mass
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Discern
In the past several weeks, it has become clear that American Catholics have both a new opportunity and responsibility to do something with which they may not have a lot of practice: spiritual discernment. In the time since the obligation and practice of mass attendance was suspended in March, individual Catholics have relied on their…
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Veil
My friend Deacon Jerry came to mass today and that doesn’t seem all that weird except for the fact that he died a couple of weeks ago. During the Eucharistic prayers, several of my friends who art in Heaven gather around the altar and I acknowledge them there and pray for their families and their…
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Name
“Bye, Kristen!” I called to the beautiful, curly-haired Mom I had met a few weeks before at church. We had been in similar circles over the years, but had not officially been introduced until that Sunday. When I extended my hand and told her my name, Kristen laughed and replied, “Everyone knows who you are.”…
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Face
I have seen the Face of God. My eighteen-year old daughter was late to mass this Sunday and I was unaware. As a music minister at the front of the church, I didn’t see her sidle around the back corner and into the last pew. As it turns out, she, who had hoped to go…
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Holy
I walked into church, and found an earwig in the holy water. It was a picture of how I felt today; a skittering, slimy creature swimming in the midst of all that’s holy and spoiling it for everyone else. It’s been a rough couple of days (and months and years), and it’s sometimes hard for…
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Call
The readings today are so darned hopeful. In Jeremiah, we hear about how the LORD will deliver his people, bringing them back, the blind and the lame, the mothers and those with child. They departed in tears, but He will bring them back, consoling and guiding them, leading them to brooks of water on a…
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One
I had what really looked like a breakthrough on the writing front. A Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of a house I really respect wrote me personally, said he thought I had a lot to say and could help a lot of people. I was beside myself, of course, fully believing my dream of book publishing was about to…
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Ordinary
In my church tomorrow we’ll celebrate the twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time refers to the weeks in the liturgical calendar that are not set apart, no special feasts or seasons such as Advent, Lent, or Easter, no distinct sacrifices or practices. It’s regular, ordinary, normal. Tomorrow, the particular set of readings that is…
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America
Our church community has a long-standing tradition of singing patriotic songs on or around Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, and the Fourth of July, so we weren’t surprised when a parishioner asked me and my music-minister husband just which such song we would be singing this past Sunday, but we were conflicted. For a while now,…
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First
We were waiting for a table at Bickford’s, a very rare post-mass breakfast out with the family. I was probably only six or seven years old, but I vividly remember the smell of pancakes, my sisters and I huddled in the restaurant entryway in our winter coats. There was much more than syrup on my…