Featured
The Fruits of Eucharistic Adoration
Father Adrian Burke Comments Off on The Fruits of Eucharistic Adoration
As a seminary spiritual director, I am sometimes asked by directees how I would recommend they spend their Holy Hour before the tabernacle in chapel. Early on in their formation, prayer in the Blessed Sacrament chapel might seem awkward for some, since they aren’t sure what to do. Some fill the hour with reading their Read More
The Fathers and Trinity Sunday, Monday, Tuesday …
Father Douglas J. Milewski Comments Off on The Fathers and Trinity Sunday, Monday, Tuesday …
Whenever a Christian makes the Sign of the Cross, invoking the Trinitarian formula, he or she exercises a habit of patristic thought that helps solve the puzzle faced each Trinity Sunday: how to voice the ineffable. That humblest, most repeated gesture of daily prayer captures a double truth: the uniquely Christian understanding of God and Read More
Freedom, Scandal and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Father Robert J. Hater Comments Off on Freedom, Scandal and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
This period of history from The Priest magazine’s perspective opened with freedom in the air. People behind the Iron Curtain clamored for it. Through his visit to Poland and his powerful words, Pope John Paul II energized Poles to seek it. In the United States, riots and demands for freedom coming from the continuing Civil Read More
Our Holy Sanctuary
D.D. Emmons Comments Off on Our Holy Sanctuary
In the Israelite tabernacle, and later in the Temple, there was a sacred space called the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. No one, except the high priest, could enter inside, and that only once a year. The holiness and sanctity of the Temple are mirrored in the Read More
Staying in Sequence
Father Paul Turner Comments Off on Staying in Sequence
Who needs a sequence? After presiding over the Holy Week services that includes the blessing of palms, two proclamations of the Passion, the washing of feet, Eucharistic reservation, adoration of the cross, and the celebration of baptism and confirmation within a long and late Easter Vigil Mass, a priest awakens at the break of Easter Read More
What Can Priests Do to Encourage More Vocations?
Father Daniel J. Schmitmeyer Comments Off on What Can Priests Do to Encourage More Vocations?
As director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for the past 10 years, I have tried nearly every program, event and suggestion offered to me to help encourage more men to prayerfully discern a vocation to the priesthood. What I have found makes the biggest difference and helps the most is prayer. This includes Read More
Forming an Easter Parish
Father Michael White Comments Off on Forming an Easter Parish
In our Catholic culture, we sometimes seem to embrace a losing mentality. There are probably many reasons we do this. One comes from the incredible challenges we face as a Church community. We serve in a time of declining Church attendance in many places, as well as a period in which the Church has less Read More
What Exactly Is Gregorian Chant?
Father Stephen Concordia Comments Off on What Exactly Is Gregorian Chant?
Gregorian chant and its place in Catholic liturgy, sad to say, are still causes of debate, if not division, in our Church. But what exactly is Gregorian chant? I hope to offer some of the less commonly known answers to the question. 1. A substantial musical repertory of great variety. Gregorian chant is a collection Read More