Q: At a family discussion, the following question came up: Can anyone other than a priest or deacon do a Catholic blessing? (Baltimore) A: As your question would suggest, aside from certain blessings reserved to a bishop (e.g., the consecration of the sacramental oils at the chrism Mass during Holy Week), it is a priest […]
Kathleen T. Choi: Help here and now
Our family had a serious health scare recently. We’re not completely out of the woods yet, but prospects are good. My prayer during this time has been pretty basic: “Help! Please help!” “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis deals with anxiety like mine. Lewis points out that when God asks us to submit patiently to […]
Msgr. Owen F. Campion | 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: God’s law is one and inseparable
Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40 The Book of Exodus provides this weekend with its first reading. Exodus is among the first five books of the Bible, the books attributed to Moses. So in ancient Jewish tradition, Exodus came from Moses. Therefore, in a most special way, it was seen as the very word […]
Talk story | Office for Social MInistry: Reaching out, offering hope
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace … where there is despair, let me bring hope.” (Prayer of St. Francis) With a lava flow threatening, these words of St. Francis summed up why folks gathered in Avery Hall of Sacred Heart Parish in Pahoa for a Sunday potluck town meeting at noon on Oct. […]
Father Richard McNally | Congregation of the Sacred Hearts: Choosing adoration
VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING A retreat master once said that if you come to the point someday where you are so busy that you need to make a choice between saying the Divine Office and making adoration, choose adoration. Others will uphold you as they say the prayer of the church. But in adoration, you are […]
Kathleen T. Choi | In little ways: Life on the mat
A high school buddy of mine is a Presbyterian minister in West Virginia. In a recent email, he wrote, “Got to preach Sunday on the passage from Genesis that is the foundational rock of my theology … Jacob and his wrestling match with God … (Genesis 32:22-32). It’s always been my contention that the wrestling […]
Mary Adamski | View from the pew: A time to every purpose
“To everything there is a season.” Familiar words, a passage from the Old Testament that you’ll hear in a homily, often in a eulogy, sometimes in politicians’ rhetoric. There it was in the daily newspaper Sept. 23, on that page dedicated to deep, thoughtful, insightful perspectives on our lives and times. No, it wasn’t the […]
Father John Catoir: When God says no
What do you do when God, your friend and protector, suddenly turns you down and says “no”? A tragic event, such as a death, can topple your childhood dreams about a heavenly Father who will help you through the trials and tribulations of life. Deaths happen all the time. However, when someone you love dies, […]
Office for Social Ministry | Talk story: One body in Christ
So we, who are many, are one body in Christ … made up of many parts” (Romans 2:5). Aloha, If we are one body, when one part is affected, what is the response of the other parts? Our sisters and brothers at Sacred Heart Parish in Pahoa wake up every day facing an uncertain future. […]
Msgr. Owen F. Campion | 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: All that matters is to be with God
Isaiah 25:6-10a; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14 The first part of the Book of Isaiah provides this weekend’s first liturgical reading. Understanding the cultural, social, political and economic context surrounding the composition of biblical texts always helps to capture their meaning. As a general rule, times rarely were good for the Chosen People. But now […]
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