It has been widely reported that, when he was still the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires, the future Pope Francis washed the feet of women during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Now he has done so as pope. Did he break the Church’s law? What does this event mean, and how can we [...]
Liturgy
This Sunday the gospel reading speaks of a mysterious event, just after Jesus’ baptism, in which he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. How could Jesus–the All-Holy Son of God–be tempted? Why did this event happen, and what was going on? Here are 9 things you need to know about Jesus’ “temptations” . [...]
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Like other liturgical seasons, Lent has its own special rules, and there are certain things that should not be done in Lent. Here are 6 of them . . . 1. Instrumental music with no singing In some parishes, instrumental music is used at certain points during Mass. A passage will be played on an [...]
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This week the liturgical season of Lent begins. Here are nine things you need to know about it . . . 1. What is Lent? According to the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar [.pdf]: 27. Lent [is a liturgical season that] is ordered to preparing for the celebration [...]
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Later this week the Church celebrates the Presentation of the Lord. It’s a feast that happens every year on February 2nd. We read about the presentation of the Lord in Luke 2, but the text can be a little mysterious. What is actually happening there? Some claim that Luke himself didn’t know . . . [...]
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This Sunday’s readings include St. Matthew’s account of the visit of the magi, which I’ve blogged about here. When I was at Mass, I was struck by the ending of the gospel reading: And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way [Mt. 2:12]. [...]
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On January 6 the Church celebrates the feast of “Epiphany.” This feast commemorates the mysterious visit of the magi to the Baby Jesus. Who were the magi? What led them to visit Jesus? And what lessons should we–and shouldn’t we!–learn from this incident? Here are nine things you should know . . . 1. What [...]
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January 1 is an important day in the Church’s liturgy. There is a lot that we commemorate on this day! What we are celebrating, and why we are celebrating it now, can be a little confusing. Here are nine things you should know . . . 1. What exactly are we celebrating on January 1? According [...]
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This Sunday we celebrate the mystery of the Holy Family. What was it like for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to live together? Each is a very remarkable person! Put all three together and . . . wow. Today we have reality shows about interesting and extraordinary families, but they didn’t have reality shows back then. [...]
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If you attended Mass on Christmas Eve, you may have heard the “Christmas proclamation.” This is a beautiful, poetic announcement of the birth of Christ. It says when Jesus was born, dating it from nine different events. But the ways that they dated events in the ancient world are different than the ones we use [...]
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