The Assumption: Summary of Leonard Porter notes for St. Mary’s altarpiece. La Asunción: Resumen de las notas de Leonard Porter sobre el Retablo (la Pintura de la Asunción de la Virgen en el Altar Mayor).
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“You Know Neither the Day Nor the Hour…”
I recently heard the story of a young woman in her mid-twenties whom we will call Susan. She graduated from college a few years ago and had worked as a campus minister along with several of her friends helping to evangelize young Catholic men and women at a large Catholic college in the United States.…
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Mass Confusion: Where Have You Gone, St. Christopher?
In olden times, every Catholic’s car had some form of a Saint Christopher medal clipped to the sun visor, glued to the dashboard, or, for the more discreet but no less pious, concealed in the glove box. The beginning of any journey began with the prayer, “Saint Christopher, pray for us!” because Saint Christopher was…
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St. Kateri Tekakwitha: Primera India Americana Canonizada
When Kateri was born in 1665 she received her first Indian name “Little Sunshine” (she was born at sunrise and had a sunny disposition). The custom was to receive a new name at about the age of eight when the child’s personality began to show forth. Kateri’s mother wanted her daughter baptized but had to…
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Mass Confusion: Canon Saints/Los Santos del Canon en la Santa Misa
Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Clyprian. Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian, and all the Saints. The students at Saint Lawrence School can rattle off the names as though they were their own brothers and sisters. And, of course, they are. Eucharistic Prayer I, also known as the “Roman Canon” has been the…
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Learn Your Faith/Conozca Su Fe: Corpus Christi
The symbolism of the crucifix, which we see in the church every Sunday, reminds us of the fact that the same sacrificial offering of Himself, which Jesus made for us on the Cross, is continued for us in the sacrifice of the Mass. Ultimately, the same symbolism of the crucifix prompts us to consider how…
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June: Month Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Saint Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart/Santa Margarita María Alacoque y el Sagrado Corazón
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Clouds of Mass Confusion/Nubes de Confusión Masiva
It was a magnificent cloud resembling a cumulonimbus. As it wafted up and leveled out it assumed the characteristics of a stratocumulus. By the dismissal it was almost gone, dispersed by the currents into wisps of cirrus which old southern farmers call “switchin’mares’ tails”. No confusion here; it was a beautiful cloud of incense. Incense…
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Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity/Cuerpo, Sangre, Alma Y Divinidad
The outbreak of Swine Flu cast a pall of Mass Confusion over the proper understanding of Communion under both kinds i.e. reception of both the Host and the Precious Blood. Since the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ draws near (June 23), this is an opportune time to review the Church’s teaching on Communion under both kinds.
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The Ascension of the Lord/La Ascención del Señor
“He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father” With these words from the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325) the Church proclaims Her belief that, forty days after His Glorious Resurrection, our Lord ascended into heaven. This event, which we celebrate each year on Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter Sunday),…
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