07
Dec 2018
Last Sunday in my homily I spoke about tradition, both Sacred Tradition and all the many traditions in which it is clothed. I also reintroduced, for the season of Advent, the ancient tradition of celebrating Mass ‘towards God’. When a priest leads the people in prayer it is important that the priest himself not just say prayers, but open his own heart in prayer. For that reason, I want to share something of my own experience standing at the altar ‘towards God’. As a priest it was deeply moving standing at the......
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November 30, 2018
Towards God: Part III
As we begin the season of Advent we also begin to experience the celebration of the Mass with the priest standing at the altar “towards God”. I have written about this traditional practice the past...
November 23, 2018
Towards God: Part II
Last Sunday I wrote about the meaning of the priest celebrating the Mass, standing at the altar, facing altar and tabernacle, with the people behind him. I wrote about this in the context of recovering...
November 16, 2018
Towards God
During my preaching and my writing this year I have place great emphasis on recovering the meaning of the Mass precisely as a sacrifice offered to God. The Mass is a banquet, but it is...
November 09, 2018
Indulgences
It is a holy and pious thought (2 Mc 12:45) to pray for the dead. In the month of November the Church remembers in a special way the souls in purgatory and how we can...
November 02, 2018
Review
I began this year writing about the Church as a sign of hope in the world precisely because she is a sort of sacrament of intimate unity with God and the unity of the whole...
October 19, 2018
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
I have written at length now about what Jesus refers to as the weightier matters of the law: judgment (mishpat), mercy (chesed), and fidelity (emeth) (cf. Mt 23:23). This three inseparable covenant virtues provide us...
October 12, 2018
The offering of judgment, mercy, and fidelity in the life of Jesus
When we consider sacrifice in the Old Testament we discover that no matter how we approach the matter, sacrifice always falls short. As a gift of tribute to God, the ruler of all, it falls...
October 05, 2018
Fidelity or ’emeth’: the solid foundation for the covenant
Jesus teaches that the weightier matters of the law are judgment, mercy, and fidelity. I have been examining the Hebrew words that lie behind these inseparable covenant qualities: mishpat for judgment, chesed for mercy, and...
September 28, 2018
‘Chesed’: The mercy that gives security to the vulnerable
Jesus speaks of judgment, mercy, and fidelity as the weightier matters of the law. (Mt 23:23) Setting these three together is essential for the right understanding of the more compact statement that mercy is better...