During the Jubilee Year, we have often heard the word ‘mercy.’ Every time I hear it, I think about its Latin equivalent: misericordia. The literal sense of this word is the movement of the heart toward pity. The misery of the heart that causes us to reach out in love.
Timothy O'Malley
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In late medieval culture, the feast of Corpus Christi was an occasion for a carnival-esque celebration. Plays were performed throughout the city, remembering the entirety of salvation history. Processions unfolded upon beds of roses, as prince and pauper alike praised the sacrament of the Eucharist.
After the joy of the Easter season, it may feel like a letdown to celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The proclamation that Christ has risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, seems more important than announcing the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. The descent of the Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost, who go forth to breathe Jesus’ own spirit over creatio...
Most Catholics are at least vaguely aware that the Easter Vigil is a high point of the liturgical year. Yet, the Vigil of Pentecost rarely gets the same attention, despite having its own set of extended readings. If we read these texts for the Vigil of Pentecost, we discover that Pentecost is the fulfillment of Easter, not simply the end of the season.
The feast of the Ascension is puzzling. The full presence of the risen Lord made available during the season of Easter is now interrupted by Christ ascending. The bodily presence of Jesus is no longer immediately available to the disciples.
Jesus, in the Gospel of John, shows that he is the supremely masterful teacher. In the final hours before he goes to his death, Jesus speaks to his disciples. Unlike the mere human teacher, Christ comes to give vivifying words. Words that are the very presence of the Word made flesh: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling wit...
The Book of Revelation does not contain a series of esoteric predictions about the end of the world. Rather, Revelation presents a world in which the final union of God and humanity is taking place in the presence of the slain Lamb. This ultimate union is described as a wedding: “I . . . saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husb...
During the season of Easter, we often hear passages that seem to establish a non-negotiable barrier between those who accept the Gospel and those who do not. In the Acts of the Apostles, we hear from Paul and Barnabas that “it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:...
In the coming days, those involved in reading ecclesial tealeaves will pour over Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on love in the family (Amoris Laetitia) seeking places where the Holy Father is proposing doctrinal development in a theology of marriage. Others will look for various episcopal influences: Is this section influenced by Cardinal Kasper or Cardinal Ouellet or Archbishop Chaput? Cover...
The temptation of Easter for the regular churchgoer is to forget that the resurrected Jesus remains the crucified Lord. On the Third Sunday of Easter, we find ourselves confronted with Christ’s wounds of love bathed in resurrected light.
