stceceliastgabriel

Liturgy and the Spiritual Life

posted 4/28/20 In yesterday’s reflection, I wrote about the importance of liturgy in our lives, distinguishing liturgical prayer from devotional prayer. Devotional prayer is important, but liturgical prayer is necessary. In the context of liturgy we pray collectively and uniquely as the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. When we pray in this way, we actually participate in the interior life of Jesus Christ. Continue reading “Liturgy and the Spiritual Life”

The Importance of Liturgy

posted 4/27/20 In my conversations with members of the parish, it is common to hear people express their desire to receive the Eucharist. It is certainly one of the great sufferings of our current circumstances that the faithful are deprived of the reception of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion. But I have come to realize that it is notContinue reading “The Importance of Liturgy”

St. Catherine of Siena

posted 4/25/20 St. Catherine was born in Siena, Italy in 1347. Her family was large (her parents had 25 children) and wealthy (her father was a prosperous wool-dyer). From an early age it was apparent that Catherine was different than the people around her. She had a vision of Christ at the age of six and madeContinue reading “St. Catherine of Siena”

Little House

posted 4/24/20 Last year my sister was looking for a nice show that she and her husband could watch with their children. Remembering how much she enjoyed the show Little House on the Prairie as a kid, she decided she would introduce them to it. Unfortunately, the first episode she played for them was the one in which the family’s barn burned down in aContinue reading “Little House”

Living the Mass

posted 4/23/20 “To those who are used to daily Mass there is no privation more terrible than that of having to do without it.” These words are from the book This War is the Passion by Caryll Houselander. Houselander was born in England in 1901 and became Catholic at the age of six, when her mother entered the Church. She had several mystical experiences in herContinue reading “Living the Mass”

Work

posted 4/22/20 For several years in my 20s I worked for the State of Connecticut. It was a great job, and its regular hours made it perfect for someone going to school at night. I also learned a lot through my daily interactions with the public, which were often very challenging. For the most part, I found my co-workers to be extremely dedicated and hard-workingContinue reading “Work”

Doc

posted 4/21/20 Growing up I had a friend named Darren whom everyone called “Doc.” Everybody liked Doc. He was very friendly and had a great sense of humor. He was always telling funny stories, most of them made up, and would make fun of you in a way that you couldn’t help but laugh as you thanked him for the insult. Continue reading “Doc”

Divine Mercy

posted 4/18/20 How do we conceive of the mercy of God? It’s an important question because everything depends on His mercy. There are two tendencies against which we have to be on guard because they distort the reality of His mercy. We might think that He is stingy with His mercy, that He gets tired of hearing us confess the same thingsContinue reading “Divine Mercy”

Help

posted 4/17/20 When I was in my mid-20s I spent some time living in Spain. Before I arrived I had signed up to take some language courses at a school in Madrid to improve my Spanish, which I hadn’t studied since my sophomore year of college. I remember one day, around lunchtime, I was walking up and down one of the main streetsContinue reading “Help”

Notre Dame

posted 4/16/20 Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the terrible fire that threatened to completely destroy the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Before the fire, Notre Dame was one of the most-visited places in the world. Jason Baxter, a professor at Wyoming Catholic College, noted in a recent article in America magazine that Notre Dame had 12 million visitors each year, moreContinue reading “Notre Dame”