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:
A few months ago, I was stuck in the deep trenches of service options on the Catholic Volunteer Network website. Simultaneously, I was overwhelmed when thinking about the enormity of social, political, and economic issues affecting real people’s lives inside and outside the U.S. Would I be choosing one community over another? What are the implications of that? Who is my brother, sister, mother? Ho...
During my first year in college, I heard Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon as I would later learn) for the first time. Upon first praying the text, I thought to myself, there are so many random saints who are named. Who are they? Why no Saint Patrick or Francis or Clare or Ignatius of Loyola? I also thought to myself, as it was prayed throughout the Easter season, "Hmmm, this is long. I wish i...
If you have ever learned a second language, you know that some concepts do not translate perfectly. I have always loved discovering those words and phrases in Spanish that more precisely convey meaning than their corresponding English. The feeling is akin to becoming privy to a small but special secret—only these are the secrets you want to share with others, hoping they provide a similar sense of...
Every Wednesday another seminarian and I work at a shelter run by Mother Teresa’s sisters, the Missionaries of Charity. The shelter is in the poorest ZIP code in the United States. The men there have messy and complicated lives — many are estranged from families, suffer addictions or check knives at the door — but somehow these lives seem to work out. These guys have almost nothing but they find w...
If you have spent any time in a parish—or in the Midwest for that matter—you have likely been to a potluck. You know, a meal where various dishes are brought to be shared and enjoyed by all. Sometimes when a group really knows how to throw a good potluck, you may have even been assigned a dish “category” corresponding with the first letter of your last name. Now, those people really know how to th...
I used to think that the Prayer of the Faithful was a bit like a bill passed in Congress. There would be certain key prayers, followed by additional prayers from special interest groups that might not have been part of the original plan, but after a vote from the parish committee on Sunday all of us are obliged to stand and repeat, “Lord, hear our prayer,” regardless of whether we were particularl...
When First Year Students enter the university each fall, they are provided the opportunity for a prompt and thorough indoctrination into the Notre Dame football culture. They learn the gestures, the cheers, and the songs that will punctuate their existence during their time on campus, and that will continue to help define their identities as alumni and alumnae long into the future. These tradition...
The cantor raises their arms, calling the congregation to stand and proclaim, Alleluia. Slowly, I shake myself out of my sleepy stupor and rise with my fellow Mass-goers. At this point, I am thankful for an excuse to stand. I haven’t had much to do for a while, and I’m in danger of falling asleep. Even though they call it the Liturgy of the Word, they don’t really give us many words to say, do the...
