feast days Archives - Catechist's Journey

Pop-Up Catechesis: Feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

I’m sure you’re familiar with a TV commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” In a life of faith, we ask a different question: “What’s in your heart?” In today’s episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore what is in the hearts of Jesus and Mary as we prepare to celebrate the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (June 19 and 20, 2020, respectively). For more information […]

Helping Young People Understand Feasts and Holy Days of the Liturgical Year

Joe Paprocki

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption (August 15), I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a closer look at what holy days are all about and to help young people understand them. A good way to start is to ask young people where they may have gone on vacation and if anyone did any sightseeing at places such as the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or an art gallery […]

Happy Feast Day of St. Augustine!

Joe Paprocki

Other than my patron saint, Joseph, and St. Ignatius of Loyola, few saints have inspired me as much as St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate today. When I was a student at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, I studied Latin for four years and also took an elective on The Confessions of St. Augustine. The class consisted of five or six of us students translating the Confessions from Latin to English line by line under […]

The Feast of the Assumption—A Blessing of the Body

Joe Paprocki

As we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, we are reminded of the importance of the body in our spirituality. Our belief that Mary was assumed body and soul is a reinforcement of our belief in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a bodily Resurrection. We Catholics do not belief that death results in an eternity of floating around as a disembodied spirit. Rather, we look forward to the resurrection of the […]

Happy Feast Day, St. Ignatius of Loyola!

Joe Paprocki

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola – a saint who has had a major impact on my life. I attended a Jesuit high school (St. Ignatius College Prep), a Jesuit college (Loyola University of Chicago), a Jesuit graduate school (Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University of Chicago), and have now worked for Loyola Press for 13 years! That’s 25 total years of Jesuit influence…almost half my life! To celebrate, I […]

Happy St. Joseph’s Day!

Joe Paprocki

On this Feast Day of St. Joseph, my patron saint, let’s take a moment to reflect on his quiet nature and how fitting that is for the Lenten season! Here is my post from a couple of years ago on St. Joseph along with an activity from my 40 Ideas for 40 Days of Lent. Happy Feast Day to all the Joe’s out there!