Merry Christmas to you all! Perhaps my favorite Christmas hymn is “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. I’m not sure why, but I find it peaceful and moving. The lyrics of the refrain go as such:
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
In today’s column, we will be looking at the beauty of the O Antiphons. A great tradition in the Church that many might not know about, but offer some beautiful opportunities for reflection.
Upcoming on December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This apparition of Our Lady in Mexico City is very close to my heart. In fact, I have made a pilgrimage to the Shrine to see the Tilma twice. Seeing the Tilma in person does not compare to seeing a copy of it. There is such a palpable presence of Our Lady that one cannot doubt the authenticity of this miracle. With this feast day rapidly approaching, here are 9 fun facts!
This next week begins Penance Service week here in Johnson County. With that happening, I think it would be great for us to examine how to make a good confession, and best practices in the confessional.
Happy 34th Sunday, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe! This is the last Sunday of the Church year. We begin a new Church year with Advent next week. This week we also will celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.
Recently, I have received several questions regarding different aspects of receiving the Eucharist at Mass, from the communion fast, to posture, to the number of times allowed in a day. So let's get to it!
Concluding our series on prayer and the Mass, let's look at the practice of offering a Prayer of Thanksgiving after Mass has concluded. I will pull heavily from an article entitled The Quiet the Speaks - Thanksgiving after Mass by Fr. Boniface Hicks. He does an incredible job covering this topic, why would I try and improve something that already exists?
After looking at ways for us to focus at Mass, let's now examine ways that we may participate at Mass. The Second Vatican Council, in its document Sacrosanctum Concilium, used a pair of words that were a large part of what we call the Liturgical Movement that took place throughout the 20th century. Now we don’t have a ton of time to examine that movement within the Church, but what we do need to know is that it greatly shaped the reform of the Liturgy. These words are actuoso participatio.
This week, as it seems that this is a good point to continue a series, we will be looking at how to focus at Mass. I often hear that people struggle to focus, daydream, and get distracted at Mass. That's ok! We are only human, and we should do the past we can; even I get distracted at Mass!
At the same time, what are we doing to avoid distractions and daydreaming? Are we fighting against this? Or is it everytime that we come to Mass we intentionally drift off and daydream as we don’t really want to be here?
This week, after last week's article on the need to prepare well for Mass, let's look at some ways we can prepare for Mass.
Show up early. If you are able, showing up early is the best thing to do. Sometimes we have kids that dictate our schedule and that it is perfectly fine. If you have the ability, it is great to show up 10-15 minutes before Mass. This time before Mass is not a time to read the bulletin, but rather to talk to God.