COMMENTARY While praying in our pew after Communion during a recent Sunday Mass, our 6-year-old son decided to administer a pop quiz to his willing little sister. “What was the first tabernacle?” he asked. “I have no idea,” she replied. “Mary, of course! Her tummy held Jesus for the first time,” he answered. “But […]
Michael R. Heinlein: The eucharistic desire of Elizabeth Ann Seton
COMMENTARY My family made a recent visit to the new museum at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I’ve always been drawn to St. Elizabeth’s story. I remember how it fascinated me as a child that she was both a mother and a nun, not to mention the first […]
Michael R. Heinlein: Eucharist: remedy to sin
COMMENTARY “Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.” These practical words of St. Ambrose, fourth-century bishop of Milan and doctor of the Church, point us to the unique relationship of the Eucharist to sin — a relationship that the Catechism pithily sums up by saying “holy Communion separates us from sin” (CCC […]