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Columns

Where Mary goes, we will go

By David Wallace

Every Aug. 15, the church universal celebrates that moment in history when “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (Pope Pius XII). Mary’s Assumption (known as the Dormition, or falling-asleep, in the Eastern churches) is celebrated not only because it commemorates the conclusion of her earthly life, but also because her Assumption is what constitutes “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.” In Mary, “we contemplate what the church already is … and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 972). Mary is the eschatological icon of the church, the glorified image of what we hope to become after wandering in this vale of tears. She is the first to be divinized, glorified in body and soul. Her own falling asleep in the Lord “is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (Catechism, 966).

7/22/20
Reading Time 3 min

For guidance on the ‘new normal,’ look to the Holy Family

By Colette Lienhard

If by “new normal” we mean a life-changing event has occurred, and we are constantly adapting to the latest information, then I think we have fully settled in to a “new normal.” This is not a static normal, but a state of constant adjustment. When I hear the phrase, “in these uncertain times,” I long for certainty.

7/22/20
Reading Time 3 min

Are you a student of Christian life?

By Jack Peterson

Recently, I played a very enjoyable round of golf with a friend of a friend for the first time. This gentleman has a very solid golf game which is an absolute pleasure to watch. He has a very consistent swing and a putting routine that is well-tuned and effective. He plays golf with a certain ease and comfort; that is, he can hold a conversation with you that is personal and thoughtful. At the same time, he is quite focused on the game he is playing, paying attention to important details like the direction and strength of the wind, the speed of the greens and where to land on the green so that you have an uphill putt. It became very obvious to me that this guy is a real student of the game of golf. 

7/22/20
Reading Time 3 min

Good bones

By Elizabeth Foss

I spent a few hours in utter frustration several days ago. The goal planner that I’d so carefully tucked into a very specific drawer before the packers came was nowhere to be found. At the last minute, our movers canceled and new movers were hired. The first movers had advised us not to empty drawers; they’d move with contents intact. The newly hired movers took everything out of drawers and put them in boxes —  so many boxes. And my place to sketch out goals and dreams and to journal my way through the year still has not been found.

7/21/20
Reading Time 3 min

Reflection on racism

By Fr. Jason Weber

Because many people have not experienced racism, I think it is difficult for some to relate to the legitimate tension and anger that we all ought to share.

7/13/20
Reading Time 5 min

Wheat and weeds

By Joseph M. Rampino

Isaiah Chapter 55 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways” (55:8). This reminder the Lord gives us through his prophet may well resound in our minds as we consider the Gospel passage for the 16th week in ordinary time. In this text, Christ makes clear that though the wicked certainly grow among the good in the field of the world, he is the one who will separate them out at the end of time, and it is not ours to root them out at will.

7/9/20
Reading Time 3 min

The church in China

By Russell Shaw

Not long after coming to power in 1933, the German government headed by Adolf Hitler sought a formal agreement with the Holy See — a concordat setting terms of the church-state relationship. No sooner was the concordat in place, however, than the Nazis began violating it, prompting dozens of formal protests from the Vatican.

7/8/20
Reading Time 3 min

Learning how to saunter: the gifts of quarantine

By Christina Capecchi

Tonight I wrote two events on my calendar: a birthday party and a baptism. 

They will be sanitized, scaled-down gatherings —  and they will be fun —  but still, it pained me to sully those blank boxes with black ink. 

7/8/20
Reading Time 3 min

One step closer

By Soren Johnson

My experience at Mass the other day got me down. The hundred or so masked people who gathered in our cavernous sanctuary included friends for the better part of a decade, but we all seemed locked in our own worlds, unapproachable.

7/8/20
Reading Time 3 min

This old house

By Elizabeth Foss

Last week, I moved into a very old house. It’s more than 250 years old. This new-to-me house is steeped in history. It’s also exceedingly dusty and has not a few dents and dings to its name. Before moving here, I was an admirer of old houses; I thought them lovely to tour and to visit — and then to leave, escaping to modern conveniences and sparkling clean baseboards. I admit here and now that I was skeptical about “old house love.”

7/8/20
Reading Time 3 min

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