First Communion season is upon us. Young boys and girls in their white suits and white dresses line the aisles of churches across the country. Some come with smiles a mile wide, and others with lips nervously quivering. Why all the fuss?
St. Dominic’s Monastery has quite a rich history. Having traveled coast to coast, the Dominican nuns, now settled in Linden, VA, have weathered many storms. Yet through each storm, the nuns persevered with a virtue that stands out above the rest—faithfulness to their monastic calling.
For the past month and a half, stores have been preparing for Valentine’s Day with discounts, sales, and a whole host of gimmicks to get the attention of men and women, both young and old. In essence, the retail world is trying to capture the hearts of its customers by leading them down the road where they will supposedly find . . . love, true love.
The Order of Preachers was approved by the pope in the year 1216, but you could say that it began in 1206, when St. Dominic brought together a group of women in Prouille, France to take up a life of prayer, penance, and silence. These, the first nuns of the Order, followed St. Dominic’s guidance and spent their lives praying for the success of his apostolate.
To this day, the Nuns of the Order of Preachers continue to carry out this same vocation.
Each year, Thanksgiving Day brings football, further attempts at the demise of the turkey population, and family gatherings. It’s a day to celebrate and give thanks for all the blessings we’ve been given. And what better way to celebrate than to be with the people we love and to partake of some of our favorite foods—fried turkey, perhaps, and some nice sweet potatoes covered with pecans, brown sugar, and marshmallows . . . Here’s hoping.
“Come in.”
The chaplain and I entered through the door and found a battle-weary soldier sprawled out on the bed. One of his legs, stuck full of pins, hung suspended by a metal frame.
“I guess you’ve seen better days,” the chaplain quickly commented.
“You have no idea,” the soldier replied. Then he launched into his story.
According to a report this past May, nearly sixty percent of practicing Catholics in the Camden diocese of southern New Jersey believe that Jesus sinned. To be frank, this is astounding. Somehow, people have come to the conclusion that Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man, sinned. Perhaps this idea comes from the Letter to the Hebrews:
Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:17)
If Jesus is like us in all things, then (so the reasoning goes) Jesus, too, must have sinned. This fits the common phrase: to err is human.
There is a question that priests and religious commonly hear: How do I make sure my kids won’t leave the Church? Many young adults who were raised Catholic haven’t passed through the church door in years, and many parents of young children fear this could happen to their own. There can be all sorts of reasons why a young adult has left the faith, and there isn’t one simple solution to what parents can do to protect their own children. In the end, the answers boil down to God’s grace. Without it, there’s nothing that we can do that will protect the future generation of Catholics. But with God’s grace, our prayers and example help ensure that they maintain a living faith.
Some of our province’s parishes and priories are known locally for their beautiful liturgies. Whether it’s the music or the incense, people seem to flock to join the friars for Mass. But if we see the liturgy only as these external things, then it’s an empty set of movements. Don’t get me wrong: The external forms of the liturgy are very important, but there’s more to Mass than smells and bells. There is, most importantly, the actual prayer that takes place.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. What about ordinary times? What about Ordinary Time? Now that Pentecost has passed, and the Easter Season has ended, the Church has settled back to Ordinary Time. But what is so ordinary about Ordinary Time? After all, in the wake of Memorial Day, many of us transition from the “ordinary time” of school and work to an “extraordinary time” where summer schedules and vacations start to kick in. If society has entered into the extraordinary time of summer with its extraordinary mode of living, what can be said about the life of the Church now that we have switched to Ordinary Time?