Called to Question on Palm Sunday
It is a day that takes us from soaring joy to the depths of sorrow. Palm Sunday begins with chants of Hosanna as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem amid a triumphant crowd. Two thousand years on, we join with that throng…
Category Feast Day
Feast of The Chair of Peter
Today, Feb. 22, is no mere Saturday in Ordinary Time. It was no doubt chosen by Pope Francis as the date for his first consistory to install new members into the College of Cardinals because it is the Feast of…
Conversion: A Lifelong Process
The work of Carvaggio, the master Renaissance artist, proves a picture really is worth a thousand words. His powerful painting, Conversion on the Way to Damascus, has forever cemented in popular culture that notion that St. Paul was riding a…
The Blessing of Lambs on the Feast of St. Agnes
On the feast of St. Agnes there is an interesting blessing celebrated at the church of the saint on Piazza Navona in Rome. Two lambs are blessed, and when they have grown, the wool from these lambs is woven and…
The Feast of the Epiphany
Comet Hale-Bopp hung brightly in the clear night sky – seemingly in suspended animation! I had just come out of church at the conclusion of the 8:00 p.m. Mass. I’d been waiting seemingly endlessly to finally see for myself this…
Christmas and the Spirit of Joy
The Christmas season is all about joy. This is not what we might think: true joy is not synonymous with laughter or merry-making, though these might be expressions of it. True joy is something much deeper — and much rarer.…
Mary as Theotokos
Mary, Mother of God, is honoured with an endless list of titles. Some, like Our Lady of Lourdes, link Mary to a place. Others, like Our Lady of Perpetual Help, reference the reasons we turn to Mary in prayer. Still…
A Link to Church Foundations
Just nine days after the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Roman Calendar marks yet another celebration linked to bricks and mortar as we commemorate The Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, two of the four…
The Basilica of Saint John Lateran
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) Most people assume that the pope’s cathedral is St. Peter’s Basilica, located within the walls of Vatican City.…
All Souls’ Day
All Souls’ Day is one of the most hopeful moments of the Church year. That might sound like an odd assertion regarding a day also known as The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. Indeed, celebration of the day comes…