This is for all those for whom Christmas is not always the “hap-happiest season of all.” As broken as some of our families are, may they each in some way be touched by the “calm and bright” of the Holy Family.
Archive for category Pastoral Theology
I think the ancients were quite accurate. Waiting is nearly the essence of human lives. Patience is one of our greatest needs. The only one that trumps it is the need, or rather, desire, for God-with-us. Love is on the way. Advent is worth its weight in waiting.
“To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”
As I speak in various dioceses around the country, I have been floating some ideas for implementing the new missal translation and have picked up a few ideas from the priests, deacons, and lay liturgical leaders in my audiences. Here are mine, with a bit of an explanation of what I mean.
The Catholic Spirit, the archdiocesan newspaper of St Paul, Minneapolis, recently published this welcoming article by Joe Towalski. He offers a practical and simple way that regular parishioners can make young families feel welcome in the pews: speak up before the people who don’t want children in the mass have the chance.
An open letter to Anne Rice
Aug 18
The problem is, you can’t do the Jesus thing alone.
The Wonders of Work
Aug 9
Each year on the first Monday of September we celebrate the civil holiday Labor Day. More than an excuse for a day off from work, it is fitting that at least once a year we pause as a nation to pray for the safety of all laborers, pray that all receive just wages and benefits, pray in gratitude for the work of others who make our own lives more wholesome and comfortable.
I would love to know what other liturgists and liturgiologists believe about the future of their field and profession. I hope they can help me.