“Be watchful” and “Be alert” are two traditional spiritual commands often heard by Catholics during the Advent season in preparation for the birth of Christ at Christmas.
Advent, the four-week period preceding Christmas, is a time to slow down as we wait in hopeful expectation for Christ’s coming. It’s a time to take stock of what’s important in our lives, casting away extra commitments and wasted energy we’ve added throughout the year.
When the verses from Chapter 33 of the Book of Jeremiah are read as the first reading on the First Sunday of Advent this year, I will hear them in a new way.
As a general rule, the church’s Code of Canon Law provides that Catholic ministers lawfully administer Catholic sacraments only to Catholics (Canon 844.1).
There’s a strong temptation to think all of that: to think that the synod on “Young people, faith and vocational discernment” was a “one and done” meeting with a few hundred bishops and a handful of young people resulting in a document that most people won’t read and an apostolic exhortation that’s still a few months away.
How far must one go in pro-life issues to be a good Catholic?
Where do single people “rank” within the Catholic Church?
It was one of those days you never forget. Sitting on the beach one summer evening last year, my husband and I decided to pray the rosary.
I imagine her reciting all of the intentions people have asked her to pray for and naming every single aunt, uncle and cousin before she starts to pray.
My sister was upset with her adult daughter and her husband (who is a convert to Catholicism) when they took holy Communion recently after having missed Mass.
