Guilt and the Eucharist

The words of the centurion, words that we say again and again at every celebration of Holy Mass, are among the truest words that we can ever utter: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul s … [Read more...]

Mary, Our Mother of Mercy

My mother died in July 2020. I was blessed to be home from my then-assignment in Rome for the event; as it happened, I was the only one there with her. In a manner that was like a reverse Pieta, she died in my arms, breathing her last … [Read more...]

The Theology and Heart of Benedict XVI

Adapted from Theology as Prayer: A Primer for the Diocesan Priest, by Rev. John P. Cush and Msgr. Walter R. Oxley (Omaha, NE: Institute for Priestly Formation, 2022). I remember meeting Cardinal Ratzinger on the street when I was a … [Read more...]

HPR Ressourcement

Monsignor William Brady, a professor of dogmatic theology at Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College in Dunwoodie, New York, was asked in 1900 by the founder of Homiletic and Pastoral Review (then titled The Homiletic Monthly & Catechist) t … [Read more...]

The New Staff of HPR

Taking effect September 1, 2022, a new team will assume leadership of Homiletic & Pastoral Review. HPR welcomes Rev. John P. Cush, STD, as Editor-in-Chief, with Sister Mary Micaela Hoffman, RSM, S.S.L., as Associate Editor. At the same … [Read more...]

Super-essential Work amid COVID-19

Has anyone else been a bit taken aback in realizing that you are not an “essential worker”? Of course, we Jesuits are supposed to pray for, and in fact are all in dire need of, humility. So perhaps this should be the Lenten lesson my bro … [Read more...]

A Sacerdotal Summer

St. Ignatius of Loyola likened the “enemy of our human nature” to a cunning military strategist who sussed out each of our weakest defenses and thereby knew exactly where to strike. A war for souls is truly on, both on the individual as wel … [Read more...]

Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to Priests

Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to Priests on the 160th Anniversary of the Death of the Holy Curé of Ars, St. John Vianney To my Brother Priests Dear Brothers, A hundred and sixty years have passed since the death of the holy … [Read more...]

The Tender Heart

Where in any classical literature do men rejoice over wounds? In the ancients, injuries and lacerations bring about sorrow, if not revenge. But in the Gospel reading for Divine Mercy Sunday (Jn 20:19–31), we see a new understanding of v … [Read more...]

A Spirituality of Advent

Advent is a time of preparation. It has many parallels to Lent: we don the purple, we suppress the Gloria (awaiting the angels to sing it again for the first time at Midnight Mass), and we are given weeks to allow the Holy Spirit to prepare … [Read more...]

Jesus Offers Us His Sacred Heart

For millennia, the human heart has served as a living sign of love and affection. For the Greeks, the heart—or kardia—was where the nerves of all sensate animals met; but in humans, it was also the place where the soul enlarges, “when it des … [Read more...]

Easter Morning

The heart of our Catholic Existence is to replicate the Risen Christ’s life. It is not Good Friday that saves our souls, but Easter morning. For without our Lord’s victorious rising from the tomb, the ignominy of the Cross would have just be … [Read more...]

The True Christmas Exchange

Christ’s Striving to Take Flesh Anew

Christmas did not happen only in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. The coming of Christ is not simply an historical event recorded deep in our human history. If it were, you and I would be historians but not Christians. The days of preparation … [Read more...]

The Stability of the Cross

The movements of Holy Week and Eastertide are enacted to bring the Christian people to the stability of a pierced love that cannot be shaken. Year after year, the Cross beckons and asks if we are faithful in our love, if we can stand with … [Read more...]

Munus Docendi

Fr. Karl Rahner (1904-1984) began as a faith-filled and imaginative theologian, someone who, even now, still provides unmatchable insights into the nature of divinity, and into the searching soul who longs to cleave to God. Rahner worked … [Read more...]