“Stick-to-itiveness is one of the more inelegant words in the English language, but I have a special fondness for it. … I have also found that it is one of the marks of Christian discipleship and have learned to admire those who exemplify it.”
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
Several months ago, I had the opportunity to travel to a far-off land, a land I had read about and imagined my whole life. “To Hogwarts you went?” some might ask. While Hogwarts would have been a magical experience, I went to a land that was home to a figure infinitely more awe-inspiring...
Many of us struggle with the “presence in absence” of God in the Eucharist. It is hard to believe that our God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, is really and actively present with us in the Eucharist, which seems to be just mundane, ordinary bread and wine. When faced with this feeling of doubt or even apathy, I find that the “Lamb of God” impels me to confront the “presence-in-absence” of God in the E...
Every Eucharistic Prayer concludes with the Doxology and the Great Amen. In this solemn, powerful moment, the presider holds aloft Jesus himself, truly present in the Eucharistic species, and proclaims:
“How was the Mass?” Many friends asked me this question upon returning from my grandmother’s funeral this past January. The most authentic answer I could give people was “Comfortable.” Although my Memere (a term of endearment for my Canadian-born grandmother) was 90 years old when she returned to the Lord, the length and quality of her life did not remove the painful void caused by her death. I fr...
