Benedictus Deus

In a question and answer session with young people Pope Benedict offered this analogy in regard to having the strength to live the Christian ideal of marriage:

To renew man, the Lord — alluding to these prophetic voices which always guided Israel towards the clarity of monogamy — recognized with Ezekiel that, to live this vocation, [...]

At my parish we are blessed with a priest who is an excellent homilist. Last night at our Maundy Thursday mass he made two fascinating points. He pointed out the connection between St. John being the only apostle who stayed at the foot of the cross, and with him being the only apostle [...]

In the pre-Vatican II lectionary the Gospel readings for Holy week include all of the passion narratives from the synoptic gospels. So, if you go to daily mass during Holy Week, or even just keep up with the readings on your own, you will hear the passion three times from different perspectives. Seems appropriate.
By contrast, [...]

This past weekend I was visiting my parents, and attended mass at their parish. There was a youth group in attendance from a nearby protestant church. I’m not sure why they came, but Father made an effort to explain the liturgy to them (which I wish he would have done ahead of time). But the [...]

Last Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, marked the beginning of Passion Time (or Passiontide). Passion Time is the last two weeks of Lent, which are called Passion Week, and Holy Week. Passion Week focuses on the Last year of Christ’s life, particularly on the increasing hostility towards him by the Jewish leaders. Holy Week [...]