Many of us who attend Mass regularly are familiar with the ebb and flow of church attendance throughout the year. There is often lower attendance during summer as people travel or go on vacation. Weekday Mass attendance increases during Lent and Advent as people utilize these seasons to attend to their spiritual life. Unique occasions […]
From the Editor
From the Editor · September / October 2021
From the Editor (September/October 2021)
One of my earlier books was denied an imprimatur (back in the days when that was deemed essential) because I had not said that the Mass was a sacrifice. Not that I denied it, mind you, only that I was focusing on the meal aspect of Eucharist. The emphasis on the Mass as a meal […]
From the Editor · July / August 2021
From the Editor (July/August 2021)
“What happened to Father Eymard on that hill?” I imagine this must have been the question those closest to the recently ordained Peter Julian Eymard asked themselves. After all, what kind of experience could produce such a sea change in religious outlook? Though considered “holy” by his parishioners prior to this “hill-top” experience, he also […]
From the Editor · May / June 2021
From the Editor (May/June 2021)
Saint Peter Julian Eymard loved the priesthood and he loved the Eucharist. In fact, there are three stained-glass windows in a chapel that bears his name in his hometown of La Mure d’Isère, a small town in southeastern France, that beautifully make this point. The first window memorializes a popular story from Saint Eymard’s childhood. […]
From the Editor · March / April 2021
From the Editor (March/April 2021)
On the feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14, 2020), Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS, issued a pastoral letter to the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio entitled Transformed by Hope, Let Us Rebuild Our Tomorrow! Its release came as the United States and much of the world was entering into a […]
From the Editor · January / February 2021
From the Editor (January/February 2021)
Recently, as I was preparing to speak on “cheap grace” in light of Matthew’s Parable of the Wedding Feast (22:1-14), I turned to an old friend for inspiration, the German Lutheran theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, author of The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison. In researching Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and […]
From the Editor · November / December 2020
From the Editor (November/December 2020)
The closing months of 2020 are upon us. I suspect that many are saying, with a mix of relief and anxiety, “Thank God; enough! And may the new year 2021 be infinitely better than the departing one has been on virtually every level of our shared history and experience!” A year ago this time, as […]
From the Editor · September / October 2020
From the Editor (September/October 2020)
The first known cases of the novel coronavirus in Italy were diagnosed on the last day of January this year. Within weeks, with the relentless spread of Covid-19 across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Catholic churches curtailed public liturgies or closed entirely, and forced abstinence from the Eucharist — a “eucharistic fast” — became the […]
From the Editor · July / August 2020
From the Editor (July/August 2020)
One of the most recognizable icons ever created is Andrei Rublev’s masterpiece The Trinity. Also called The Hospitality of Abraham, it depicts the three angels (messengers) who visited Abraham at the oak of Mamre, seated in communion around a table. This story, recounted in Genesis 18:1-8, is a window into ancient Semitic life, especially the […]
From the Editor · May / June 2020
From the Editor (May/June 2020)
It is commonly believed that the first encyclicals of a papacy represent a signal of the pastoral vision and priorities of the new pope. Other leaders in the Church, then, as well as the faithful and secular observers look to these documents to see what the holder of the Chair of Peter will emphasize in […]