Hey there, Growing up, I don’t recall participating in the Triduum. I was first exposed to it when my kids were in Catholic grade school. Their religion teacher gave them extra credit for attending all the Triduum services. Now, years later, I make it a point to include the Triduum services in my Lenten activities. The Triduum begins three days before Easter Sunday on the day we call Holy …
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Hey there, In ancient Greece the runner that won the race was not the man who crossed the line in the shortest time … it was the man who crossed it in the least time with his torch still burning. Like those Greek runners, we Catholics carry a light in us that we are called to share with others. On February 2nd we celebrate that light in the Church. It’s the Feast of the Presentation of …
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Hey there, It’s no surprise Mary plays a major role in Catholicism … after all, without Mary there would be no Jesus. But would it surprise you to hear we have 19 Marian celebrations in our Liturgical Calendar? 3 of them are Holy Days of Obligation. Lest you think I exaggerate, here they are: January 1 Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God* January 8 The Feast of Our Lady of …
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Today is All Saints Day when we honor the saints in heaven … including those who we don’t know about. (Reminder: it’s a Holy Day of Obligation.) Tomorrow is The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also known as All Soul's Day … when we pray for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory. In fact, in the Catholic Church, the whole month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, …
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Hey there, The word creed is derived from the Latin word “credo,” which means “I believe.” Merriam Webster defines creed as: : a brief authoritative formula of religious belief : a set of fundamental beliefs In the Catholic Church we have not one, but two creeds. The Apostles Creed came first as a way to provide a standard set of beliefs for the growing Christian religion. Later it was …
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Hey there, One of the first words children learn to say is … mine. Or more accurately, “Mine! Mine!” And that’s about the time we teach them all about the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like them to treat you. It’s a concept that goes back to ancient times … it’s been documented as far back as 2000+ years before Christ! And though the term “Golden Rule” is not found in the …
Hey there, Crosses have become a common part of our everyday life. We decorate our houses with them. We wear crosses and crucifixes as jewelry. They are on books and clothes and car windows. We see them all around our neighborhoods and cities. Has the cross become so ingrained in our life that we don’t often think about what it really stands for? If you’re like me, the answer is a …
Hey there, Like it or not, instruction manuals are important … even if we don’t want to read them when putting together that piece of furniture from IKEA. Or how about all the rules we had to learn to get a driver’s license? The rules of the road are necessary to keep us safe. I’m old enough to remember when you had to look at a paper map to get directions to your destination before you …
Hey there, I don’t like to cook … but I do love to bake. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s my huge sweet tooth. The thing about baking is that we can have all the ingredients sitting in our cupboard. And we can have a recipe in a book on our shelf. But just having everything won’t get us the dessert we crave. We’ve got to do the work to follow the recipe and put the ingredients together to …
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Hey there, You may have heard about the 2019 Pew Research Center survey finding that two-thirds of Catholics don’t believe in transubstantiation … and that some don’t even know the church’s teaching on the matter. It's garnered a sizeable reaction. If you Google it, you’ll find 2.6 million articles (and growing). They vary from the proverbial Cathoic “sky is falling” to “the survey is …
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Hey there, I bet you can easily name all 7 of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church … especially since we just covered them. But did you know the Catholic Church is also a Sacrament? I had never heard this before … until Father Mike Schmitz talked about it recently in an episode of his Catechism in a Year Podcast. I knew then that I’d have to include this topic in my Sacraments of the …
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Hey there, I must admit I’ve not given much thought to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. I’m blessed that I haven’t needed to. I guess I fall into the category of one of those Catholics who considers it a Rite for someone who is near death. And I would be partially right. Fortunately, through examining the 7 Sacraments, and now getting to the final one, the Anointing of the …
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