I found myself wondering why it seems that so many non-ecclesial institutions grasp evangelization and ritual better than the Church often does.
Read more
Author: Alan Hommerding
Alan Hommerding has been with World Library Publications (WLP) since 1991, most recently as Liturgical Publications Editor for the WLP division of GIA Publications. He is also a composer of numerous published choral and instrumental works, and is well-known as an author of hymn texts. Alan has served the North American Academy of Liturgy as convener of the liturgical music seminar, and as a member of the executive group for the Catholic Academy of Liturgy. He has been a regular contributor to the PrayTell blog since 2016.
Singing Properly
Yes, let us glory in the Cross. Let us also keep channels of communication clear and open. Let us strive to bring the gifts of our various ministries together for the service of God’s people. Let us continue to learn and reflect on the richness of our liturgical heritage, using every skill to offer its richness for a deepened spirituality in the Paschal Mystery.
Read more
Spirit Spirals
Wherever, whenever, with whatever we do it, the psalmist’s command to sing the Lord, and Paul’s command to sing to Lord must lead us toward a song renewed and nourished by a deep and abiding spirit spiraling both inward and outward, toward a profound and enduring understanding.
Read more
Hanging on by a Thread . . . Time to Stop Evangelizing?
Numerous members of the heavenly host persevered, endured, and evangelized through far FAR worse. Quite likely they are having a good laugh at the luxury of my puffball persecutions.
Read more
Mission/Evangelization and Colonialism/Imperialism
As with so many other matters, who we define as “the lost” can have numerous threads of racial supremacy, cultural colonialism, sacral imperialism, and other biases woven into its warp and woof.
Read more
Veni, Respiratio Spiritus!
“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ” (John 20:22). I recall hearing this verse on Easter II 2020, and how it tickled my ears in a new way; even moreso in 2021, with a year-plus under my belt of living and attempting to minister in the world of an airborne virus.
Read more
Where Two or Three Are Gathered . . . Then What?
Perhaps our real problem with grasping the topsy-turviness of the resurrection accounts is that we look at them as the final chapters of the gospels, and therefore we think that they are endings.
Read more
In the Presence of the Angels
Angels are—first and foremost, above all else—messengers of the working out of the will of God.
Read more
The Game of Lent
As the Scottish poet Robert Burns observed, to see ourselves as others see us is God’s greatest gift, and the Simpson household has certainly helped me do that.
Read more
King Jesus Is a-Listenin’
Time and space are hallmarks in African American worship. The people gather to receive the Word and Sacrament. Movement from Khronos time (human time) to Kyros time (God time) occurs.
Read more