed it “Two Cracked Ribs” as a reference to the fire of joy that filled the heart of St. Philip Neri […]
Perspective
A Eucharistic Word: Waiting
Learning to wait is an important skill to acquire. I am reminded of its importance almost daily as I help my young children come to understand it – and, of […]
Perspective
We Are Reminded of the Saving Power of God’s Love
First Sunday of Advent This weekend begins the Church’s new liturgical year. Usually, Advent is seen simply as a time to prepare for the feast of Christmas, but actually, the […]
Perspective
Prepare for the Second Coming of Christ
For most of us, the beginning of Advent brings on all sorts of memories and excitement – mostly directed at the celebration of Christmas. Even for the most staunched “delayers,” […]
Perspective
A Faith that Questions
The Scriptures are full of questions – by one count, more than 2,500 of them. The first is posed by the serpent in the Garden of Eden: “Did God say, […]
Perspective
In My End Is My Beginning
“There is significance in the end of things,” my son Jacob once said, long before young men should think such thoughts, much less have the courage to utter them aloud. […]
Perspective
Christ Is Our King, and He Will Always Be with Us
Feast of Christ the King This weekend, in great joy and thanksgiving, the Church closes its year. As it looks back through the days and months of 2024, it gives […]
Perspective
Thanks Be to God
Back in the early 1990s, a major fast-food chain lured patrons in by promising that they would encounter “Food, folks, and fun.” There was even a catchy little song to […]
Perspective
Thanksgiving to Whom?
Thanksgiving is one of those few national holidays when a semi-religious sentiment is allowed. It peeks through in reply to two obvious questions: Thanksgiving to whom, and Thanksgiving for what? […]
Perspective
A Eucharistic Word: Fruitfulness
What do we do when we return to the pew after receiving holy Communion? Having welcomed the Lord of the universe into our own corner of it, in the most […]