Why Pray a Psalm at Mass?

At every Mass we pray or sing a psalm after the first reading. A psalm is a prayer-song taken from the Old Testament and attributed to King David, who, as you know, played the harp. I thought of blogging about psalms today because we are in the month of the Holy Rosary, a devotion that […]

What Is the Eucharist? Where We Feast on God Together

In view of Sunday’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), an excerpt from my upcoming book, “I am going . . .” Reflections on the Last Words of the Saints is fitting: A teacher was taking her little ones to chapel to visit Jesus. As they passed classrooms, she […]

How Well Do You Know the Eucharist?

In honor of the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (or Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ) celebrated this Sunday, here is a Eucharist IQ Quiz that I use in my workshops on the liturgy. You simply have to tell whether each statement is true or false. The answers are at […]

Do Catholics Really Eat God?

Since we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) on Sunday, let’s think about the Eucharist. What ever gave Jesus the idea of having bread become him so that we could consume him? Talk about crazy love. Although many faith traditions consider Jesus’ words, “This is my body” a figure of speech, we […]

Birthday Gift Via the Bible

We believe that God communicates with us through Sacred Scripture. His word, which is living and effective, can speak to us personally in many ways. When I was in the novitiate, one day the novice director explained that the Scripture readings for the Eucharist on our birthday contain a special message for us from God. […]

Song as Prayer

At our July 4th Mass, we sang every verse of every song, something Catholics rarely do. It got me thinking about the major role song plays in our lives. I believe we are the only earthly creatures that can sing, not counting birds who each have their own sound (except for the mockingbird). Whale sounds […]

Bread and Wine of the Eucharist

I’m in Arabia at a conference for catechists. My keynote address is on the Eucharist. It includes this delightful and thought-provoking story by Richard T. Szafransk published in Emmanuel, used with permission, and adapted by me. I was a grape once. Now I’m a raisin. I’m stuck in this box with a bunch of other […]

Communion of Saints at Mass

In preparing to give a workshop on the liturgy, I was struck by a truth that seldom comes to mind: As we praise and thank God at Mass, all of the angels and saints are with us. This includes all of our loved ones who have “crossed over” and are now with God. They are […]

Blessings upon Blessings

Recent changes in the Mass have woken us up to the words said. What caught my attention is that twice we proclaim, “Blessed be God forever!” We do what we were created to do: We recognize God’s greatness and praise him with all the angels and saints. Bless is a two-way word. We bless God […]