What did we see? Holy Week knows some of the most visually-engaging and emblematic moments of the Church year. One of the iconic sights of Holy Week comes with the Easter Vigil: the lighting and procession of the Paschal candle. It is right to begin our mystagogy with this sight. As the Psalmist writes, “In Your light will we see light.” It is by this light that we begin to see everything else.
Read MoreThe Rosary is a longtime church tradition. It began in the 9th century in various forms, until it was revealed to St. Dominic in 1221 A.D. by Mother Mary herself. From then on, through his religious order of the Dominicans, the Rosary was promoted and encouraged for all Christians.
Read More“So like, hear me out. What if, like, Jesus, right? He was God, okay? Like, seriously, he’s God and all but how can he be a dude, too? God is huge and people are small, so like, He can’t be human and God at the same time. What if, no listen, like, his “body” isn’t really “his” body, it’s just like a video game avatar or a skin he wears? It’s like, an illusion, man! Blows your mind, right? Like, He’s God! He can do anything! He can make us see whatever He wants! He can appear like a human to us, so why wouldn’t he?”
Why indeed.
Read MoreWe are free.
The season of Eastertide begins on the night of the Easter Vigil, with a liturgy that poetically links the story of the Exodus with the story of salvation. Just as God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea, He delivers us from slavery to sin through the water of baptism. This parallel is brought out beautifully by the hymn we sing as we pass out of the sadness of Lent and into the joy of Easter:
Read MoreIn Lent, our fast cleared out new space in our lives and helped us re-examine our relationship with enjoyments and dependencies we tend to take for granted. Now, it is Easter, and we can go back to enjoying those things we left behind—we must celebrate, after all!—but in some cases, we find ourselves facing a conundrum when the TV habits, or social media scrolling, or regularity of chocolate-eating, or whatever-it-might-be, are again fair game. Namely: do we want to go back to those things? Do we still enjoy them? And if so, in what way do we want to go back to them?
Read MoreI am sometimes caught off guard at how my life’s events refuse to conform to the Christian calendar. Somewhere within me, I assume that the arrival of Easter should bring satisfying closure to the interior battles I fought during Lent. I love Eastertide, I love the renewal and the sense of hopeful expectation for the good work of ministry ahead. So why does it also feel like I’m back to the grind? Why has the world already moved along and why am I returned to the slow work of spiritual growth? For answers, I think we have to go back to Easter Day again.
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