Human beings are astonishingly good at apologizing without actually admitting we’ve done anything wrong. You’ve heard them. You may even have given a few. I have. Some could teach graduate seminars on the subject. “Sorry if anyone was offended.” Translation: I’m not sorry. I’m merely sorry your emotional ego couldn’t handle reality. “Mistakes were made.” By … Continue reading The Confiteor: The Culturally Unfashionable Prayer
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” These words are another option for the priest’s greeting at the beginning of Mass. This greeting comes straight from Paul in 2 Cor13:13. The Eastern churches had been using it for some … Continue reading A Hello That Hands You God’s Own Life
As a credentialed amateur greetologist — a field I invented roughly fifteen minutes ago in preparation for writing this — I can confirm that humanity has developed approximately four billion ways to acknowledge another person’s existence, and my family, through sheer determination and a complete absence of self-awareness, has attempted every last one of them. … Continue reading Headaches and the Theology of ‘The Lord Be With You’
Every Mass begins with the sign of the cross: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Less than four seconds. Yet in that most foundational of prayers, usually somewhere between finding the hymn page and wondering if the mic is on, we are doing more than starting … Continue reading The Sign of the Cross: Four Seconds That Witness Everything
The goal of every Catholic parish is to create missionary disciples. Which sounds inspiring... until you try to do it. Then it feels like you were handed a shovel and told to redirect the Atlantic Ocean—ideally before the 10:30 Mass lets out, the coffee runs out, and someone corners you about why we don’t sing … Continue reading Transforming Faith Through Genuflection
The Joy of the Gospel 