The water is poured and the words are said: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” As I approach the newly baptized baby held in the arms of his mother or father, I bow, make the sign of the cross, and venerate (kiss) the child as I would an icon. Doing so, I venerate Jesus Christ present in this child. The child, having been washed of sin, filled with the Holy Spirit, and clothed in Christ, is now a holy image of him who is the perfect image of... Read more
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Articles Under: Sacramental Preparation
We never know which Holy Communion might be our last. We make a big deal of our First Communion, and rightly so. But why don’t we have a strong catechesis and spirituality of Viaticum, that final time we receive the Body of Christ before our soul leaves our own body to meet him? As a Church, perhaps we are missing a robust eucharistic spirituality in general. Maybe we lack a proper sober focus on our preparation for death. We could likely all benefit from considering the Last Rites in a more personal and specific way, so that they may be... Read more
When a man gets married, the last thing on his mind on his wedding day is a little, two-word phrase that he will utter probably every single day (and several times a day) for the rest of his life. Two simple words that, probably, he never would have expected to say so frequently. And those two words are, of course, “Yes, dear.” (And if you guessed that those two words were “I’m sorry,” then you also are correct!) Now, why I mention these words is because the same is true for me, and indeed for every man who gets ordained... Read more
One of the most stressful moments for baptized Protestants entering into full communion with the Catholic Church is making their first Confession. Unlike Catholics who typically need only to recall sins from a month or so, these baptized adults in RCIA must make a first Confession covering their entire lives—many decades for most. Occasionally, a zealous Protestant arrives in RCIA months before Easter asking the question, “Can I go to Confession now?” This sets up the question: How early may a baptized candidate go to Confession? Surprisingly, very little is written on this subject. Of course, it may not be... Read more
Beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is the place where tradition tells us the Angel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An altar stands in this grotto, inscribed with these words: “verbum caro hic factum est” (the Word became flesh here ). The Incarnation of God’s Son into human flesh is not a myth or fairy tale. It is an historical event that happened in a specific year, in an actual village we can locate on a map, within a particular home and family. Numerous consequences flow from this wondrous fact of God’s Son taking upon himself our... Read more
Stay connected to your parish or school. Download myParishApp here for free. This is a paid advertisement in the July-September 2021 issue. Advertisements should not be viewed as endorsements from the publisher.Read more
We recently had our fifth child baptized, and I was remembering our baptism class shortly before our first child was born. It was doctrinally accurate and fully explained the signs and symbols of the Rite of Baptism. I was a young DRE at the time, and it was the same sort of class that I offered as part of my ministry. But if I’m honest, it was woefully inadequate to prepare us to raise our children to know Jesus and his Church. A few years ago, I was listening to a webinar given by Dr. Joseph White on early childhood... Read more
Hay un tema fundamental que corre a lo largo de la Sagrada Escritura: ser llamado por su nombre . Dicho de otra manera, en los ojos de Dios, tú y yo no som os simplemente uno del montón, ni tampoco somos un número seriado. Nuestro número de seguridad social bien puede ser un registro de que habitam os en los Estados Unidos de América, pero ese mismo número fracasa en definir quiénes somos tú y yo. En los ojos de Dios, tú y yo somos amados y no un simple p ie de página en la historia de la humanidad... Read more
La iglesia doméstica ocupa un domicilio: un departamento, una mansión, una cabaña, una granja, un pent-house, cualquier tipo de vivienda a la que llamamos hogar. Todo el mundo, desde el psicólogo junguiano casi agnóstico, Jordan Peterson, al “influencer” que se ha vuelto viral, el almirante de la marina William McRaven, y hasta tu propia mamá aboga a favor de ordenar el espacio donde uno habita como el primer paso hacia una vida exitosamente ordenada, tanto al nivel práctico como a nivel simbólico. Para aquellas personas que tengan una visión sacramental de la realidad, también diríamos que es a nivel físico... Read more
Fortitude is a virtue that is admired by even the non-religious. Even people who think temperance is for the overly pious, consider meekness a weakness, and scoff at humility believe that fortitude is a laudable attribute. For thousands of years, cultures have honored the courageous, recognizing the hero that finds the balanced mean between fear and impetuousness. As C. S. Lewis notes in The Screwtape Letters , people are “proud of most vices, but not of cowardice.” The Catechism tells us, “Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It... Read more
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