Think of a single mother who goes to the Church or the Parish, and tells the secretary: I WANT TO BAPTIZE MY SON." And the attendant says: No, you can't, because you're not married.. Let's keep in mind that this mother had the courage to continue with a pregnancy, and...
I want to write a longer piece about those bishops who seek to keep some from the table of Christ, but for now I will say this: it is not your table (nor mine). Bishops, priests, etc. are neither the hosts nor the bouncers nor the ones who wrote the guest list. The...
The experiment with faith is the work of a lifetime, a continual openness to change, a permanent quest. What I learned serving at the altar was not which Eucharistic theology was "right." What I learned, and must always be learning and relearning, is who Jesus is, and...
The effectiveness of a liturgy lies in its humility, in the absence of self-proclamation—”I am the liturgy, notice me.” The Word of God is the gathering point for all the content and all the action. If there is a high point or seasonal emphasis in a liturgy, this is...
The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought into being by the cross, and the focus of worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified. So the community of the cross is a community of celebration, a Eucharistic community, ceaselessly...
The idea of “sacred space” is important [for worship]. The word “sanctuary” implies safety, shelter, and protection. A worship space communicates an otherness, but also a haven where individuals can come into acceptance, reflection, and space. A congregation is in...
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors...
With the lingering taste of bread and wine, broken bread and empty cup, Jesus stared into the depths of the cup before him, the cup filled to the brim with suffering and death, even more, dereliction and abandonment. Agony filled Gethsemane. from A Scandalous...
It’s strange. We think of ourselves as needing him but we don’t think of Jesus as needing us. Yet we believe he sacrificed himself for us while we give little thought to the fact that real communion requires us to also sacrifice ourselves for him… Usually it is a...
We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know [Christ] in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is...