“Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man. …[P]rayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is ‘the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity … with the whole human spirit.’ Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ” (CCC 2564-2565).
This section of the blog is dedicated to topics related to prayer, worship, and liturgy.
On December 8, 2020, on the feast of the immaculate conception, His Holiness, Pope Francis, issued an apostolic letter entitled Patris Corde. The Holy Father writes that “the aim of this Apostolic Letter is to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us...
"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand…Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."[i] “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from...
“Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last…” We glean this line from the Office of Readings for Wednesday from the first week of Advent. Saint Bernard speaks about the “three comings of...
Titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary include such exalted words as Gate of Heaven, Ark of the Covenant, Seat of Wisdom, and others. Why use such titles to describe Mary? This is simply because she is the fairest of our human race, preserved from the first instant of...
In these last days of the liturgical year, the Church prepares for the Feast of Christ the King. Then we enter into the season of Advent, which is meant to be a time of preparing for the coming of Christ at the end of the time as we prepare for the annual celebration...
In this month in which we commemorate the great feast of All Saints, we are to remember that each of us is called to holiness, regardless of our state of life. We must all desire heaven, ultimate union with God. The Church gives us many agents, not the least of...
What is an indulgence? We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1471: The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due...
November is a time when we remember those who have gone before us in the celebration of All Saints Day (November 1st) and All Souls Day (November 2nd). This makes November a special time to focus our attention on the reality of the Church as the Church Triumphant...
“He remained what he was; he took up what he was not…to make possible the kind of remedy that fitted our human need.” On the feast day of our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 15), one of the main themes in the second reading of the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the...
Take your son, your only son, whom you love…and offer him as a whole burnt sacrifice. These words, spoken to Abraham by God, must have been unbearable for him to hear. This was the child of promise, the son he loved, the sign that God would fulfill his word to make...