The 50 days of the Easter season provide us with plenty of time to spread the hope and joy of the Risen Christ to others. One of the ways that we do this is by performing Spiritual Works of Mercy. While the Corporal Works of Mercy aim to help our neighbors with their material and physical needs, the Spiritual Works of Mercy aim to help people with their emotional and spiritual needs. All works of […]
It’s interesting to note that, in a number of the post-Resurrection stories in the Gospels, Jesus’ disciples are stuck in the past. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus lament, “We were hoping.” (Luke 24:21) Peter is well-aware of his denial of knowing Jesus, when the Risen Christ asks him, “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15) The Apostles are locked away in the upper room, paralyzed by fear and aware that […]
The story of Jesus’ Resurrection tells us that he was buried in a tomb located in a garden (John 19:41). According to the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP), throughout Scripture, the image of a garden represents both nature and a sacred space (representing heaven, the “place” where God dwells, the focus of human longing or life at its fullest, a way of life and a state of the soul). Of course, the Book of Genesis […]
In the Church year, Easter, our season of feasting, is longer than Lent, our season of fasting! While the 40 days of Lent lay out a program of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we often don’t seem to have a game plan for how to celebrate the 50 days of Easter. I suggest that we focus on the concept of “feasting” during the 50 days of Easter. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore six […]
Every Christmas season, we have many opportunities to watch the Christmas classics, one of the most popular of which is the 1946 movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, with James Stewart and Donna Reed. While that heart-warming story is indeed suitable for Christmas, I can’t help but think that it is even more appropriate for Easter! Think about it: Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ—a celebration of the transformation of suffering and […]
One of my favorite traditions at Easter is the blessing of Easter foods and baskets on Holy Saturday. When I was a kid growing up in a predominantly Polish parish in Chicago, my siblings and I annually lugged several baskets full of the best-smelling Easter foods to the parish hall on Holy Saturday for the blessing of Easter foods known as the Święconka (shveeyen-TSON-kah). Many parishes continue this tradition on Holy Saturday; however, there is […]
The new Directory for Catechesis has many thought-provoking and powerful lines, including the following: “Everything [in faith formation] is oriented toward the mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.” (64a) “Catechesis communicates the heart of the faith in an essential and existentially understandable way, bringing each person into contact with the Risen One and helping him to reinterpret and to live the most intense moments of his life as Paschal events.” (64a) I find it […]
Without a doubt, births and deaths are some of the most profound moments of our lives. They are most certainly “thin places”—those moments or places where the veil that normally prevents us from recognizing God’s presence seems to be quite thin. As we approach Holy Week, we prepare to come face to face with death and new life; Good Friday and Easter are a continuum. In our catechetical settings, Holy Week provides us with an […]
As I look back on my relationship with my wife Joanne, one of the times that I recall with greatest fondness is the time in which I was “in pursuit” of her. As a couple of teenagers, we moved from being part of a larger group to spending more and more time alone with one another. Of course, I spent great time and energy (and a lot of brain cells!) planning and plotting to create […]
One of my favorite musical performers was the late Leonard Cohen, and one of my favorite songs by him is “Anthem.” In the refrain of this wonderful song, Cohen shares this profound truth: Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in Indeed, it is through the “cracks”—our brokenness—that the light gets in. It is this same truth that […]
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