Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have
The Easter Vigil, which takes place Holy Saturday night, “is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities and it is to be unique in every single Church,” the rubrics of the Missale Romanum proclaim. The word vigil, which means “staying up all night,” takes on a special
A Polish Catholic parish in London, England, said Saturday that it believed that police “grossly exceeded their powers” when they halted a Good Friday service and ordered parishioners to go home. Police officers interrupted the Good Friday liturgy at Christ the King Church in Balham,
In his apostolic letter for the beginning of the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis cites Polish author Jan Dobraczyński. The Holy Father explains that his novel, The Shadow of the Father, “uses the evocative image of a shadow to define Joseph. In his relationship to
All mothers go through seasons of waiting, each as distinct as the woman herself. Whether a woman is waiting to conceive, waiting through the long months of pregnancy for the birth of a child, waiting for an adoption placement, or going through any other season
From Pope Benedict’s 2010 address during his pastoral visit to the Shroud of Turin. Dear Friends: This is a moment to which I have been looking forward. I have stood before the Holy Shroud on various occasions but this time I am experiencing this Pilgrimage
The word from the cross is the gospel of Paul – the message he announced to Jews and pagans. It is a plain witness, without a trace of grandiloquence, without any effort to convince on the grounds of reason. It derives its entire force from
In the last few months, Our Lord has taken me to my very limits physically, mentally, and spiritually. He took everything that I thought I possessed or controlled away from me. Being the spiritual infant that I am, I could not understand what He was
Good Friday is the most somber day in the liturgical calendar, a day to remember Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of his life. In many ways it is not a pleasant day, as it is a day that focuses on death and the suffering our sin caused
When faced with Christian slogans like “Jesus died to save you from your sins” or liturgical commonplaces like “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” the 21st century twenty-something with virtually no understanding of Christianity might well ask, “What does
